Not "scary as hell", but still good

Rating: 9/10 (6 February 2000)

I've never seen the tide turn on movie reviews before like I did in THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. First, I heard this movie was the scariest movie since THE EXORCIST, then I heard it was the worst movie of the year. When people thought it might be real, they loved it. Then, when everyone found out it was fake, I heard all sorts of bad things about it.
THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT is about three young filmmakers, Heather Donahue, Michael Williams and Josh Leonard (actors with same names as their characters), go out into the woods of Burkittesville, Maryland to do a documentary on the mythical Blair Witch. They are never found, but a year later their footage is discovered, and it seems to indicate that there really was a witch and it was stalking these three filmmakers.
I did not find THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT especially scary, although it was rather spooky. I did think it was good, with an excellent and very original plot. The acting in this movie by the three young kids was very good, especially if the rumors about how they improvised most of it were true. The character development was well done, and you will often find yourself waiting for daylight along with the characters.
Was this movie overhyped? A little, but I think if it wasn't that it wouldn't have been as successful, since the actors, writers and directors are relatively unknown. They did a very good job and I hope to see more works from them in the near future.
Sure, some of the realism could've been better. Even I knew that they should've followed the stream out of the woods instead of going deeper into the forest. And if this was happening to me, I doubt I'd pick up the video camera and tape it all instead of running like hell. But it still worked. I think the scariest part is how you don't see as much as you hear, because often the sound is 10 times worse than the thing making the sound.
This movie isn't too scary, but if you watch it in the middle of the night with all your lights off and alone, it will successfully freak you out. It's worth a rent or a buy, judge for yourself.