Terrifying Look at What Could Happen

Rating: 9/10 (9 April 2019)

This is a film that I still remember the first time that I saw it. My father rented it and as a family we all saw it. At the time of viewing it, I don't even know if I had the internet yet. It was so believable, my sister for years thought this really happened. The synopsis is three film students vanish after traveling into a Maryland forest to film a documentary on the local Blair Witch legend, leaving only their footage behind.
To get back into what I really liked about this film the first time is the realism. This isn't the first found-footage film, but it definitely helped revitalize the genre. It really does feel like a documentary. It is even better than the three leads all use their real names as their characters. The director and narrator of it is Heather Donahue. She worked with Joshua Leonard previously and he reached out to Michael Williams to do sound for it.
They get to Burkittsville and interview people in the town. One very interesting one is of Mary Brown (Patricia DeCou), an eccentric old woman. She claims to have seen a hairy woman whose feet didn't touch the ground. There is also a couple of the people who talk about a local legend of a child murderer named Rustin Parr.
The trio head into the woods looking first for Coffin Rock and then an old cemetery. Tensions start to run high when Mike doesn't believe that Heather knows where she is taking them and that she has gotten them lost in the woods. Noises at night outside of their tent make it even worse as they descend into frustration and terror.
As I said earlier, I did think this really happened for some time. Now that I know the truth behind the film, I have to say that the filmmakers did a great job at their campaign. They decided that they wanted everyone to believe that this film was real, even though it is fictional. This is genius to me, especially since they had such a low budget. If not for that, I don't believe this film would do as well as it did.
It is a premise though that we can connect with. The scary thing is that even today, with all of the technology we have, something like this could happen. We definitely could get lost in some of the woods in the country and never be found again. This film really is light on the supernatural, which makes those moments even scarier. I have to say, the scenes at night in the pitch black really get my tension going. The real life horror of exhaustion, lack of food and maybe never getting out is there as well.
The pacing and editing of this film is interesting. The realism is there and it does just feel like three college students trying to themselves out of the mess they are in. The basic story is simple and the footage is edited in a way where it feels like they would record for stretches and that is what we get. The longer they are lost, the more the tension builds. It can come from the interactions between characters as tempers flare and also from what happens at night. The film is actually written well as there are callbacks to things from earlier in the film, which I'm a sucker for. The ending is bleak and simple, but very effect.
I'm not sure this film would be as strong if not for the acting of the trio. Donahue, Leonard and Williams are really just playing themselves, but from what I've read, some of what they were doing wasn't really acting. They did stay out in the woods and writers/directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo SÃ¡nchez really messed with them to get the most visceral reactions they could. It is kind of messed to hear, but it did make for a much better product. The interviewees were all great as well. There is such an amateur feel which helps with the realism.
There weren't really any effects in the film, but it didn't need them. I have read they wanted to actually have a witch. I'm glad this is something that didn't happen, especially with the budget they had. The little Tiki-men like figures were creepy. The setting is what really makes it and the old house as well.
Last thing to really cover would be the soundtrack. The film doesn't have anything that is not ambient. I'm glad they didn't use music, as that really would have broken the realism. The use of sounds while being in the foods was great. That is what drives quite a bit of the fear, especially at night. Something I noticed this time is that at the end, all of the sound is coming from the non-film camera. I bring this up because it is unnerving watching Heather's footage while she is upstairs. This was definitely used strategically.
Now with that said, this film is interesting. In the grand scheme of things, not happens. I can see that being an issue for some people. I think what makes it great is that they stick to the realism and it truly feels like a documentary. The true horror comes from being lost, exhaustion and being hungry. What happens to them at night really makes it even worse and build the tension. The acting seems real and even though there aren't a lot of effects, what we get is solid. The soundtrack of the film was used strategically as well. If you've never seen it, give it a viewing. I think this is a really good film and definitely helped spark the found-footage boom that happened again.