Stephen King’s ‘Hearts in Suspension’ Addresses Persistent Echoes of the Past [The Losers’ Club Podcast]

Guess what’s making headlines again? The Blair Witch Project! And this time, there’s no debate about its authenticity.

Perhaps you’ve caught wind of the news that Lionsgate is joining forces with Blumhouse to breathe new life into some of their horror classics. They’re kicking things off with The Blair Witch Project. As expected, the internet has been buzzing with mixed reactions about the revival of this iconic film. The announcement has also stirred up some old grievances among the original cast. Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard penned an open letter to Lionsgate, demanding residuals, control over their image use in future franchise installments, and a grant for budding filmmakers.

What might surprise you is that since The Blair Witch Project was released, a slew of Blair Witch spin-offs have emerged without the direct involvement of Donahue, Williams, and Leonard. Some have used their names or made references to them, while others have not, likely due to legal complications.

In this week’s episode of Bloody FM’s Guide to the Unknown, we delve into some of these early 2000s creations, exploring the novels The Blair Witch Files: The Witch’s Daughter and Graveyard Shift, the comic book The Blair Witch: Dark Testaments, and a SyFy TV special titled Shadow of the Blair Witch, which was released in tandem with Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2.

Yes, we’ve been down this road before. Both Will and I, Kristen, are die-hard fans of The Blair Witch Project. This marks our sixth, and likely last until the new movie, episode on the main GTTU feed about the films and all the related materials. This content often goes unnoticed unless you’re a hardcore fan (like us!), so we’re thrilled to share it with a broader audience.

Our discussion about the additional Blair Witch content took on a new perspective in light of the original stars’ statement. What if their characters had been more deeply woven into the narrative beyond the first film? It’s a thought-provoking question.

It’s clear that Heather, Mike, and Josh have been sporadically featured in the two Blair Witch sequels without any financial reward. This is a significant part of the problem. However, as we discuss in the episode, there’s reason to believe their absence from most subsequent works was deliberate. How might this universe of books, TV specials, comics, and video games have evolved if they had been more involved?

We can only speculate, but we sincerely hope they reach a fair resolution. We’re definitely rooting for them. (No, not that corner.)

For a deep dive into these Blair Witch extras, tune into this week’s episode of Guide to the Unknown. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts to receive a new episode every Friday.