When “The Blair Witch Project” was released in 1999, many thought it was much more than a horror movie. In the first example of viral marketing for a movie, the film’s producers sold their fake documentary as a real one — complete with a website that featured faux police and news reports about the story’s missing victims. The movie’s IMDB page even listed its three actors as missing or presumed dead.
Meanwhile, the filmmakers passed out “missing” posters at early screenings, urging audiences to come forward if they had any information on Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard. So, when audiences turned out by the millions to see the film, many of them believed they were really watching the last moments of three people just before they were killed by a supernatural force.
Check out the rest of the article
