Something in the woods...

Rating: Null/10 (13 June 1999)

"The Blair Witch Project" "In October of 1994, three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland while shooting a documentary called 'The Blair Witch Project'. A year later their footage was found." That's the premise the filmmakers give the audience for this recent Sundance Film Festival rave. You can think of this film as a horror "This Is Spinal Tap", - completely fictional, but filmed in a way that suggests that what you are seeing really happened. Shot with a digital video camera and 16mm film, we watch as three young filmmakers get lost in the woods and bicker like a married couple from hell. I give first time directors Daniel Myrick and Edward Sanchez a ton of credit and respect for this creepy feature. They create and execute the most searing horror film in some time. It's a truly original creation. With more and more films itching toward the excess and pomp of the visual terror, "Blair Witch" is purely psychological. We only see bits and pieces of what is terrorizing the trio and that is enough. Any more would kill the illusion and ruin the suspense. Trouble is, cut to 82 minutes from a 150 minute cut (even longer at one point), the movie oozes choppiness. Jumping from moment to moment sours the spooky mood. More scenes should have been left to linger. Instead, the film cuts around aimlessly. When the picture truly hits a nerve - in the final 5 minutes - it makes the 77 that proceeded it seem pretty wasteful. Most of the film consists of watching the trio yell and agitate each other. Only a small amount of attention is played to the Blair Witch of the title. While being lost in endless woods with nothing to eat and no way of getting home is a pretty damn scary concept in itself, the film keeps reintroducing the supernatural element only to dismiss it for yet another puerile fight. If this was truly a real incident, I would bet the farm that any news outlet who got their hands on this footage would squeeze the Blair Witch teat till it ran dry. When the ending arrives, it only reminds you of the gaps in the storytelling that should have been fixed. Actors Joshua Leonard and Michael Williams do a sharp job as the cameraman and soundman of the group. They successfully convey fear and anger, and they convincingly look like hell. It's actress Heather Donahue that bothered me. Out of all three actors, Donahue feels the most false. She's just too cinematic in her acting, often resorting to melodrama when the film begs the opposite. This is a situation which invites a million different questions. A perfectly acted film can make you forget the seams. Donahue's acting keeps you reminded that this is a fabricated film. While I did like "Blair Witch", I fail to see what all the fuss is about. It's a wobbly horror flick that will spawn countless imitators upon release. It's a primitive film that reintroduces genuine scares to a genre that long ago forgot how to terrorize. It's a easily buzzable film that the cinematic community loves to hype because everybody feels that they discovered it. It's a lot of things except the one thing that counts the most... It isn't great. --------------- 7