What do I like to do on Sundays? Watch horror films from my childhood!

Rating: 9/10 (7 September 2014)

The reason I enjoyed this film in it original theatrical release and continue to enjoy it today can be summed up by one childhood story. A friend at the time had an uncle who was on the police force. After we saw the film and debated about its authenticity he claimed that, although we live no where close to where the film takes place, he had seen the official police records of this incident. He was a police officer and I had no reason to doubt him, but it was really the film that sold me on the idea that it was all found footage and that these folks were really dead.
Of course latter I realized the truth, but to be caught in the Blair Witch whirlwind was fantastic! People always try to look back at the excitement they had for this film, and others like it, and belittle the film because of the hype. This film really did live up to the hype for me. Of course there were problems, but it was the first successful film of it's kind. I still feel like it is the best found footage film to date and I can attribute some of that to the hype surrounding it.
Just to point out a few things to address common issues with the film: the acting is exactly where it should be. These people are clearly not reading from a script, and although people criticize their improvisational skills, they are believable as average people. Another issue that people have is that a person being so concerned with getting lost kicks the map into the river. He gives a very valid human explanation, the map wasn't doing anything to help them, and he just got mad and kicked it into the stream. Of course it was stupid, but for that reason I find it believable. The last is the idea that when in trouble, people will stop filming and the fact that the whole thing is supposedly on film is ridiculous. My answer to this is simple, people film life threatening situations so that if they survive they have proof and can relive it. If you don't believe me, look into how many people film tsunamis, or tornadoes, or robberies, or anything else that may have killed them.