I was there! I was a teenager, there to experience the genius marketing surrounding The Blair Witch Project. It signalled a new era for horror, while the movie itself mirrors a complete uncertainty about reality. 

In this episode, I explore found footage horror The Blair Witch Project (1999) and how it portrays collective psychosis. 

I talk about:

• How an entire generation thought The Blair Witch Project was real (and what that was like!)
• How the genius marketing around the film created a sort of collective psychosis
• Current political and cultural unrest, and whether we are in a period of collective psychosis today
• How hypernormalization causes us to freeze and live out of alignment with our values
• How the 7 of cups tarot card showcases feelings of disillusionment and uncertainty
• How to use an ACT Matrix to identify your values, how you may have moved away from them, and how to find your way back

Mental Health is Horrifying is hosted by Candis Green, Registered Psychotherapist and owner of Many Moons Therapy.

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Show Notes:

Want to work together? I offer 1:1 virtual psychotherapy for Ontario residents, along with tarot, horror, and dreamwork services (anywhere my bat signal reaches), both individually and through my group program, the Final Girls Club. 

Podcast artwork by Chloe Hurst at Contempo Mint

Theme music is by Sound Gallery by Dmitry Taras via pixabay 

All sound effects and music via pixabay 

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

Man Vs. Machine by Anthony Milton in Toronto Life

For three weeks last spring, ChatGPT convinced Allan Brooks that he had discovered a revolutionary mathematical theory. Now he’s suing OpenAI, claiming its product dragged him down a rabbit hole of lies, caused him to spiral into delusion and destroyed his reputation

The Society of the Spectacle by Guy DeBord

‘The Blair Witch Project’ at 20: Why It Can’t Be Replicated by Jake Kring-Schreifels in The New York Times 

Systems are crumbling – but daily life continues. The dissonance is real by Adrienne Matei in The Guardian