Blair Witch Creators Reveal the Movie’s ‘Spiritual Connection’ to Their New Film and Tease the Franchise’s Upcoming Reboot

Two decades after the release of The Blair Witch Project, the creators behind the found-footage success are back with a new film that puts a modern spin on the documentary-style horror genre. In The Influencer Project, influencer Chiara King travels to Copenhagen to showcase the "glamorous business of online fame." However, her documentary crew uncovers a menacing stalker, causing the line between content and evidence, follower and predator, fact and fiction to blur.

Producer Gregg Hale and director Eduardo Sanchez, who also worked on the original Blair Witch Project, discussed how the new format of The Influencer Project connects to the earlier film and what we can expect from the upcoming 2027 Blair Witch Project reboot. With social media influencers, vertical video, surveillance cameras, and body cams becoming the norm, Sanchez stated that they couldn't ignore these elements in the new Blair Witch movie.

"We don't want to say too much about the new Blair Witch movie," Sanchez said. "But yeah, I mean eventually if you're making it in this era, you have to play with the toys that are available."

Hale added that the creators focus on the story, characters, and setting rather than the specific language of found-footage. Sanchez noted that the pervasiveness of cameras in The Influencer Project was easier to explain narratively compared to The Blair Witch Project, as the latter was set in 1994 where people used 16mm and Hi8 cameras for filming.

In The Influencer Project, the audience witnesses Chiara being stalked by an unknown figure, with their reactions fueling a constant stream of content. While The Blair Witch Project relied on a literal monster in the dark, The Influencer Project focuses on more grounded terror, exploring the darker side of online life and its effects on its audience.

The spiritual connection between The Blair Witch Project and this new film lies in the idea that we are all living in an internet wilderness filled with both positive and negative experiences, as highlighted by Hale. The Influencer Project is currently playing in theaters.