In this blog entry for the Herald, I mark the release of Blair Witch by decrying the state of the once-promising ‘Found Footage’ sub-genre, which has had all its considerable potential squandered by innumerable less-than-creative entries.

The Blair Witch Project was a bonafide phenomenon when it was released in 1999.

Perfectly timed to benefit from lingering ignorance about the internet and what strange things might be lurking there, the huge success of the film was greatly informed by the hint of ambiguity that surrounded its origins.

Pretty much everyone knew it was staged, but the tiniest amount of doubt went a long way towards enhancing the mythology of the film and helped audiences move beyond the non-existent production values.

It was a wholly singular film-going experience. And that’s the problem. Every subsequent found footage movie has suffered for lacking that ambiguity, however minuscule it was.