The Unclean

Film students Heather Donahue, Michael Williams and Joshua Leonard go missing in October 1994 while making a documentary about the Blair Witch and their bodies are never found. The Blair Witch is a legendary creature believed to haunt the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland. A year later, the footage the students shot has been recovered, and the film in its entirety is composed of fragments of that footage.

Shot in a mixture of color and black and white, with shaky handheld camera movements and only natural lighting, the footage includes material that was intended to be used in the documentary, but the bulk of the film shows the experience of the three students as they wander through the woods. Occasionally, the view switches out to a kind of “mood footage” (footage of no characters, just video of the environment) while the audio track continues.

Soon after setting out, they become hopelessly lost; their situation worsens when Michael, in frustration, kicks their only map of the area into the river without telling the others. Over a period of several days, a number of terrifying, mysterious, and possibly supernatural events occur. In one scene, the crew hikes for more than half of the day only to end up in the same spot where they had started.
Directed by Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sánchez
Written by Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sánchez
Starring Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard & Michael C. Williams