Editorials
Spooky World-Building: Looking Back on the Sci-Fi Channel’s ‘Blair Witch’ Mockumentaries
In professional wrestling, the concept of “Kayfabe” refers to an unspoken agreement between fans and performers to never acknowledge the fictional aspects of the sport. In the horror genre, we have something similar with the way Found Footage movies invite audiences to play along with the scares to enhance their viewing experience. And when it comes to Found Footage, no movie handled this blending of reality and fiction better than The Blair Witch Project, which was accompanied by an ingenious viral marketing campaign featuring websites, dossiers and even missing person posters.
Among this supplemental material was an infamous mockumentary known as Curse of the Blair Witch, which premiered on the Sci-Fi Channel and was instrumental in convincing audiences that the film’s footage was meant to be taken seriously. A year later, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 had its own lesser-known tie-ins with Ben Rock‘s The Burkittsville 7 and Shadow of the Blair Witch. It’s been over two decades since these TV specials first aired, but I think they’re still worth talking about after helping to solidify the Blair Witch franchise in popular culture.
Directed by the same duo behind its parent production, Curse of the Blair Witch originally hit television screens in the summer of 1999. Through archival footage and interviews with friends and family of Heather, Mike and Josh, the hour-long special presents itself as a serious documentary about the “real” story behind the (then) upcoming Blair Witch Project. While there are occasional excerpts from the film to hype up its release, the meat of the special consists in expanding the mythology behind the titular witch and the crimes inspired by her story.
Watching supposed experts comment on the history of witchcraft and Elly Kedward’s cruel demise makes for some surprisingly entertaining television, especially with the spooky illustrations and tongue-in-cheek inclusion of faux ’70s programs. While these details aren’t really necessary to enjoy the film, they enhance the viewing experience by making the lore feel more fleshed-out and believable.
It’s also fun to see investigators discuss details from both the film and Dave Stern’s The Blair Witch Project: A Dossier like fragments of a True Crime incident. Like the film, the special still doesn’t offer up a concrete explanation for the disappearance of these young filmmakers, but piecing together the interconnected story and forming your own theories is half the fun here. In fact, Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez‘s narrative puzzle-box likely inspired viral ARGs like Marble Hornets and TheSunVanished despite predating them by literal decades.
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Elly Kedward did nothing wrong!
The added characterization of the film’s protagonists also enhances the experience from an emotional standpoint. Having loved ones comment on the victims’ personal lives before the ill-fated project makes the movie’s horrific ending hit that much harder despite being a foregone conclusion. It’s a lot easier to understand Heather’s insistence on completing her movie once you’re aware of her personal ambitions, and it’s hard not to root for Mike once you find out that he’s a lovable underachiever. The eerie revelation that the film’s footage was inexplicably found within the ruins of the Rustin Parr house also adds an extra layer of mystery to the story, with the special implying that the tapes were somehow already there when the house burned down in the 1940s.
It may lack the raw scares of the feature film, but I appreciate Curse of the Blair Witch as an exercise in spooky world-building and often revisit it alongside the main attraction. Some viewers might be bothered by the lack of a proper resolution, but I think the subtle suggestion that the events of the movie might be real are much scarier than any concrete answer, making this a worthy companion piece to the original film.
A year later, the world would see another expansion of the Blair Witch mythos through Joe Berlinger‘s strange sequel. While Book of Shadows was critically panned and more-or-less disowned by its director, the film has undergone a recent reappraisal as fans realize that it has a lot to say about mass hysteria and the negative effects of media while also serving up some quality scares and a kick-ass soundtrack. It’s still no masterpiece, but I think Blair Witch 2 is an underrated horror flick with its own peculiar backstory.
To me, the most interesting part of this sequel is the studio’s choice of director. While Artisan Entertainment must have thought that hiring the co-creator of HBO’s true crime opus Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills would result in an even more believable Found Footage production, it turned out that Berlinger was vehemently opposed to the sub-genre. An experienced documentarian, the director believed that it was unethical to mislead audiences to sell more movie tickets, resulting in a traditional horror film simply “based on true events.”
However, that wouldn’t stop the movie’s supplemental material from blurring the line between fiction and journalism like the original film. This time, director Ben Rock was brought in to produce a pair of promotional mockumentaries expanding the lore behind Blair Witch 2. Once again airing on the Sci-Fi channel, these specials would actually borrow from Berlinger’s work in True Crime, treating the film’s story like a down-to-earth murder mystery and courtroom drama rather than a paranormal investigation.
Eerily believable.
The first of these specials, Shadow of the Blair Witch follows the prosecution of the “real” Jeff Patterson once he’s accused of the murders which supposedly inspired Berlinger’s Hollywood sequel. By revealing extra details about this troubled young man and the mysterious deaths which led to his imprisonment, the special recontextualizes Book of Shadows as a sensationalist re-enactment cashing in on a real crime, which I think makes the sequel much more interesting as the successor to a Found Footage classic.
In contrast, The Burkittsville 7 returns to the lore of the original film and chronicles the aftermath of the Rustin Parr murders through a more grounded lens, mostly ignoring the supernatural elements. With more than a little inspiration from the real world horrors of Frederick Wiseman’s Titticut Follies and classic True Crime tropes, this is one of the creepiest entries in the Blair Witch franchise as well as one of the most believable. The archival footage and interviews are eerily convincing, and the focus on mental health issues makes it a great prelude to Berlinger’s film.
This commitment to authenticity may be part of what makes these specials so effective in the first place, but it also became a source of controversy. Some viewers apparently objected to Sci-Fi presenting these fictional narratives as real events, which resulted in a minor backlash. The criticism isn’t entirely unwarranted, as misleading media has only become a bigger problem in the digital age, but I don’t think the filmmakers intentionally set out to profit off of naïve viewers.
To me, this kind of promotional material feels a lot more like the cinematic equivalent of prefacing an urban legend with “it happened to a friend of a friend of mine” rather than a legitimate case of false advertising. In all honesty, I actually wish that the 2016 Blair Witch had chosen a similar route during marketing, as it would have helped to contextualize that film’s scares.
Like the aforementioned Kayfabe, which allows wrestling fans to accept undead fighters and dramatic feuds within the ring, a little suspension of disbelief can go a long way when it comes to horror. These TV specials might not be required viewing when revisiting the Blair Witch movies, but I think they perfectly capture the innovative spirit of Myrick and Sanchez’s original film by focusing on subtle and realistic scares. The way I see it, the added context makes these movies even more enjoyable, so I’d recommend these spooky appendices to any fan of the Blair Witch mythos.
After all, wanting to believe makes these stories that much more fun.
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on November 1, 2021.
In this day and age, the word “troll” is often used to describe various online nuisances. Yet as abundant and irksome as the modern troll can be, they aren’t usually as fearsome as their mythological counterparts. I’m not talking about the small and gentler versions that have become more common to see in media. No, there are much bigger and scarier trolls out there—and André Øvredal’s movie Troll Hunter is one of the best places to find them.
It doesn’t take long for Troll Hunter (or Trolljegeren) to dump the Blair Witch Project-esque setup and aim for something a lot fresher. The trajectory of the story is augmented by Otto Jespersen’s character Hans, the titular Troll Hunter. The second he comes barreling out of the deep, dark woods and shouts “troll” at the camera, this movie takes a turn into what feels like uncharted territory. Not only subject-wise, but also conceptually.
For fantastical and made-up subject matter in cinema, found footage is a fast way to add a guise of believability. After all, what we accept to be the most crucial aspect of documentaries—the truth—rubs off on pseudo-documentaries, despite our understanding of the pretense involved. That is what Øvredal delivered with Troll Hunter: a movie so convincing that some viewers wondered if trolls really do exist. So, had this been straightforwardly made, it likely wouldn’t have been as effective. Conventional narratives would be more inclined to treat something like trolls as flat out unreal, and never try to convince the audience to think otherwise.
Hans petrifies the three-headed Tusseladd troll.
The viewers, like the characters trailing Hans, are quickly thrown into the deeper end of that extraordinary story. They have to process all this new information while staying on the go. So, although there is no significant amount of meandering, narratively or physically, there is still a good amount of atmosphere, not to mention tension building. It’s never anything frightful, but then again, Troll Hunter isn’t your standard offering of horror; it’s more on the low end of the dark fantasy spectrum. We aren’t ever spirited away to a faraway world—we stay in rather familiar surroundings, as well as dip into those less so. The outcome is a movie where you’re constantly more in awe than in terror.
As fantasy fiction might do, Troll Hunter prefers not to deal with incredulity. There is no time to waste on doubt, as interviewer Thomas (Glenn Erland Tosterud), soundperson Johanna (Johanna Mørck), and cameraman Kalle (Tomas Alf Larsen) all follow Hans around, recording whatever this character is willing to reveal about his bizarre job. Of course, the Troll Hunter himself is not an open book; in that respect, the diegetic documentary fails to fully capture and unpack the more interesting of its two subjects. Yes, all those giant, monstrous trolls are indeed incredible, but understandably, your mind wanders to their pursuer. What kind of person signs up for this gig and then chooses to stick with it for so long?
Reviews have called out Troll Hunter for its lack of character development. In regard to Thomas and his fellow documentarians, that criticism is valid, but bear in mind, they aren’t the focus of the story, either. Meanwhile, Hans is a well-crafted character. At least better than first realized. Before he was introduced, Hans had already grown tired of the troll grind. Fed up with that low compensation for his services, resentful of the bureaucracy, and wanting to expose his employer on a large scale, Hans’ discontent is glaring.
Then there are those finer details about the Troll Hunter, such as that indifference to both the natural splendor of his everyday surroundings and the affections of an obviously smitten colleague, that also suggest some level of despondency. So it is fair to say this movie doesn’t feature any sizable growth for its characters; however, the namesake isn’t underwritten. No doubt, putting a real-life character like Otto Jespersen in that role is partly why Hans is so fascinating—maybe even relatable.
Otto Jespersen as Hans the Troll Hunter.
There is always a small risk whenever using the term “mockumentary” to describe a found-footage movie, as the word could imply humor where there is none. In the case of Troll Hunter, the term’s usage is appropriate. Some folks have claimed the English-dubbed version has the more comedic tone, however, the Norwegian cut isn’t exactly humorless. Apart from the trolls’ absurd appearances, this is a movie where the characters nearly choke on the monsters’ farts, and Christians are like walking targets. Hans’ complete apathy towards everything is another cause of laughter. Overall, the comedy is intentionally dry and inconsistent. Unfunny, though? Absolutely not.
In a movie where endemic creatures are maltreated, as well as disavowed from living freely and peacefully, it’s hard not to notice the ecological message buried beneath the story. In addition to that is the unmistakable political satire. There is this whole business about intrusive and unsightly power lines—like trolls, they’re big blemishes on the land—that leads to what is perhaps the movie’s funniest moment. The scene in question is that one where certain electric lines, the ones secretly being used to keep the trolls at bay, go in a loop and don’t actually send power to any residents. Yet the monitors of said lines don’t find this at all weird. So it stands to reason that Øvredal was having a go at those who accept the government’s doings without question.
Looking past the fact that trolls aren’t actually real, this movie is an enlightening source of information. And not just for international audiences; Norwegians, too, get schooled about their homeland’s own mythology. It’s also evident from everything on screen that Øvredal and his crew were enthusiastic about the topic. The creature designs are the most indicative of that zeal; those imaginative yet myth-accurate manifestations are equally amusing and grotesque. One second you’re laughing at their phallic noses, the next you’re white-knuckling during a hairy sequence. Most surprisingly is how well the trolls’ visual effects hold up after fifteen years. It’s not all spotless, but on the whole, they remain impressive.
Vouching for a mockumentary about trolls isn’t easy, but those who do come around and give it a shot will more than likely be grateful for the recommendation. For Troll Hunter is a real find in that vast and varied genre we call “found footage“.
A bridge troll reaches up for food and finds Hans decked out in armor.
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