Unfairly maligned classic

Rating: Null/10 (12 October 2002)

It's a great shame that The Blair Witch Project is probably going to go down in film history as an over-hyped gimmick, endlessly lampooned by all and sundry, and rejected by the horror fraternity.
I couldn't agree less. I loved it. It's very. very rare that a film will affects me physically, but even watching Blair Witch on video was an adrenalin rush for me. There were times when I felt like standing up and cheering. This is audacious movie-making, breaking all the conventions of the genre (and most conventions of any genre) and pulling it all off brilliantly. It seems hard to imagine just a few years down the track, but this was a trailblazer of a movie. I also believe it to one of the very best horror films ever made, and certainly the best in the last 25 years. Please note, I am not a horror movie buff. And herein lies the rub.
It quickly became apparent to me, after talking to many people who slagged off the film, that their predominant reasons for doing so were that it didn't have any special effects or gore, and that they were somehow offended by its low budget look. In other words, horror is about mindless violence, not psychological suspense. And apparently it isn't about waking up at 3 am the next morning with you heart in your mouth, because you suddenly understood what that last scene actually meant.
Maybe two or three times a decade a film comes along that changes the course of filmaking. In the 90's, the first two which spring to mind for me are Pulp Fiction and Blair Witch. Bravo.
Oh, of course the sequel is absolute rubbish...