The "true" story of three strangers, picked to live in the woods, and have their lives taped...

Rating: 2/10 (5 August 1999)

Yes, this movie is amazing. Amazing how incompetence can turn a fairly decent premise into an almost complete disaster. I went into the Blair Witch Project expecting not to be scared, but entertained, naively assuming that this was a well made and clever movie. Instead I got an hour and a half (but felt about twice as long) of three individuals alternating between petty bickering, disabled monologues directed to the camera and swearing at nothing in particular. The set up to this film is non existent, no outside information regarding the Blair Witch is given beyond what you need to understand the unsatisfying ending. That I think is the biggest flaw of the movie. The viewer is supposed to believe this is real, but there is no sense that the witch is larger than the myopic scope of the movie. Her presence is almost secondary, and is most assuredly not the driving force of the movie. Secondly, the characterization in this movie left a lot to be desired. In a movie with such a narrow focus you need to see the depth of characters, but you learn nothing of Heather and Mike, and they come off as totally unsympathetic. That's two thirds of the cast. Finally, the unsteady, continual bouncing and out of focus shots from the camera are distracting and keep drawing you out of the movie. It's hard enough to tell what's going on in the dark and the limited view from a video camera jerking around simply detracts from the film's effectiveness. While the person I sat next to the theater seemed to be taken in, most of the rest of the audience wasn't, and there was much heckling and cackling and many (including myself) laughed out loud at the ending. One man stood up and in a rather booming voice announced, "That was lame". I couldn't have said it better myself.
2/10