Episode 196 – Lost and Never Found: On 'The Blair Witch Project'

Of all the flavors of horror, few are as dreadful as that of being lost in the wilderness. In this episode, JF and Phil revisit The Blair Witch Project, the classic 1999 found-footage film that inspired a thousand imitators. What makes this film so gripping, they argue, is the way it lingers over the subtle stages of disorientation in a hostile place, from blithe denial to devastating gnosis. The Blair Witch Project isn't a ghost story so much as a work of cosmic horror. Ultimately, the woods themselves—vast, indifferent, inescapable—are the monster. Support Weird Studies on Patreon. Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack, volumes 1 and 2, on Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp page. Visit the Weird Studies ⁠Bookshop⁠ Find us on ⁠Discord⁠ Get the T-shirt design from ⁠Cotton Bureau⁠. Listen to Meredith Michael and Gabriel Lubell's podcast, Cosmophonia. References Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez (dirs.), The Blair Witch Project Gus Van Sant (dir.), Gerry Martin Heidegger, Being and Time Weird Studies, Episode 195 on John Keel Gilbert Simondon, Imagination and Invention Georgio De Chirico, Italian artist Arthur Machen, The White People Jack Zipes, literary scholar Weird Studies, Episode 150 on Arthur Machen's “A Fragment of Life” “Schizophonia” Stanislav Lem, Solaris Andrei Tarkovsky (dir.), Solaris Beyond Yacht Rock Podcast Shirley Clarke (dir.), The Connection Gilles Deleuze, Cinema 1: The Movement-Image Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices