Pseudo-Horror?

Rating: Null/10 (14 August 1999)

I somewhat liked the film because, even though I read various things about the "documentary," I still wanted to see it to see exactly what happened to Heather, Josh, and Mike on film. I watched with some anticipation, wondering if the title subject was going to appear so that there was some payoff to seeing something other that three lost people in the woods. It was enjoyable in that it's sort of cinema verite, kind of "here it is, this is what happened, it doesn't have to make sense since we're out filming our first documentary," while at the same time it strives to be a horror film. It's caught between realism and fantasy, and I think that if one's imagination is tossed into the mix, then weird stuff comes out. At one point I started thinking that maybe Heather was annoying for a reason, and I started wondering if she was part of the myth, had something to do with the witch, and realizing it now I see what effect the film had. It presents itself as a documentary, but while watching it, I was thinking about one of the characters in terms of fantasy, that she (Heather) was in a fictional film, and so my imagination started posing questions that I felt would be answered if I kept watching. And that's how the film kept my attention. If the film had a noticeable plot, the plot would be evidence of someone else's imagination, and then our emotional response would be the only thing we would express--we wouldn't ask any questions about what will happen. However, this film just presents itself--with our understanding of how it ends--and makes our imaginations ask questions, which in turn force us to be attentive to the film to get answers for those questions. The film doesn't want us to take it seriously, because if we do, then we don't enjoy it out of dissatisfaction--we want to believe that it's either a film presenting itself as a documentary, or that it's a fictional film, that it can't be both. It is that dilemma that I feel makes "The Blair Witch Project" unique.