This one scared the heck out of me!

Rating: 9/10 (20 July 1999)

After having driven 2 hours to Chicago to catch the opening weekend of The Blair Witch Project', I would have to say it was time (and money) well spent. It's also good to know that the movie was so well received that it cashed in over $1.5 million last weekend and only played at 27 theaters nationwide. Of course, a lot of this has to do with all the hype and promotion that was done on TV and the Internet, but nothing can truly prepare you for this film.
I made it a point not to read the spoilers in order to heighten the experience. The show was sold out and people cut off all conversation throughout the film. You could tell everyone was engrossed in the film right from the start. TBWP was actually quite funny in the first 30-40 minutes and everyone was laughing heartily. Above the constant bickering between the students and abundant profanity, the movie never stopped building up. Countless horror movies build up the tension, then throw in the old cat jumps out of the closet' routine on us. This never happens with TBWP. The film builds up right until the unnerving climax. You really care about the 3 students and start to feel what they feel. You get dragged down in the dread that they experience and you feel helpless because you know things are going to turn out bad.
We never get to see who or what is terrorizing these students, but that's the best part. Fans of such fodder as Armageddon' and The Rock' will no doubt hate this film because there isn't a big payoff. One has to draw his/her own conclusions about what really happened. The unknown to me WAS the most terrifying aspect of this film. There are 3 possible theories that I could come up with as far as what happened but we'll just never know. During the films' climax I heard many people make uncomfortable groans and shrieks and when the end credits rolled I heard many people exhale. Heck, I think I might have been holding my breath also.
See this movie now! Don't wait for it to come to video...