Apologies to Peter Weir

Rating: 1/10 (27 May 2000)

Several months ago, I critiqued on "Picnic at Hanging Rock", one of the early films directed by Peter Weir. At that time, though I had not seen it, I had the feeling that that "The Blair Witch Project" perhaps was somewhat of an imitation of that movie. After just watching Blair Witch Project, I wish to apologize to director Weir for even trying to make a comparison. The only commonality was the permanent disappearance of the actors in both films. The truly splendid "Picnic at Hanging Rock" was a small sensuous masterpiece with scenery and musical score that brought chills of emotion. "Blair Witch" was a non-masterpiece of hype. Tell everyone how frightening it is, so they will have to feel frightened. Tell everyone it is as scary as "The Exorcist" and they will feel guilty if they are not as scared. Tell everyone that this movie was made in only eight days, so they will think--"How incredible" Enough said on that subject. As for hand held cameras, the producers and directors need to take a lesson from some of the Danish film producers who produced "Mifune" and are dedicated to the use of hand held cameras with a flair and verve that this film could never have. The suspense was so great that, my husband, fell asleep and our ten year old grand daughter said-- "What a bore".