In what is being called one of the most groundbreaking online events in history, Internet users have the opportunity to become a part of the “Blair Witch” legend - and just in time for the release of the famed independent film’s sequel, “Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2,” on Oct. 27.
The Blair Witch WebFest - which kicked off at 9 a.m. Wednesday and will begin to wrap up at 10:30 p.m. Friday - is already set to impress with dozens of live events scheduled and round-the-clock access for registered users.
“The Blair Witch WebFest is a live event that only your participation will define,” according to an announcement on the Web site. “Live Webcasts and chats will connect you with the legends of sci-fi and horror as well as underground sources for the macabre. Together you will examine the legend that became a phenomenon.”
The WebFest is undoubtedly taking film marketing to the next level, continuing the surprising job the producers did on the first film.
“Film marketing is the key to box office success,” said Erik Lunde, a professor of American Thought and Language. “I think film marketing is a very difficult art, and if you look at what they did with the first movie, it’s amazing.”
The Web site, www.blairwitchwebfest.com, includes a schedule of events from online chats with the cast and crew of the film to live Web broadcasts of the film’s soundtrack bands performing in the Black Hills of Maryland, made famous by the first film.
“While programming will be round-the-clock, many of the events will only happen live,” the Web site’s schedule says. “You’ll be given a tour through the history of witchcraft, witness the paranormal and be able to chat with convicts who use possession as a means of defense.”
Users will “get behind the scenes of ‘Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2’ and the new Sci-Fi Channel special, ‘Shadow of the Blair Witch.’”
As for the much-anticipated sequel, which takes place in the same eerie woods and creepy town as the first, it looks promising.
The free-camera, documentary-style isn’t as prevalent in this movie, but the cast still uses their real names and the film was directed by Joe Berlinger, who is famous for his work on award-winning documentaries such as “Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills.”
The story follows four young - maybe a bit too interested - people who commit themselves to a tour of the Black Hills led by Jeff Donovan, not surprisingly a mysterious townie.
The campers spend the night in the woods, sleeping near the house that appeared at the end of the original, “The Blair Witch Project.” And once they awaken and return home, they find that five hours of the night are missing and they can’t even remember going to sleep.
And that’s when the cat really gets let out of the bag.
According to the film’s official Web site, www.blairwitch.com, “bizarre symbols appear on their bodies, children’s plaintive crying is heard, phantasmagoric visions confound their eyes, and fleeting apparitions suggest the villainy of the distant past.”
With all the hype that surrounded the first film, and in turn, all the hype that surrounds this one, it will not be surprising to see this WebFest attract more Internet-savvy Blair Witch fans and the movie draw in more movie-lovers than expected.
“I want to see this movie live up to the first one,” telecommunication freshman Vicente Ojeda said. “I want to see that it is actually good and not just a quick attempt by the producers to make money.”
