Long before the wildfire success of Paranormal Activity, the super-low-budget indie-horror heavyweight crown belonged to The Blair Witch Project, the shakycam phenomenon that was made on a $20,000 budget. And, it seems, after the piles of money made by the more recent film, the original Blair Witch directors might be looking to take their handheld cameras back into the woods one more time.
In a recent interview with the Toronto Star, Eduardo Sanchez, who co-directed Blair Witch with friend and partner Daniel Myrick, said the two have a treatment for a new story, which would pick up where the first film left off and ignore the commercial and critical failure Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 entirely. Sanchez and Myrick had been offered the chance to direct the ill-fated sequel, but had declined, so as to avoid being “seen as one-trick ponies.”
So, how much does the success of Paranormal Activity have to do with Sanchez’ decision to revisit old territory? “I wouldn’t be completely honest with you if I said I wasn’t jealous of Paranormal Activity,” he says. “I’m happy for the guy … but at the same time, there’s the feeling that, man, I could have done this. It would have been different and might not have been as good. But I know how to make these films. To me it’s like, man, maybe I should go back and kind of milk this one more time.”
However, he assures fans that the new film won’t be a complete re-tread of the original movie. The creators want to rely less on their original innovation of having the characters talk directly to the camera, and move toward a style Sanchez refers to as “mixed first-person.” The closest example he points to is the brilliant District 9, which begins in documentary style and moves into a traditional thriller as the plot presses forward.
“We’re at the step where we’re about to pitch to Lionsgate, which owns the movie rights now,” says Sanchez. “It’s pretty much up to them. They can completely squash it or greenlight it.”
If there’s any lesson to be learned from the Paranormal Activity phenomenon, it’s that there’s still money to be made with a handheld camera and a few frantic actors yelling at each other. It might be a wise move on Lionsgate’s part to move ahead with this – and, frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if they did.
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