Curse of the Blair Witch

Originally airing on the Sci-Fi Channel the week before the release of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999), this fascinating look at the supposedly "true" legends of the Blair Witch, from the banishment of Elle Kedward, the drowning of little Eileen Treacle, and the massacre at Coffin Rock, to the 1941 murders committed by Rustin Parr, right up to the 1994 disappearances of Heather, Mike, and Josh, cleverly reels in viewers to this fictional mythology. Many who watched this later swore it was on The Learning Channel or Discovery, not Sci-Fi! In many respects, this short piece is far better than the actual feature film it was meant to promote.

Released to TV in the summer of 1999 three weeks before the premiere of the found-footage film "The Blair Witch Project," "Curse of the Blair Witch" is a mockumentary (fake documentary) that goes over the mythology of the Blair witch and interviews people who knew the three amateur filmmakers who supposedly went missing in 1994.

How do you review a documentary that's phony? I suppose by how real it makes its topic appear. As far as that goes, this is a quality mockumentary that inspires interest in the non-subject. I say "non-subject" because there never was a Blair witch; there wasn't even a town of Blair; nor are any of the people in the film real. It's all fake. But "Curse of the Blair Witch" was an ingenious set-up to fool people into believing (or, at least, MAYBE believing) the found-footage of "The Blair Witch Project." With the hysteria of that movie far behind us "Curse of the Blair Witch" is still entertaining for what it is and you can't help but respect its cleverness.

I helps that the "documentary" only runs 44 minutes.

GRADE: B

I only saw the film that this mockumentary is about today (see the comments in the comments page of the actual film).

I believe I watched this on our Canadian equivalent of the Sci Fi channel, called Space... in the summer. I was tired that day so I fell asleep during some of it.

At that point in the hype of the film, I was trying to find out if it was indeed fact or fiction, and I wasn't certain yet, so it did disturb me somewhat while I watched it, thinking, my God, what if this was real? I quickly learned after the credits rolled that there was no disclaimer to say that it was fact or fiction.

The only thing I had to comfort me is that I don't live anywhere near there, so it couldn't happen to me. Although... we do have lots of woods here so it did bother me slightly.

Later, I learned that the whole movie and mockumentary was untrue, so it set my mind at ease.

Once I found out there was minimal gore, I decided I might give it a shot when it came out on VHS, but only during the day on a smaller screen, so as to lose that "thrust into it/real feeling"... though I chickened out the first time when I went to rent the last one at Blockbuster... I despise horror films... but someone bought it and decided to show it to some friends and I, so I thought, what the hell. (See my comments in the comments section of the film for more.)

I can't tell you in which order to watch the film and this. You have to decide for yourself. Maybe you should see this first for a background story.

After watching the film, I am still left with questions. I guess I wasn't paying as much attention to this, or the beginning of the film, as I should have.

However I wouldn't recommend finding out exactly how either this or the film was made or it could somewhat spoil it for you.

Just be glad that it isn't true and watch these, and enjoy them... if you can.

I saw the movie before Is aw this TV special, though now I wish I had done in in reverse order. I was far more scared and intrigued after watching the TV special than I was after I saw the movie, which was good but fairly disappointing. Even if you hated the movie itself, please give this TV special a chance. It has many details and answers many questions than the movie does not.

After watching this on Sci-Fi, I eagerly awaited the release of the movie in my area. What I can tell you is the made for TV project is better than the movie. Having said this I would recommend finding out when this is on again, and watch it before you see the film also, as with out it, you will have no clue what is going on in the film, and it also helps your decipher the ending of the movie.