I haven't lost this much sleep since the Exorcist -- may include spoilers!

Rating: 10/10 (9 August 1999)

This is, without a doubt, one of the must terrifying films that I have seen in my young lifetime. Never before in a film has the intent has been so deliberately to cause fear - no disgust or revulsion, like in the Freddy movies for example. This film is about pure, undiluted fear, and that is what makes it so fabulous. Lately movies seem to operate on a gross-out factor, depending upon expensive special effects and gut wrenching visuals to have the viewer experience some sort of terror. The terror in the Blair Witch Project, however, is more primevial, more psychological, more spiritual. The fear of the unknown is the greatest fear of all -- and the makers of this film and the actors portray that so well. For me, the most terrifying part of the film was when the sides of the tent began to be pushed in by an unseen entity, and children's laughter could be heard outside. The gut reaction of the actors matched that of my own, as did their reactions in the rest of the film. This is another brillant measure of the film...any one of us could have been in the same situation and acted just the same. To create that sort of empathy for the actors allowed the viewers to experience the terror of the film even more. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who was scared in the shower the next day -- I was waiting for the shower curtain to be pushed in on me. The climax of the film, though, I must admit, first struck me as being "cheesy" until about 30 seconds later. The un-knowing is the most terrifying part. Not since Hitchcock have inuendo and implications created such terror. The only problem I have seen with this film is that it is an 'all or none' kind of thing. Either you get it, or you don't. That I find unfortunate for those people who have lost the ability to use their imagination to create the monster in their mind and require Industrial Light and Magic to do it for them. The monster in your mind is so much more chilling than any designed by computers -- especially when the monster in your mind is something unseen.(10)