Wish I would have walked out of The Blair Witch Project.
Opening weekend, my then-fiancé (now husband) and I went to see this movie. I had gone way down the viral marketing rabbit hole before the film came out. I had read all of the websites and watched all of the “supporting evidence” videos. I knew it was a work of fiction, but I was super invested.
The movie ends, the final credits roll, and the woman in front of me looks at her date and says, “That was the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen. It wasn’t scary at all.” Then she turns around to get her sweater off the back of her seat and we make eye contact.
I’m sitting absolutely still, staring straight ahead, tears dripping off my chin.
She didn’t say anything else, took her things, and left.
I grew up in a fundamentalist evangelical church, and I had a lot of religious trauma around witches as a kid. Like, my mom made me listen to Mike Wernke and wouldn’t let me go trick-or-treating because she believed that witches were sacrificing children to Satan. I had recurring nightmares – well into my 20s – about a witch who lived in the woods behind my house who tried to kill me in horrible ways.
So, while I absolutely understand that The Blair Witch Project is not for everyone, it remains the single most terrifying film I’ve ever seen.
