Before he became known as Alex P. Keaton on Family Ties, a young Michael J. Fox had a supporting role in Midnight Madness, an odd little comedy about an all-night scavenger hunt. This 1980 film was inspired by some creative, real-life scavenger hunts that still attract participants today.

An eccentric genius named Leon (Alan Solomon) comes up with a competition that he calls "The Great All-Nighter," a scavenger hunt involving five teams of college students. Each team has to solve clues that Leon plants across the city of Los Angeles, and the first team to cross the finish line is declared the winner of the game. Without the benefit of cell phones or GPS tracking, the students had to use both their brains and brawn to win.

David Naughton, who would later star in An American Werewolf in London, plays Adam Larson, the leader of the Yellow Team. Adam and his teammates try to play fair, but they are going up against frat boys and science geeks who will do anything to win the game. Adam also has to deal with his rebellious little brother Scott, who is played by Fox.

Before it was released on VHS, Midnight Madness aired quite frequently late at night on cable stations in the early 1980's. In what appears to be his first movie credit, Michael J. Fox gives an interesting performance as the troubled teenage Scott. He gets to prove that he's valuable to his brother's team, though, when they have to find a clue hidden inside an arcade game.

The whole concept of a city-wide scavenger hunt has some real-life equivalents. Road rallies, for instance, take place on some out-of-the-way roads, but teams have to decipher clues to navigate the course properly. A company in San Francisco also stages "The Go Game," which can be used as a corporate team-building event or just as a way to have some fun with a group of friends.

If you can find it on a scavenger hunt through your television channels, Midnight Madness is a fun, goofy movie that, like the real-life version, is oddly addictive.

Resources:
http://www.thegogame.com/team/index.asp
http://www.tsdroadrally.com/

Ten years ago, Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez redefined moviemaking with "The Blair Witch Project," a labor of love that turned into one of the highest grossing films of that year. According to the movie's opening credits, three student filmmakers went into the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland to do some research on the "Blair Witch," a local Burkittsville legend. The students allegedly disappeared in October 1994, but the footage they shot was recovered a year later.

Myrick and Sanchez reportedly assembled "The Blair Witch Project" from the recovered camcorder tapes. The shaky footage shows Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard and Michael Williams camping out in the woods for their film project. Unfortunately, creepy images and sounds start tormenting the young filmmakers. The movie ends with jumbled footage and screaming before the screen finally goes blank.

Prior to the release of "The Blair Witch Project," the movie's publicists were conspicuously silent when asked if the film was real or fiction. The question was quickly answered in the Midwest when Heather Donahue appeared as a waitress in a series of commercials for Steak 'n Shake restaurants. As it turns out, the three "student filmmakers" actually were recruited by the directors to play themselves in the film.

According to the cast members, Myrick and Sanchez handed Donahue, Leonard and Williams instructions on slips of paper prior to each day's shooting. The instructions would say to do things such as "Start an argument" or "Don't believe anything that Heather says." This improvisation gave the film its realistic and chilly feeling, especially the famous scene where Heather Donahue is crying into the camera lens.

In many ways, "The Blair Witch Project" remains one of the purest horror films that uses an outdoor setting. In fact, Emily Riemer of "Paste Magazine" recently reported that Myrick and Sanchez are planning a sequel to their original film, which should be more faithful to the original than the disappointing follow-up in 2000.

Resources:
Paste Magazine, "Tenth Anniversary Sequel to 'The Blair Witch Project' in the Works," Emily Riemer