A small technical error has caused that, 25 years later, The Blair Witch Project will have a new version. According to Michael Monello, one of its producers, the film will now reflect the true vision of its creators, Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick.
But what error are they exactly referring to? The answer to the question is provided by Monello, who posted the following on his X profile: “The Blair Witch Project was shot on Hi8 video and 16 mm black and white film, and it was edited on a Media 100XR, a non-linear editing system widely used at the time.” He continues explaining that “since theaters back then didn’t have video projectors, we had to transfer our DigiBeta master to 35 mm through a process called ‘telecine‘.” The telecine is a process that converts a film recorded in cinema to a format compatible with digital devices.
When the film transitioned from theaters to home video, the distributor Artisan made a serious mistake: they did not use the original master and instead used the telecine transfer. According to Monello, this caused “motion errors,” altered colors, and a general loss of detail. Now, the new version fixes all these issues, in addition to being “even more terrifying” if that’s possible. This new re-release also includes 90 minutes of deleted footage and a new documentary.
For the moment, this version will only be released in Europe. Monello himself suggested that users contact Lionsgate so that it can also be released in the United States.
