Five Horror Classics That Should Never Be Remade, Rebooted, Recalibrated, Whatever

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

Say what you want about “The Blair Witch Project” today – it’s not scary, it’s over-rated, it deserves a special place in Hell for starting the “found footage” trend – whatever.  If you were old enough to appreciate horror films when this flick took the Sundance Film Festival by storm in ’99, you would understand why it is considered a true classic.

That is not to say that it is a perfect film.  It’s more of a study of how fragile we human beings really are than a horror film.  Alone and lost in the woods, the three main characters self-destruct and become their own worst enemies, which could have led to an interesting commentary on how fear can get the better of us, even if we are the only ones to fear – except for the fact that SOMETHING is going on in that abandoned house in the woods during the last few minutes of the flick.

It’s easy to see someone saying, “This film had potential, but didn’t deliver the scares, so let’s give it another go!”   But even though “The Blair Witch Project” is an imperfect film, it was a game-changer, and no remake/reboot could ever hope to duplicate that.  Between its masterful online publicity campaign, to its innovative approach to filming (the actors did all of the filming themselves, and were literally hiking in the woods, being spooked by the directors at night so they literally were exhausted), to yes, its invention of the found-footage genre, it all adds up to a once-in-a-lifetime event, so leave it alone!

Next: The Thing