Over-hyped but fresh and scary

Rating: Null/10 (27 July 2002)

In the woods outside of Burkittesville, Maryland a legend exists about the Blair Witch who supposedly killed many children in the 1940's. A trio of film makers decide to go into the woods for their student project to document what they find in comparison with the legend itself. They go missing. A year later their footage is discovered and pit together to reveal what they went through when they became lost in the woods. This film is the footage they recorded.
There is no doubting that hype was both the making and breaking of this film. The hype got this small, no-budget film into multiplexes world wide where otherwise it wouldn't have got in the front door. However the hype also raised expectation so that people were expecting the horrors to end all horrors etc. Viewed without any hype this would have been so much better  but on a wave on such expectation few things can avoid coming down a bit.
Outside of this the set up is very good  put forward as true. The way the film starts by mixing interviews with recollections of the legend etc gives us enough information to join the trio on their journey. The film then begins to journey into the woods and the tension build nicely as we share some of the group's fear.
A lot of this comes down to the cast  they all start cheerful and young but as they go on they do seem genuinely tired and scared  this helps us believe. The hand held cameras add to the realism but also put us right there with the group (if also means we don't see things but the fear comes from what's outside of eye line).
Now the film is very basic but in many ways that helps it. There is no hidden subtext, no baggage  just things going downhill. The film ends in the most basic way and is good for it. While it may not be the most scary thing ever seen, it is refreshing to se a horror film that isn't another cliché ridden slasher flick.
Overall it may be overhyped and be suffering from a certain amount of backlash, but this is a very sharp, tight, clever and scary little film. It is best viewed as a great independent and not a multiplex filler that it was hyped to be.