If you ever felt too terrified to finish a horror movie, you are not alone, as evenStephen Kinghimself wasn’t able to go through withThe Blair Witch Projectthe first time. Even if King had previously talked about his dreadful experience, the story resurfaced this past weekend when fans uncovered that the horror legend once said the movie was too frightening for him to initially finish during an episode ofEli Roth’s History of Horror.
Talking toEli Roth, the host ofHistory of Horror, King explained the unnerving real-life circumstances of his cursed screening ofThe Blair Witch Project, which happened after a car accident that almost took his life.
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Here’s what King had to say aboutThe Blair Witch Project:
“The first time I saw [The Blair Witch Project], I was in the hospital and I was doped up. My son brought a VHS tape of it and he said, ‘You gotta watch this.’ Halfway through it, I said, ‘Turn it off it’s too freaky.’”
This is not the first time King has expressed his personal dread concerningThe Blair Witch Project. In a 2010’s reprint of King’sDanse Macabre, the writer used the foreword to praiseDaniel MyrickandEduardo Sánchez’s horror masterpiece. The foreword, which you’re able to read atBloody Disgusting, describes howThe Blair Witch Project“looks real” and “feel real," which turns it into your worst nightmare, “the one you woke from gasping and crying with relief."
King is not wrong to point out howThe Blair Witch Projectfeels real, as the movie was partially improvised, with the cast being tormented for real by the filmmakers, who hid in the woods to play the Blair Witch themselves. The success ofThe Blair Witch Projectcatapulted the popularity of the found-footage genre, turning it into of the staples of horror. Few movies, however, capture the tense atmosphere ofThe Blair Witch Project.
Eli Roth’s History of Horrorfeatures Roth, himself a horror director, interviewing the biggest names in the genre about some of the main elements that make horror such an important cornerstone of cinema. The series was renewed by AMC for a third season last January, setting a premiere for sometime later in 2021. The previous seasons are available at Shudder, and you’re able to find the episode in which King talks about his unfinished horror moviehere.
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