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Rating: 1/10 (21 July 1999)

I've read so many positive reviews of this movie since I got back from watching it, and all I can say is, huh? My God, this movie is not terrifying, scary, or even close to it. If anything the movie is a psychological drama that doesn't work due to the sheer stupidity of the characters the actors play. You don't sympathize with them at all, the plight they experience is completely the fault of the Heather and Mike characters. The only people who will find this movie scary are those who think "Scream" is the benchmark for horror in films. Heather Donahue's performance doesn't even come close to creating a suspension of disbelief in the audience. She's much too melodramatic for the film. The film primarily consists of arguments at Heather's character (All the characters in the movie have the same names as the actors playing them, probably so that when they break character it doesn't seem like they do), arguments between Mike and Heather, and more arguments. I watched this film at The Nuart in Los Angeles and when the credits started to roll at the end, the audience broke out in boos and hisses. The movie builds up for over an hour to a horribly lame conclusion that is supposed to seem psychologically disturbing but comes off as anti-climactic. The scenes where the actors rush to pull out their DAT recorders and 16 MM cameras to record the supernatural smack more of the filmmakers planting props for the characters to film in higher grade video. The positives: the film is funny, the charactrs seem like real people (ultimately this is a bad thing, once they get into the scenes in the woods they start to break character and 'act'; it's supposed to symbolize psychological breakdown but comes off as unconvincing). The negatives: Blair Witch is only brought up once the arguments start to get old, the movie is way too cyclical; they go to sleep something weird happens, they bitch at each other during the day. The whole situation with the map; I won't spoil it for people who want to see it, but how they forgive Mike for this is beyond stupid, it seems like their reconciliation is more a product of bad writing than a need to band together for survival. Guy to keep an eye on: Josh - this guy has a future in acting, just pick better projects in the future, he has a cool look and seems like a credible actor. Heather, Mike - stick to indies, or better yet stay in school. If you want to see a better movie with the same pseudo documentary gimmick this film uses go rent Rugero Deodato's 1979 film Cannibal Holocaust, much more disturbing. Eerily enough, right next to the Nuart is a video store and in the window right next to the line for Blair Witch they had Cannibal Holocaust hanging in the display case, so obviously someone else noticed the resemblance as well.