Blair Witch Project Mockumentary- The Curse of the Blair Witch
The Blair Witch film is an entirely fictional and is not based on any serious myths. To accompany the film, as part of the bonus features, the filmmakers decided to make a mockumentary in order to extend the horror. For the mockumentary, the filmmakers continued the concept of Blair Witch and brought it into the 'real-world'.
The fictional myth is based on a woman named Elly Kedward who was accused of witchcraft by several children in Blair, Maryland in 1785. She was found guilty and was banished to Black Woods Forest in the middle of winter where she was hung and left to die from exposure, One year later, half of the town's children and all of the accusers disappeared.
The mockumentary continues to represent the story of Blair Witch as fact and this has the potential to extend the horror psychologically for the spectator. The mockumentary is shot in a participatory/reflexive style with a strong focus on the spectator. Its reflexive nature forces the spectator to consider the filmmaking and possible issues with being able to film the relevant footage.
The supposed realism of the story is strengthened throughout by the filmmakers' clever use of documentary conventions. The bulk of the footage is interviews with the 'victims' and 'family members' , who are played by actors, as well as the producers. This is then combined with archive pictures and videos, staged investigations, false evidence and handheld camerawork in order to create strong present effects. Towards the end of the mockumentary, the filmmakers even include fake news stories, which the spectator would usually associate with true stories, and pairs them with a fictitious missing person poster. By using these features, the filmmaker creates a constructed view of the 'real-world' and concept of Blair Witch is then placed into the spectator's everyday surroundings, thus extending the horror beyond the screen.
