tremendously effective, terrifying, and oh-so-realistic

Rating: 10/10 (1 May 1999)

I caught this movie at a special sold out preview screening in Minneapolis and I can honestly say I've never been as scared as I was in that theater. This movie terrified me and everyone else present. There were no cries of "Don't go in there!" or "He's right behind you!" from the audience. Blair Witch is the only honestly touch-your-soul frightening movie I've ever seen. No one moved through the entire last half of the movie. No one spoke, no one even breathed. All hung in rapt concentration on the incredibly eerie images on the screen of three kids, scared, hungry, lost, and hunted. I am still being haunted by several moments in the film, frozen in my memory by sheer terror. Hours after the film, a friend and I tried to walk down a path through some woods-and failed. We turned back a mere 5 minutes into the walk from fear of the very trees surrounding us. To every indication this does not appear to be 'just a movie' and so it isn't. This film is real enough to haunt anyone that sees it. I don't know if I'll ever be able to camp again and I say that seriously. Don't read anything else about this movie. Don't find out the background or even bother to see the previews. Just see it, then try to go for a walk in the woods at night. You won't be able to do it either.