Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick’s The Blair Witch Project slithered into theaters 20 years ago, and with it came a new breed of horror.
Marrying found footage with blood-curdling terror, the film became a global sensation, inspiring all sorts of spinoffs both on screen and off – the latest of which is coming by way of Microsoft and developer Bloober (Layers of Fear). But what are the chances of revisiting the dreaded Black Hills forest on the big screen?
Not since 2016 has there been a live-action installment in the franchise, though while chatting to ComicBook.com, co-director Eduardo Sanchez hinted at possible future films in this most iconic series.
I still think that there is a way to bring back a little bit of the mystery of Blair Witch, which is the newness of it. I’m not sure if going on the sequel route is the way to do it. For me, it would have to be a uniquely singular film. It’d have to be a film that somehow had, not found footage again, of course, but something that does something that doesn’t look like a normal film, that doesn’t have the same subject matter as a normal film.
So after one sequel and a soft reboot, the Blair Witch series remains in stasis, and if Eduardo Sanchez and his team ever get the chance to revisit Black Hills forest, it’ll be for a “uniquely singular film,” not some derivative horror spinoff. And yes, it seems the filmmaker is already mulling over one or two ideas…
I’ve always had a desire to do the original story of how Elly Kedward was found guilty and banished into the woods, and what happened to that, Blair Township, in the late 1700s. What happened to them? To me, that was the movie that I wanted to make after the first Blair Witch. We had a little bit of a window where I think we could have got it. We could have gotten it done, but the timetable wasn’t right. It just wasn’t, for a lot of different reasons.
A period piece with tinges of horror? Where do we sign up? Truth be told, it’ll likely be a while yet before Sanchez and the Powers That Be are ready to announce something official. But, as always, we’ll be keeping you right up-to-date with everything Blair Witch as time wears on.
For now though, tell us, should Sanchez and Co. let sleeping dogs (or witches?) lie? Or is there still life in this franchise yet? Do let us know.
