Freshman Film Making 101 (and still only a C+ in that class)

Rating: 1/10 (5 November 2001)

This is one of the scariest movies I've seen.
Why?
It's scary that so many people thought this movie was everything from "wonderful" to "brilliant".
This is probably the most overrated movie I've ever beheld. It's somewhat decent for an amateur film festival film done by teenagers. However there is little "brilliant" or even "original" about it. Why it seemed so ground breaking was merely the fact an average student film was put on the big screen.
While I enjoy the concept of a horror story being told through the eyes of students, seeing the horror merely on the faces of the actors instead of special effects, shot with hand-cams and in "raw documentary footage" format, it was NOT executed well.
It is worth noting such a concept is NOT unique to student film festivals. It's only a departure from the "typical" Hollywood fare. It seems some promoter decided to take such a typical student film and promote it in the general cinema market, making it sound like it was something new and innovative. Sadly, the public bought it.
For a student film, this would have been more effective were it a lot shorter. It dragged. It would have been a cute short but the idea of making it a feature film is a poor one.
The characters were too sophomoric, pedestrian, foolish and inconsistent to be enjoyed. They acted foolish and dysfunctional (but not in an interesting way). One could not relate to what appeared to be them causing their own hysteria from childish bickering and overreaction. The dialogue was too pedestrian to be enjoyed. "Dude, that's like... so not cool" was typical of the level of dialogue. Who wants to watch undereducated "Bill & Ted" types come unglued? The whole film would have been much more enjoyable had the characters been more interesting. If you're going to build a film around the emotions of the characters, please don't make the characters Bill, Ted and Barbie.
There was not sufficient fodder for the imagination to evoke scary images. Make the fear either more mysterious or give us more imaginative scenarios. There was enough material to be interesting for perhaps 10 minutes. After that you need something more than a couple piles of rocks and some twigs.
The thing this film had going for it is that it illustrates the rut into which Hollywood has fallen in recent years. You don't need hundreds of millions to weave a basic tale. Stories can be told without the effects, sets, big names and music. Students have to resort to telling tales with what they have instead of falling back on the "typical" Hollywood style. The slightest departure from the norm is considered "innovative". Hollywood should learn something here. It also illustrates the point Hollywood doesn't have very intelligent stories, either, as Blair Witch, as shallow as it was, was able to compete.
In summary, if you're familiar with student or amateur film festival works, Blair Witch will give you nothing new. If you have never seen anything outside of Hollywood, it's good to see something different. Just don't make the mistake of thinking it's "good", however, just because it's "not typical Hollywood". All in all, it's a pretty typical example of "Freshman Film Making 101" (but I don't think we have the next Steven Spielberg in the class this semester)