Entertainment Weekly - October 20, 2017

THE BLAIR

WITCH

PROJECT

By Shirley Li

SECRETS OF A

SUPERCHEAP MEGAHIT

1999

The faux documentary

that spawned the

modern found-footage

horror genre earned

$248.6 million worldwide—but cost

only $60,000 to make. Here’s how.

FREE FOLEY

Forget child actors: Codirector Eduardo

Sánchez’s mom, a babysitter, helped cap-

ture the sounds of children, which Sán-

chez and codirector Daniel Myrick used

to unsettle the cast, playing the sounds

on cassette in the woods. Star Michael C.

Williams says he wasn’t scared, though:

“You would hear the [boom box] click and

then ‘Tee-hee!’ It was obvious.”

FINGER-PAINT FUN

Art director Ricardo Moreno pulled a

similar trick, recruiting his nephews to

spookify the set. “We knew we needed

some kids’ handprints,” Sánchez

recalls, “so Rick just got black paint and

had them put their hands all over the

walls.” Little did they know their day of

fun yielded a seriously creepy scene.

ON-SET SEAMSTRESS

No clothing budget, no problem! The

cast wore their own duds—and solved

their own wardrobe malfunctions.

“You’re running around every day,

and it’s one pair of jeans, so every day

my pants would rip,” Williams says.

“I’d call [costar Heather Donahue] and

go, ‘Could you sew my pants?’ Thank

God she brought a sewing kit.” If only

she’dbroughtaGPS.

a new show,Charmed, in 1998. Its

theme song? Love Spit Love’s cover of the

Smiths’ “How Soon Is Now?”—the same

song that plays when Nancy, Rochelle,

and Bonnie first introduce themselves to

Sarah after school.

FLEMINGThat cover of the Smiths’

song was my idea. I wrote a pilot of

The Craft for Fox. The WB wanted to

take it and Fox wouldn’t let it go. And

then the next year,Charmed came out.

TUNNEYCharmed is a rip-off ofThe

Craft. It was completely obvious to

the point that people would think I

was onCharmed for years after.

It’s a mistake people rarely make any-

more, withThe Craft’s legacy lasting

more than two decades. There’s even a

remake—complete with a script—

under way at Sony.

TUNNEY Somehow it still speaks to

everybody’s inner teenage girl. I

went to a bachelorette party where

everybody had to bring their guilty-

pleasure movies and Natalie

Portman broughtThe Craft. She was

too embarrassed to take it out

because I was there. She was like, “Is

this flattering or insulting?”

TRUEI can still go anywhere in the

world, just about, and get a hemp

bracelet for free.

BALK I still get tweets about it. What

an honor to have been part of some-

thing that people love so much.X

Nancy Downs

The Craft

In a high school

coven, one witch casts

a love spell, one

makes herself prettier,

another gets revenge

on a bully. And Nancy?

Nancy murders her

stepdad and cashes

in his life insurance.

02

Wicked Witch of

the West

The Wizard of Oz

You never forget

your first witch—

especially when she

rolls with such a hairy

entourage. (Flying

monkeys sound cute

in theory. In reality,

not so much.)

01

Willow

Rosenberg

Buffy the

Vampire Slayer

Stopping the world

from being sucked

into the Hellmouth?

Just another Tuesday

night in Sunnydale

for this ginger

sorceress.

03 04

The Halliwell

Sisters

Charmed

Neither demon

nor warlock nor

Darklighter could

stop the Power of

Three—or their very

’90s midriff tops!

Marnie Stonebrook

True Blood

It’s always the quiet

ones. The wicked

Wiccan of the

South resisted Eric—

he was played by

Alexander Skarsgård,

so...it was impres-

sive—and brought

down Jesus.

The Sanderson

Sisters

Hocus Pocus

No costumes needed

for these colorful

sibs. Their idea of

Halloween involves

turning people into

animals and sacrific-

ing virgins. Their only

buzzkill? Sunrise.

06

Sabrina Spellman

Sabrina the

Teenage Witch

The teen could

change outfits,

traverse continents,

and—this is the one

we’re most jealous

of—summon pan-

cakes with just the

point of a finger.

05

Bellatrix

Lestrange

Harry Potter films

That crazy cackle, that

unwieldy hair, that

victim list (R.I.P.

Dobby, Sirius...). Move

over, Voldemort, this

B is the one who

should not be

named—or crossed.

08

White Witch

The Chronicles

of Narnia

Magic is about power,

and Jadis single-

handedly froze the

entire continent of

Narnia in a 100-year

winter and killed God...

though that came back

to bite her in theend.

07

10

Alexandra, Jane,

and Sukie

The Witches

of Eastwick

This trio of small-town

gals seemed unas-

suming enough—until

they discovered their

magical abilities. Then

not even the devil

could mess with them.

09

 Heather Donahue

The most badass broom-wielding broads on

screen.BY CHRISTIAN HOLUB & RUTH KINANE

THE WIZARD OF OZ

,THE CRAFT

,CHARMED

,THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK

,THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT

: KOBAL/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK (5);

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE

SLAYER

: KWAKU ALSTON/THE WB;

SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH

: GEORGE LANGE/ABC/GETTY IMAGES;

HOCUS POCUS

: ANDREW COOPER/DISNEY;

THE

CHRONICLES OF NARNIA

: PHIL BR AY/DISNE Y;

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE

: WARNER BROS.;

TRUE BLOOD

: JOHN P. JOHNSON/HBO