TedStixon

I remember seeing a film in theatres in the 90s when I was a kid. I think it was a children's sports film. I seem to recall there being a scene where a boy spots another boy through a gap in a shelf at the store and remarks something like, "What a hunk!" At least I think it was two boys... one may have been a tomboyish girl, though. And I think it had something to do with football. Ring anyone's bell? Trying to rewatch childhood movies and it just popped into my head.

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Trivia: The film was originally meant to be a full-on fake documentary, with the "found footage" only being part of it, and the rest of the film being interviews with family, friends, and authorities. However, the "found footage" was so chilling, the directors decided it would be the entire film. The original "fake documentary" concept was then turned into a tie-in TV special called "Curse of the Blair Witch," which aired around the same time the movie came out.

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Trivia: Heather Donahue reportedly snuck a knife to set and would carry it on her because her family was convinced that the movie was secretly a snuff film, and were creeped out at the fact she'd be sharing a tent with two men she barely knew.

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Trivia: When Heather screams "What the f*** is that?", you can't see anything in the darkness. This was unintentional. They had a crewmember wrapped head-to-toe in white, and as Heather ran by, he charged towards her. The theory was that in the dark, the cameras would only just barely see his white clothes, making him look like a spectral figure. But it was so dark the cameras didn't pick him up. The directors decided it was far scarier to not see anything, so they didn't reshoot it.

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Trivia: The creators and producers reportedly weren't too keen on the finished film, and have said that while an eighth film is planned, the franchise will likely go on an indefinite hiatus after it is released, as they feel the franchise became too stale, drawn out with too many sequels too quickly, and needs time to rest.

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Trivia: The first entry in the series not to be released in theaters. It was originally meant to be a theatrical release but due to complications from the COVID-19 pandemic, studio Blumhouse decided to release it as a Paramount+ original film in October 2021. It was subsequently given a Blu-Ray release one year later in October 2022, exclusively as part of a box set containing all seven films.

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Trivia: The climactic scene at Stu's house lasts 42 minutes and accounts for 40% of the movie's screen time (if you don't count the closing credits). It was shot at a real house over 21 days - an unusually long time to shoot in a single location for a film this size - and was reportedly so tedious to shoot that everyone in the cast and crew were given T-shirts that read "I survived scene 118" after it was finished. It has jokingly been referred to as "the longest night in horror history" by the cast.

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Trivia: Spoilers! There are two credit scenes. In a mid-credit scene, a miniaturized Bowser tries to play his "Peaches" song again, only for a Toad guard to yell at him. In a post-credit scene, it is revealed that a Yoshi egg is in the sewers of New York. It begins to crack and the familiar voice of Yoshi is heard as the screen cuts to black.

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Trivia: When Mario and Luigi crash through the wall in the sewers, the hole they leave is the exact same shape as the original 8-bit sprite of Mario's head in the NES game "Super Mario Bros."

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Trivia: In Mario's bedroom, not only is he playing the game "Kid Icarus" on the original Nintendo Entertainment System, but there's also a model of an Arwing from the Nintendo video-game "Starfox" hanging from the ceiling, and multiple posters with subtle references to different Nintendo video games on his walls.

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Trivia: You can see the Crazy Cap store from "Super Mario Odyssey" in the background for a few seconds when Mario and Toad first arrive and are walking through the streets of the Mushroom Kingdom. It happens around the time Toad says the lines, "This guy's brother is going to die imminently, out of the way please! Just trying to clear a path, that's all I'm doing! He's gonna be fine!"

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Trivia: When Mario and Luigi go to their plumbing job at the start of the film, when we first see the dog, the camera dramatically zooms out. If you look closely, most of the books on the bookshelves have titles like "Interior Design" or "Architecture", but there are a few random books mixed in that appear to have nonsense titles like "None" or "Nothing." I have to assume this is a background joke the animators added for people who would pause the movie.

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Trivia: When the dog accidentally jumps out of the window and is saved by Mario, you briefly see the dog's owners sitting on the couch. The husband is reading a book called "Galaxy," which is a reference to the game "Super Mario Galaxy." Additionally, on the right side of frame, you can see a statue of a pikmin (a race of tiny, plant-like alien beings) from the Nintendo video game "Pikmin."

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Trivia: During the scenes in New York City, you can briefly see a restaurant called "Chasse du Canard." This is French for "Duck Hunting," and is a reference to the Nintendo game "Duck Hunt," which often came paired on a cartridge with the original "Super Mario Bros." on the Nintendo Entertainment System.

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Trivia: When Mario and Luigi get the Super Star and become invincible, at one point they grab Bowser by the tail and swing him around before throwing him through the air. This is a reference to the video game "Super Mario 64," in which Mario defeats Bowser by swinging him around by the tail and hurling him through the air into bombs.

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Trivia: For a period of time in the 90s, the film was distributed through bootlegs that had the logos, titles, and credits cut out, often at UFO and paranormal conferences and sci-fi conventions. This led many people to think the footage was real, especially given its extremely low budget and low-quality footage that looks like a real home movie.

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Trivia: The film is also widely known as "The McPherson Tape." However, this was never the official title, and is seemingly based on a misconception since the film was often circulated without the title attached in the 90s. Regardless, this incorrect title became so well-known that the film's 2020 Blu-Ray by American Genre Film Archive (AGFA) contains a double-sided cover... one with the correct title "U.F.O. Abduction," and the other with the misnomer title "The McPherson Tape."

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Trivia: Often credited as the first feature-length film to be shot, edited, and screened entirely digitally.

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Trivia: The production budget was reportedly only $900. $300 of this was spent on video stock and tapes, while the remaining $600 was spent on other production costs.

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Trivia: The earliest verifiable feature film to utilize the "found-footage" technique, that was later popularised by horror movies such as "Cannibal Holocaust", "The Blair Witch Project", and "Paranormal Activity".

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