Break out your notebooks again...

Rating: Null/10 (6 January 2001)

There is constant debate over this film, if it were in my power I would end it, but no man's voice should be silenced... given some guidance? perhaps, absolutely, most definitely yes. You watch "Blair Witch," and you're not watching a bad film. You're actually watching one of the most important horror films of the 90's. "Blair Witch," "Scream," "The Sixth Sense," and even the re-release of "Exorcist" were the most important horror/thriller box-office takes of recent movie making history. With "Blair Witch" you see how simply a story can be told, with a budget that isn't even a 1/6 of Tom Cruise's payroll for any film it is taken in effectively. Problems in the movie and dislike in the story was inevitable since the entire film was shot from one of three subjective points-of-view. You either agree with Heather, Mike and Josh, or you don't.. if you don't, you sit there and pity them for their inability to deal with (what most people might think) is a "normal" situation. Seeing this in theaters on opening day, kids were yelling out "shut up you stupid b****," as Heather was screaming, looking for Mike in the old house in the woods, and going "ooohhh, scaaaaaarrrryyy!" when we first realize that the trio is actually being terrorized by someone or something. I watched these kids, observing their hypocrisy, and noted it. These are the same kids who thought "Scream" and its sequels were the best horror movies ever, when it followed the same story-structure that ever horror film made in the last twenty-five years have! That pattern being: maniac killer, blood and cuts, hot chicks, scenes constructed to make you jump - but no real genuine horror, nothing psychologically grounded. This is where I think most people did not see the marvel of creativity behind "The Blair Witch Project". It is the kind of film that has you asking yourself, and your friends what you would do if you were in that situation. That's how it's 40 page outline was written. The audience makes their own horror, in a way, provided with certain steps like little wooden figures hanging from trees, mounds of death stones and the creepy echo of children laughing in the darkness of a woods YOU KNOW there shouldn't be kids roaming around in. To me, there's a basic two formula method of how a film goes bad, after it's already scripted:
1. The film has a poor interpretation from the audience 2. Or the film has a poor interpretation from the director, producers
Of course I'm not ignoring the "can't make a good movie from a bad script, but you can make a bad movie from a good script," rule. But once the movie is already on the big screen, it's up to the mind of the viewer to make the final judgment,
"The Blair Witch Project" was a landmark for independent movie making in the United States for the 90's, along with being one of the most important horror films of that decade. Following the Hitchcock formula of "less is more" it allows you to wonder what is just off to the sides of the camera shots, and what the three characters were seeing. Its strength was in the auditory sense giving the full panic of the three protagonists. All the while teasing the audience with a limited amount of visual effect. All in all, the horror of the film comes not from what so many other horror films give: "what you see is what you get." "Blair Witch" makes it into "what you hear is what you get, what you see.. is up to you to decide what's just beyond the reach of the camera."
My advise, watch the film again. Truly put yourself in their wet, muddy shoes and remember the last time you were in those kinds of woods. Now I'll ask you: if you thought the movie was no big deal, take a trip up to Maryland, pick a forest and go camping.. if you hesitate, break out your movie guideline and script notebooks. Time to revise...
Above average acting. Excellent independent film-making. 8.4/10