I’m watching a horror movie every day in October 2026 — and I’m starting with The Blair Witch Project

Kicking Off 31 Days of Horror

I've always loved horror, but October is when I really get to indulge in it. I love the colder weather, the darker evenings and, obviously, the fact that Halloween is just around the corner. There’s something about this time of year that makes watching horror movies feel even better. Give me a dark room, a blanket and a genuinely creepy movie and I’m pretty much sorted.

So this year, I’m taking my love of horror a little further. I’m challenging myself to watch one horror movie every day for 31 days, taking me from October 1 all the way through Halloween. Some of these are old favorites I haven’t watched in years and desperately need a refresher on, while others are films I’ve somehow never seen before.

For day one, I’m watching “The Blair Witch Project,” the found footage horror classic that became a phenomenon when it was released in 1999. Will I make it through the month? There’s only one way to find out.

What is ‘The Blair Witch Project’ about?

“The Blair Witch Project” follows three film students, Heather (Heather Donahue), Mike (Michael C. Williams) and Josh (Joshua Leonard), who travel to Burkittsville, Maryland, to make a documentary about the local legend of the Blair Witch. They interview residents about the mysterious figure and several disturbing incidents associated with the surrounding woods before setting off into the Black Hills Forest to investigate for themselves.

After hiking deeper into the forest, the trio struggles to find their way back to their car. Their situation becomes increasingly difficult as they encounter strange piles of stones, mysterious stick figures and unexplained noises around their campsite. Arguments begin to break out as they realize they are lost and have no clear way home.

My thoughts after watching ‘The Blair Witch Project’

It’s been a while since I last watched “The Blair Witch Project,” so I definitely needed that refresh, and honestly, I think I enjoyed it even more this time around. As someone who loves found footage, I found this particularly immersive because of the way it was filmed. The whole movie feels like you’re experiencing everything alongside these characters rather than simply watching a horror movie unfold.

And the marketing for this back in 1999 was pretty insane. The filmmakers went all in on making people believe this was genuine. Even the opening note tells us that this is recovered footage, and essentially everything we’re seeing is raw footage from these three characters. Because if this really was recovered footage, they obviously wouldn’t have had the chance to edit it.

I also think the three central performances are really believable and genuinely haunting. And I love that you never actually see the Blair Witch. We’re experiencing these strange events alongside Heather, Mike and Josh, as they slowly descend into paranoia and madness while they’re lost in the woods and seemingly being taunted by something they can’t see.

I was actually surprised to find out this got some pretty polarizing reviews, with people calling it boring, overhyped, or criticizing the ending for being unsatisfying. Personally, I don’t really agree with those takes. I think “The Blair Witch Project” is designed to be a suspenseful experience that leaves you with questions and gives your imagination room to come up with your own theories.

Overall, “The Blair Witch Project” is a really clever film that clearly made a huge impact on the found footage genre. It’s still an incredibly influential movie, and I found it to be a genuinely unsettling watch.