What is The Massacre of the Burkittsville 7?
I wrote, produced, and directed two specials for the “Blair Witch” franchise, and they were put out on VHS by Artisan under that title. Originally they were “The Burkittsville 7” and “Shadow of the Blair Witch.” Now it can be told that “Shadow” was something I did pretty much exactly the way the Artisan executives wanted me to — which isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy it — but the concept was purely theirs. “Burkittsville,” on the other hand, is one of the things I am most proud of having directed in my life. Amorette Jones from Artisan basically told me that they wanted an hour long special that opened up the mythology of the Blair Witch without talking about the first movie and without giving anything away from the second. I pitched them the idea that there is a controversy over who REALLY killed the kids in the 1940’s — The man who claimed he was told to by an “old woman ghost” and ultimately hanged for it or the older kid who was pegged as one of the victims and ultimately got aw
