As we had reported earlier, Artisan Entertainment is turning around quickly with their surprise hit The Blair Witch Project and has now officially announced the streetdate for the release as of October 22, just in time for “Halloween”.

The release will contain DVD-ROM features, as Artisan’s president of sales and marketing, Jeff Fink had told us earlier and will also contain some supplements, such as exclusive, never-before-seen, “newly discovered” footage, and the documentary “Curse of the Blair Witch”, the companion documentary that aired to record-breaking ratings on the Sci-Fi Channel.

“`The Blair Witch Project’ has firmly established Artisan as the most successful, truly independent film and home entertainment company in the business,” said Steve Beeks, president, Artisan Home Entertainment. “With the rapid-fire release of this landmark film to home video and DVD, we’re breaking all of the rules in order to provide cutting edge cinema to the home entertainment market in ways which maximize returns to our retailers.”

“The Blair Witch Project” DVD will also contain audio commentaries with actors from the film, and filmmaker testimonials. In addition to these features, the
DVD-ROM allows for exclusive Internet access — only available through the DVD-ROM interface — to the following special elements: a map of the Black Hills Forest near Burkittsville, M.D. inhabited by the Blair Witch, excerpts from the best-selling Blair Witch comic book and dossier, direct chat room admittance and links to both the Artisan and Blair Witch Project Web sites.

“The Blair Witch Project” DVD-ROM will utilize Macromedia Flash 4 technology, never-before implemented on a DVD. This technology combines traditional use of computer hard drives with the dynamism of the Internet, creating a completely unique user experience with unlimited interactivity and up-to-date content.

The disc will be released on October 22 with a suggested retail price of $29.99.