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GREENWICH VILLAGE
BUZZ
Web Ropes in Horror Film's Fans
THE SETTING
The midnight opening of "The Blair Witch Project" on Tuesday night attracted
a line of fans stretching well around the corner of the Angelika Film Center.
The low-budget horror film, made in eight days by five friends from the
University of Central Florida, has been promoted heavily on the Internet
for months. Tickets for the three late-night screenings were sold
out days in advance, but that didn't stop the truly devoted, who began
to line up for seats at 10 A.M. They wore "Blair Witch" T-shirts and clutched
posters, some bragging that they had already seen bootleg tapes.
The filmmakers mingled with the crowd.
THE BUZZ
Griselda Tomayo, 37, of the Upper West Side was among the first to arrive.
Twelve hours later, she was still reveling at being first in line as she
ate a chef's salad inside a tent, one of four donated by a sporting goods
store. "I've seen the film already, but I really was dying to see
everyone's reaction," she said. "I think it's the scariest movie
I've seen since 'The Exorcist.' I was a Catholic schoolgirl at the
time, and I had to sleep in my mother's bed because I was so afraid I was
going to get possessed."
Outside the tent,
a small group of admirers gathered around Abby Marceluk, 24, of Philadelphia,
and Eric Alan Ivins, 26, of Pompano Beach, Fla., the founders of "A and
E's Blair Witch Project Fanatic's Guide" (tbwp.freeservers.com).
"We fell in love
because of this movie," Ms. Marceluk said. They met in a discussion
board on the film's Web site (www.blairwitch.com) and plan to get married,
she said.
Mr. Ivins put
a hand on her shoulder. "We were keeping in touch through the Web
site, and we actually met in person at the Florida Film Festival, where
they were screening the movie," he said. "It was love at first sight."
Farther down
the line, David Viola, a 22-year-old Upper West Sider, chatted with friends
as he ate a prosciutto and mozzarella sandwich. "If it wasn't for
the Web, this movie would be nothing," he said. His friends nodded.
Edie Nugent,
18, was in full agreement. She said she had been following the film
on line for months. "Movie makers should take heed," she said.
"It's not just net geeks on line."
Ms. Nugent was
wearing a "Hello, I'm Heather Donahue" name tag. "Heather's one of
the stars," she explained, rolling her eyes after someone asked.
Like nearly everyone in the crowd, she also wore a silver pin fashioned
after the twig figures that play an important part in the movie.
"I was here at
10 in the morning to show my support," she said. "These filmmakers
cater to their fans, and because of it they have the most loyal fan pool
I've ever seen. One of the producers actually got me sunblock today when
I was waiting in line."
KIMBERLY STEVENS