Thursday June 3, 2010 9:22 am
Almost Famous: Movie Towns After the Film is Over
Unless you happen to be a geography buff or a resident of the extreme Pacific Northwest, it’s safe to say you never heard of a tiny town called Forks until the Twilight Saga made it famous. The town has a population of less than four thousand, but it now might get that many visitors in a single month. Visitors to Forks can go on a full-out Twilight tour, visiting everything from Bella Swan’s pick-up truck to the officers where Dr. Cullen works. The tiny logging town has become the stuff of movie legend…for better or for worse.
Before we found out about a town called Forks in the west, horror buffs had a smaller Mecca toward which to flock in the east: Burkittsville, Maryland. Anybody remember a little movie called The Blair Witch Project?
Read More | LA Times
Twilight is a highly-produced piece of cinema with a pretty big budget; The Blair Witch Project was shot in 8 days for way, way under a million dollars. The independent film blew up to cult fame, becoming one of the most talked-about and highly-touted movies of all time. When a few young people came to Burkittsville to make their movie, the town wasn’t known for much of anything - and it’s safe to say that few outside the town’s 180 residents even knew it existed.
Eleven years later, it remains a haven for ghost-seekers, movie buffs and followers of cult classics. Visitors still flock to the town to search for the Blair Witch - a fictional legend which has taken on gargantuan proportions. As a thank-you for the town’s participation, Burkittsville was given four metal signs saying “Welcome to the Historic Village of Burkittsville” by Artisan Entertainment. The Blair Witch Project grossed nearly $250 million worldwide.
Today, one of those signs is missing - carried off by a fan of pop movie culture. The three remaining signs are rusting eyesores, which may or may not be put up for auction on eBay.
At the height of the Blair Witch craze, Burkittsville was terrorized by movie lovers. Fans entered the town cemetery to dig up dirt. Tourists with cameras clogged every street, pouring over into driveways. One resident was shocked one day when she discovered a stranger standing in the middle of her house; he thought the building was part of a Witch tour.
Amityville, New York, setting of the DeFeo murders and the huge horror franchise the tragic event spawned, still gets its fair share of tourists though the first film was made way back in the 1970s. As paranormal-seeking tourists tromp around the grounds of the famous house and climb on the roof to steal shingles, neighbors have found their own homes terrorized. Some fans have resorted to vandalizing the neighbors just to get a tiny piece of the Amityville Horror - even if it’s by proximity only.
So…is reflected glory better than none at all?
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