Can you believe it's been ten years since THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT took the world by storm? Remember the build-up? Those mysterious posters months before release making everyone think it was a documentary? “In October of 1994 three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland while shooting a documentary... A year later their footage was found,” read the eerie teaser.

Hack quote extraordinaire Peter Travers famously declared, “I have seen the new face of movie horror and its name is THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT.” Rumors flooded the net and had horror fans debating the authenticity of the footage. And this was all months before the movie even hit screens. It was the birth of viral marketing and the first evidence that the internet itself was a viable marketing tool.

Personally, the film itself didn't do a lot for me. The hype was really the best part. I watched a bootleg copy on VHS sitting on my couch in the middle of the afternoon and, to be fair, I knew the footage wasn’t real before I saw it. Still, with all the buildup, I don't know, I was just expecting something more. It didn't scare me and, more than that, with all the shaky, out-of-focus camera work, I had a hard time figuring out what the hell was going on. It seemed to me like they just threw together sticks, stones, eerie sound effects, a runny nose and called it a movie. I gave it a second chance in theaters once it really caught fire and though I had much the same feelings regarding the film itself, watching the audience reaction was all the entertainment I needed - seats squeaking with every jump, screams and gasps as the shaky black-and-white “found” footage blurred through those final mysterious scenes. Audiences were truly taken with this simple little indie film.

No matter what your opinion of BLAIR WITCH, it's important for the groundbreaking marketing and its contribution to the independent film movement. After all, BLAIR may not usually get mentioned in the same breath as CLERKS or John Waters and Jim Jarmusch flicks, but taking a $60,000 production budget and pulling in a cool $248 mil in total box office (not including home video) is quite an accomplishment. And let’s not forget, this movie had no stars, unknown directors and was shot on handheld camcorders. No doubt, filmmakers Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez deserve accolades on this year’s tenth anniversary. Perhaps they even deserve a little slack on BLAIR WITCH 2. Not a lot, but a little. What they pulled off was nothing short of astounding, even if it did eventually mean every douchebag with a camcorder thought they could make a movie.

In the ten years since those innovative sticks and stones, more than a few horror movies have tried to recapture that same lightening in a bottle. As BD’s own Brian Collins aptly put it, "Every shot-on DV indie in the past decade owes its existence to BLAIR.” Most have fallen flat on their face never to see the light of day, but a few have taken the teachings of BLAIR's success and found similar success. Now, let’s take a look at some of the highlights (or low lights, depending on your perspective).

In 2002, MY LITTLE EYE split reactions from critics and fans (much like BLAIR), but its innovative plot was a spin on both BLAIR and more lame reality TV programs than I care to name here. In the story, the relatively unknown cast (at the time, at least, though it was one of the early film roles for Bradley Cooper) move into an isolated mansion where they have agreed to be filmed around the clock for six months. The prize for survival is a million bucks. If anyone leaves, they all lose. Of course, as might be expected, there is more to the game than just lounging around the house. Someone soon starts playing a series of mean-spirited bloody tricks on the house guests and cold, dead bodies start to hang around.

The next year, OPEN WATER became the next docu-style thriller to chill audiences on the cheap. Unlike BLAIR, WATER actually was based on a true story, albeit in very loose form. Instead of evil spirits and demonic witches, WATER goes back to the trusty sharp-toothed baddies of the sea when a husband and wife are accidentally left behind by their boat in shark-infested waters. To the occasionally hokey story’s credit, it is fairly relentless and, though the fate of our heroes is sealed almost from the get-go, director Chris Kentis appears to enjoy toying with them as audiences squirm.

A few years later THE ZOMBIE DIARIES took a cue from BLAIR and George Romero in a post-apocalyptic story told in shaky handheld DV documentary-style footage from three perspectives that gradually explain the plague’s spread across the planet.

In 2007, the Spanish horror film REC (and its 2008 American remake, QUARANTINE) takes the found footage angle and gives it a twist in its story of a TV news reporter that unwittingly stumbles on the story of a lifetime. When all hell breaks loose at the quarantined apartment building, Angela Vidal is the only reporter of record and her footage later becomes the only explanation for the stories mysterious events.

Also in ’07, horror maestro George Romero even took a cue from the BLAIR WITCH with his independently produced fifth DEAD zombie flick, DIARY OF THE DEAD. In the film a group of student filmmakers are shooting a horror film of their own when the hell of the zombie apocalypse breaks loose. One of the aspiring filmmakers senses an opportunity and decides to turn the cameras on the chaos for a documentary style chronicle of the zombie takeover.

2008‘s CLOVERFIELD probably took the concept the furthest since BLAIR and produced the most successful result, both critically and commercially. Like BLAIR, CLOVERFIELD was shot handheld to look like found footage, this time chronically a monster’s smashing up New York City RAMPAGE-style. Of course, with a more extensive production budget and casting money for the likes of sexy Odette Yustman and studly Mike Vogel, CLOVERFIELD had a much more polished, slick look. With that said, the idea was nearly identical. Abrams and crew mimicked BLAIR’s innovative marketing campaign to similar fan fair. Teaser posters showing only the now-iconic image of a beheaded Lady Liberty and the date 1-18-08 brilliantly teased audiences who wondered aloud, “What the hell is this all about?” Paramount followed with a series of hint-driven web sites and a great trailer resulting in feverish anticipation by the time the 18th of ’08 finally rolled around. It worked like a dream and the little monster movie that could raked in $170 million worldwide.

This past summer, Neil Blomkamp’s well-reviewed DISTRICT 9 eclipsed its meager $30 million production budget with a $37 million dollar opening weekend. Sure, that production budget doesn’t include the cost of the clever marketing campaign (which surely eclipsed production costs) but with $123 million box office so far and counting, I’d say all involved are doing just fine. Blomkamp’s original concept paralleled actual events that took place in South Africa during apartheid and threw in alien invaders. Like CLOVERFIELD, DIARY and, of course, BLAIR, Blomkamp’s alien invasion flick used the faux-documentary style, this time weaving in footage compiled from video surveillance cameras, news reports and interviews.

Even on this year of the tenth anniversary, the influence of BLAIR is never far off. The forthcoming PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, which has been compared to BLAIR almost relentlessly, probably wouldn’t exist without those sticks and stones. In the most recent trailer for the film, green night vision footage (a la A NIGHT IN PARIS) shows the audience jumping, screaming and clutching one another while sitting through an early viewing. Shot in handheld form, the story tells the tale of a young couple in their new suburban starter home and their brushes with supernatural occurrences. Early buzz is strong and even (ahem, pause for shameless plug) BD’s own notoriously picky Brad Miska raves that it is “one of the scariest movies of all time.”

BLAIR WITCH’s influence on the horror genre and independent filmmaking in general is unmistakable and it’s hard to find a similar break out since. BLAIR truly came out of the blue, which was what really made the whole experience so exciting. It wasn’t developed by marketing execs in a studio, but by creative minds with a great idea who threw what little cash they had down on the table and just made a movie. For every story like Sanchez and Myrick’s profound success, there are a million little failures that never saw the light of day.

Love it or loathe it, THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT was a sizable accomplishment and remains an important release to the horror genre and to the independent film movement at large. Bloody-Disgusting salutes everyone involved in THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT on this 10th anniversary.

What’s your greatest BLAIR WITCH memory and what do you think are the best and worth examples of it’s influence?