Latest Cuts: BBFC and MPA

The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 US horror mystery by Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez
Starring Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams and Joshua Leonard

Always uncut. There also exists variants via a workprint, screener version and festival cut suggesting a little late tinkering with the film prior to release.

Summary Notes

Three film students vanish after traveling into a Maryland forest to film a documentary on the local Blair Witch legend, leaving only their footage behind.

UK: Uncut and BBFC 15 rated for strong language and moderate horror:

• 2024 Second Sight Films [Theatrical Version + 2 variants] Limited Edition (RB) Blu-ray at UK Amazon #ad released on 11th November 2024
• 2024 Second Sight Films [Theatrical Version + 2 variants] (RB) Blu-ray at UK Amazon #ad released on 11th November 2024
• 2024 Second Sight Films Amazon VoD [UK] at UK Amazon #ad

Promotional Material

Three film students head into the woodlands of Maryland in search of the Blair Witch, a local legend that has haunted the town of Burkittsville for centuries, as part of a documentary project. They were never seen again. This footage is all that remains of that fateful excursion.

Special Features

• A new Second Sight Films restoration from the original Hi-8 videotapes and 16mm film elements, supervised and approved by the Producers and Directors
• 2-disc edition Includes restored and remastered Original Theatrical Cut and Festival Cut plus original-release version
• The Blair Witch Documentary: a new feature-length Second Sight Films production
• New audio commentary by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson
• Directors' and Producers' audio commentary
• Deleted scenes including previously unseen video and 16mm footage
• The Blair Witch Project: Analogue Horror in a Digital World by Mike Muncer
• Curse of the Blair Witch
• Alternate Endings
• Cannes 1999: archive Director's interview
• Trailers

Limited Edition Contents

• Rigid slipcase with new artwork by Timothy Pittides
• 184-page hardback book with archive production materials and new essays by Stacey Abbott, Becky Darke, Adam Hart, Craig Ian Mann, Mary Beth McAndrews, Dr. Cecilia Sayad, Pete Turner and Heather Wixson
• Heather's Journal
• 3 collectors' art cards

Slap the Monster on Page One is a 1972 Italy/France mystery thriller by Marco Bellocchio
Starring Gian Maria Volontè, Fabio Garriba and Carla Tatò

BBFC cuts were required for a 15 rated Blu-ray release in 2024. The BBFC cited child protection issues.

UK: BBFC 15 rated for strong bloody violence, language, threat, injury detail after BBFC cuts:

• 2024 Radiance Films RAB Blu-ray at UK Amazon #ad released on 18th November 2024

The BBFC commented:

This film required a compulsory cut to a potentially indecent image of a child. Cuts were made in accordance with BBFC Guidelines, policy, and the Protection of Children Act 1978.

Thanks to Mike who reports on a discussion from another forum:

At one point in the film an investigative journalist goes to the house of the chief murder suspect and takes a look inside his closet. He sees a range of pictures of children and religious iconography of cherubs. These images are all perfectly innocent, but there is another composite image of a nude adult woman in a sexualised pose with the head of the underaged murder victim stuck on top of it.

As I understand it, this would be considered a pseudo-photograph under UK law, and indecent since it gives the impression of being an image of a child. If so, then I'm fairly sure it's the first indecent pseudo-photograph that the BBFC have ever cut..

Promotional Material

Days before a general election a young girl is raped and murdered. Bizanti (Gian Maria Volonté, The Working Class Goes to Heaven), the editor of a right-wing newspaper uses the story to help the conservative candidate his paper supports. The tumultuous time of Italy's 'Years of Lead' are captured in Marco Bellocchio's powerful political drama which directly addressed topics of its day and even prefigured the creation of the right-wing paper Il giornale, which came into being two years after this film. In an age of media manipulation Slap the Monster on Page One has never been more relevant and stands proudly alongside such Italian activist classics as We Still Kill the Old Way and The Mattei Affair.

LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES

• 4K restoration of the film from the original negative by Cineteca di Bologna in collaboration with Surf Film and Kavac Film, under the supervision of director Marco Bellocchio
• Uncompressed mono PCM audio
• Archival interview with Marco Bellocchio (21 mins)
• Newly filmed interview with critic and author Mario Sesti (2024, 25 mins)
• Appreciation by filmmaker Alex Cox (2024, 10 mins)
• Newly improved English subtitle translation
• Reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters
• Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Wesley Sharer