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The Afghanistan Witch Project, Coming to Tribeca

Karina Longworth
By Karina Longworth posted 1 year ago
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Probably in part thanks to the Tribeca Film Festival’s new pre-fest review embargo, it’s been extremely difficult thus far to get a sense of which of the festivals many, many titles are actually worth seeking out and seeing. I’m sure the embargo has a purpose, but the fact remains that we’re now five days away from opening night, and we’re starring down a festival devoid of buzz. As someone trying to figure out how to cover the thing, I’m in the odd position of reevaluating givens: I don’t know what to do with the rest of the lineup, but I know Tom Hall’s last blog post makes me think Speed Racer looks fucking awesome.

So spelunking the catalog, all I really have to go on is keywords. And, my my, what keywords do we have for the Encounters selection, The Objective: A horror film. Set in Afghanistan, beginning three days after 9/11. About a Special Ops mission in search of an Al Qaeda nukes stash, gone horribly wrong. Directed by Daniel Myrick, best known as the co-director of The Blair Witch Project. Are our jaws dropping in unison?

It’s the kind of film everyone would be talking about, if only Tribeca would let us review it before it premieres. But, they didn’t put an embargo on reviewing the trailer…

Based on the trailer embedded above, it looks like Myrick has dropped the shaky-cam, subjects-as-spectactors-as-hunted faux-documentary thing in favor of stable cameras and polished HD. But otherwise, the plot of the Objective seems to be an exact makeover of The Blair Witch Project, except transposed to Taliban-controlled, just-pre-US-invasion Afghanistan. A bunch of young people venture out into unchartered territory on a mission; they wake up to find that their shit has been fucked with; things get progressively spookier until people start dying, turning around and heading home is “not an option”; everything goes night vision and then black, and someone screams into the darkness, “What the fuck is going on?!?” Instead of a mystical, unseen villain, there’s a mystical, visible villain that, based on the last shot of the trailer, looks something like a cross between two images from Ghostbusters: the ghost from the library meets proton-gunned Slimer. The synopsis indicated this apparition has something to do with a “Middle Eastern ‘Bermuda Triangle’ of ancient evil.” Terrorists, ghosts…same thing, right?

I’m not even going to try to parse the political implications of this thing until I’ve seen it, but obviously there’s a lot of potential charge in the idea of setting a film about American guys at the mercy of a mystical, unknowable, “ancient evil” in the place and time where the War on Terror began, never mind the fact that it’s coming from the mind behind one of the greatest marketing-over-substance cinematic victories of all time. Take a look at the trailer and the Tribeca synopsis, and let me know what you think. I’ll weigh in as soon as the handcuffs are off.

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  • Tom said

    I wonder how long before a random group of 9/11 widows/families call for censorship or profit sharing.

  • Hoopla - Entertainment Blog » Blog Archive » Tribeca Watch: ‘Blair Witch’ Director Back with ‘The Objective’ said

    [...] meets Blair Witch Project in Afghanistan feel — which, honestly, is pretty damn cool. Karina over at Spout says, “… it looks like Myrick has dropped the shaky-cam, [...]

  • uuno said

    I’m sorry, but this is so insensitive. My son was turned into a pile of intestines by afghani ghosts and i really just… think that i should get some money for this.

  • Lonely L.D. Runner said

    I thought this would be a post on Morgan Spurlock’s new film.

    (By the way, is there a limit on name length? Looks like I’ll have to come up with a new clever monikor. Or surrender and use my decidedly un-clever MovieMan0283 imdb s/n.

  • Mourningmyloss said

    I too had a relative turned into a steaming pile of intestines by an afghanistan cave ghost and believe that i should get some money for something.

  • Sundarlal Chuddha said

    I am disgust at this. So saddened

  • supercrap – Afghanistan Witch Project? Hva’ pokker? said

    [...] Daniel Myrick, co-director af The Blair Witch Project, er åbenbart ude med en ny film der minder mystisk meget om … well, The Blair Witch Project. Denne gang er vi i Afganistan, 3 dage efter 9/11 - med masser af spooky ting rundt omkring. [...]

  • Inspectedbyno27 said

    The mythical evil creature looks like the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

  • Jimmyboy said

    Oh you clever posters! Of course No 9/11 widow is going to sue the filmmakers for a cut of the profit (not that there ever is any for any film according to my L.A. accountant), but I think this film actually may be based on a sermon by the late Jerry Falwell who never saw a Muslim he did not think consorted with demons. I wouldn’t be surprised if his widow and sons sued for credit. And there may be an extra million or so in compensation for making the blob look like Jerry before he passed on.

  • FuzzLinks.com » BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. In Afghanistan. 3 days after 9/11. said

    [...] Movie trailer for BLAIR WITCH director Daniel Myrick’s new horror film–resurfacing at Tribeca–set in Afghanistan 3 days after 9/11.http://blog.spout.com/2008/04/18/the-afghanistan-witch-project-coming-to-tribeca/” rel=”… [...]

  • thecogent said

    fake.

  • spono said

    wow. that looks like complete shit

  • b0omz said

    It’s a Djinn.

  • Lars Hilse said

    The trailer looks promising. But there will never be another Blair Witch project. At least not for a long time, I believe.

  • Dann said

    They were touched by his noodley appendage, then they blew it off. That’s what was on the ground and why he’s so pissed. D

  • The Chutry Experiment » Sunday Links said

    [...] points to the trailer for the latest horror film from Blair Witch director Joe Myrick.  As Karina notes, the film pretty [...]

  • links for 2008-04-21 | captains dead said

    [...] The Afghanistan Witch Project, Coming to Tribeca | SpoutBlog (tags: blairwitch 9/11 afghanistan movie DanielMyrick horror) Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]

  • BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. In Afghanistan. 3 days after 9/11. « Latino’s blog said

    [...] read more | digg story Posted by mp3latino Filed in Uncategorized [...]

  • kissesonbothcheeks said

    even though the movie takes place after 9/11, in all reality, we as americans must realize that although the date has significant meaning, so do other dates. i mean, i doubt production stops on all the holidays, president days or any other day that holds significant value

  • rochelle moore fan said

    Excellent article.

    From the Blair witch to the Celtic Witch

    we are a fanclub based in UK & EUROPE who admire celtic witch and international author of Aromatherapy & Herbalism (amazon)
    we are now (after a month) 931 members richer.

    well written, articulate and excellent

  • jefa said

    Actually, haven worked on the movie, I can say that our intention was to show that the only really blameless people (at least in this story) are the Afghanis. And if there is any point to be made, it is that we should stop wasting our time fearing and wanting to kill other men, and take a step back and realize that the real danger has, and always will be, nature. man vs man is a way for us to distract ourselves. man vs nature is what we really should fear.

    Who is the enemy? The Afghanis? Our government? our military? Ourselves?

  • Movie Quiz said

    this is one of those things where you just don’t know if its going to be a hit or not suprisngly im interested in seeing how it turns out