Disturbingly beautiful

Rating: Null/10 (24 August 2004)

To condemn a film purely because it was hyped beyond all proportion is narrow-minded and dismissive. The Blair With Project was shot with a budget of only $30,000 and made millions at the bow office. This, however, does not change the fact that despite such a low budget, the film still delivered everything it promised.
Many find the absence of an actual 'monster' or visible focus for the fear created during the film as a disadvantage. In fact, it is the invisibility of this presence that makes this film truly terrifying. Only those with a shallow imagination and an even shallower outlook need an actual bodily focus for the fear that was so subtly and artfully composed in the film.
The acting was supposedly disappointing but the was no need to have actual actors. The rawness of using 'real-life' teenagers to animate the story was a stroke of genius. Having said this, however, the story was faked anyway so the sincerity of the screenplay was slightly undermined. It is refreshing to see less than perfect faces on screen and hear exactly what real teenagers would have said in the situation, which was mostly f**k.
The fear did, admittedly, take time to build up but the tension created was worked beautifully into the storyline and made the ending all the more terrifying. The ending scene, which shows one of the teenagers against the wall, was a masterpiece of filming yet came across as so raw and involving.
One of the most criticised films of the past decade-should not be subject to prejudice.
A*