Four Corners of Fear was a found footage web series and parody/comedy directed by Eduardo Sánchez and written by the ensemble cast that also stars in the web series: Evan Ferrante, Dan Karcher, Joshua Leonard and Michael C. Williams. The series follows Eduardo Sánchez filming BW 3, the fictitious third installment in the Blair Witch franchise. The web series was shot in 2008, and released in 2013 on YouTube.
The web series consisting of fourteen episodes, with a cumulative runtime of 66 minutes. The show covers the filming of BW 3, including behind the scenes outtakes and interviews with the production crew and cast. Four Corners of Fear reunites many of the cast and crew members from the original The Blair Witch Project. All of the cast members play themselves, except for Evan Ferrante, who portrays actor Tom Cruise.
Plot[]
- "The first movie is the first corner of fear. The second movie was not really a corner—it was more like a closet. Sort of in the same room but not really directly related to the Blair mythology. This third movie is the third corner of fear. And finally, it will be four corners of fear. This movie really will be three times as scary as the first one because it’s four corners of fear."
- —Eduardo Sánchez
The series opens with director Eduardo Sánchez explaining that the studio contacted the original crew about making another Blair Witch movie in the same spirit as the original film. The new film stars Joshua Leonard and Michael C. Williams, who reprise their characters Josh and Michael from the original movie. Actress Heather Donahue, who plays Heather in the first film elects not to take part in the new film, apparently due to a personal issue with actor Joshua Leonard—Joshua Leonard hints that the two actors had an affair that did not end well. Also in the film is "Tom Cruise" (played by Evan Ferrante).
The total budget for the new film is $30,025,000, $30 million of which goes to Tom Cruise, leaving $25,000 to pay the cast and crew and produce the whole film. To save money, Eduardo shoots the film in the backyard behind his house and hires his young daughter as a production assistant at a rate of $1 per day. Since the film is shot in Eduardo's backyard, the actors have to keep their voices down to avoid disturbing the neighbors.
To the dismay of Joshua and Michael, they soon come to realize that Eduardo has no clear direction for the film and is fabricating the story on the fly during filming. Between the budgetary constraints and growing dissention on the set, Eduardo is faced with the dilemma as to how he can save the fledgling production. His solution: add an alien, played by Eduardo himself. An interview with The Blair Witch Project co-creator Dan Myrick reveals that he did not take part in BW 3 because he wanted the Blair Witch to be a robot rather than an alien, because "robots are in."