Curse of the Blair Witch

Curse of the Blair Witch

Released: 1999

MPAA Rating: PG

Genre: Witch/Warlock/Cult

Nuts and Bolts: What is the chilling story that inspired three Montgomery College film students to brave the deep Black Hill Forests of Burkittsville Maryland? From here we learn the sordid history behind the urban legend known as the Blair Witch.

Summary: Let me start off by saying that the Curse of the Blair Witch is NOT a full-length theatrical presentation. This is a fictitious documentary (Or Mockumentary if you prefer) that was shown on the Sci-Fi channel in the spring of 1999 as a teaser prologue to the 1999 summer smash hit, the Blair Witch Project. Because of its relationship to the Blair Witch Project, I have found it worthy to be included here in the archives. See also, Massacre of the Burkittsville 7.

The documentary showcases the plight of three Montgomery College film students who had decided to film a documentary on a local Burkittsville Maryland urban legend known as the Blair Witch. In October of 1994, they set out into the woods never to be seen again. A year later, their footage was found.

Curse of the Blair Witch gives us a series of interviews with friends and family members of missing students Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard and Michael Williams. We also hear commentary from Burkittsville Historical Society director Bill Barnes as well as Montgomery College professor of Folklore Charles Moorehouse.

Revealed through these sources, we can break down the history of the Blair Witch phenomenon into the following tales:

Ellie Kedward: In 1785, Irish immigrant Ellie Kedward settles in the former town of Blair Maryland. Her separatist beliefs set her apart from the strict catholic profile of the town. Later that year, Ellie is accused of luring several children into her home where she allegedly engaged upon a bloodletting ritual by pricking the fingers of each child. The puritatanical community deems that Ellie is a witch and she is tried and sentenced for witchcraft. Left in the woods, Ellie dies of exposure. A year later, all of Kedward’s accusers as well as half of the children of Blair mysteriously disappear.

The Blair Witch Cult: In November of 1809 a book entitled the Blair Witch Cult surfaces. It details many of the satanic rituals presumably performed by Ellie Kedward. The sources are unknown and the events detailed in the book have never been authenticated.

Tappy East Creek: In August of 1825, ten-year-old Eileen Treacle drowns in the Tappy East Creek in Burkittsville (Formerly Blair). Eleven witnesses claim to have seen a white hand come up out of the water pulling the young girl down below. For thirteen days, the creek is overrun by black oily water and over thirty strange stick figures are found floating within it.

Coffin Rock: In 1886, eight-year-old Robin Weaver is reported missing. A search party goes out to look for her but disappears. A second search party is conducted and they find the members of the first party ritualistically massacred. They are bound to each other hand-to-foot and strange carvings are found etched into their heads. Robin Weaver appears three days later.

Burkittsville Massacre: Eccentric recluse Rustin Parr abducts seven children from the nearby community. He takes them up into his mountain home where he tortures and kills them. Another child named Kyle Brody is forced to stand in the corner of Parr’s basement and listen to the cries of the victims as Parr slaughters them. Parr turns himself in and is hanged for the murder of seven children. During his trial, he reports that he heard voices in his head (Ellie Kedward?) commanding him to kill these children. This is the last incident attributed to the Blair Witch phenomenon until October of 1994.

Special Note: There was a 30-minute companion piece to the Curse of the Blair Witch known as Sticks and Stones. This was a Blockbuster video exclusive and was never aired on network television. Most of the contents within Sticks and Stones are really nothing more than edited clips from Curse of the Blair Witch. The only thing that is offered in Sticks and Stones that we don’t find elsewhere is a three-minute sequence of lost footage from the Blair Witch Project. The clip basically just shows Mike and Heather talking about their missing friend Josh. Mike tries to keep his sanity in check and he consoles Heather by telling her that she is not to blame for what has happened. All together, if you have already seen Curse of the Blair Witch, there really is no reason to go out and buy Sticks and Stones.

Acting/Dialogue: (As quoted from my review of Massacre of the Burkittsville 7): Everyone does a real excellent presentation here. What makes this film so enticing is that it succeeds in coming off as a genuine documentary. As such, you feel as if you are watching real people that were involved in the case. I have a hard time watching this and believing that these guys are all actors.

Gore: Aside from graphic descriptions of some torture sequences there is no gore here.

Guilty Pleasures: None

The Good: This mini-documentary forms the hub of the entire Blair Witch mythos. From here we get extended insight into the details that were only seminally touched upon in the main film. The full history of Ellie Kedward is fleshed out for us and we see woodcut carvings of what the woman may have actually looked like in 1785.

I also liked the mystery surrounding the recovery of the film student’s equipment. An excavation team had come upon the remains of the burned down Parr house and found Heather’s diary and backpack buried beneath several feet of undisturbed ash, timber and soil. Scientifically there is no way that this could have been placed there without creating evidence of someone digging a hole through the basement floor. This is but one example that leads many to believe that the kids may have suffered from a supernatural death and that this is NOT all just one big elaborate hoax.

The Rustin Parr footage is extremely well done and seems as if it were filmed back in a courtroom circa 1941. The producers leave the Rustin Parr segment just ambiguous enough allowing the audience to determine for themselves whether Parr actually committed those murders, or whether he was being influenced by the ghost of the Blair Witch.

I suppose what I enjoyed the most about this film is the fact that it is all complete bullshit. But it is so well done that naļve audiences tend to believe that what they are seeing is real. This is what the Blair Witch Project SHOULD have been and I would have gladly paid full price to see this documentary brought to the theatre. Curse of the Blair Witch serves as an excellent bookend to what is otherwise a mundane film. If you have only seen the Blair Witch Project, then you are only scratching the surface of the story.

The Bad: The only bad element to this feature is that roughly 20% of its overall running time consists of repeated taglines and clips from the Blair Witch Project. Now while I appreciate the fact that this documentary was really meant to be a teaser to the main film, I’m let down by the fact that I have to sacrifice a portion of this story to segments from a film which I have already seen.

Great Lines:

"I'm finally finished." --The alleged words spoken by Rustin Parr before turning himself in to local authorities.

Overall Rating: 9 out of 10 severed heads.

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