Did you hear something?

Rating: 7/10 (8 July 1999)

If that phrase makes your ears perk up and your heart pound a little, then you are a candidate for Blair Witch.
Lots of people have written, so just a couple of comments:

Don't expect Kubrick-esque composition or a Ry Cooder soundtrack; just a little story that touches most people in the small secret part of their brain that remembers when humans huddled around a fire and hoped those noises in the distance would pass them by. Let's just say nobody's going to put the Blair Witch on a Taco Bell cup.

Try and avoid the coverage before you see the movie. Particularly avoid film reviews and the '60 second movie' outfits of the world. You can still enjoy the film if you do read about it first (I did), but for maximum fear walk in with a blank slate.

The JumpyCam[tm] is distracting, but necessary. Those who complain that the film 'looks cheap' should remember that it IS cheap; it was shot with rented equipment by three college kids stumbling around in the dark scared out of their minds.

Before you do too many "oh, well that's stupid" comments about what these three kids do, remember that you're sitting in a nice warm theater and not out there alone in the dark. Who doesn't know someone (or is someone) who goes outside with a flashlight to check out a strange noise? They make some mistakes, but ask yourself what you would do in that situation if you _didn't_ know your legacy was going to wind up buried under a cabin in the woods.

I've heard talk of a sequel. Please, please don't do this. Don't ruin this little gem by trying to make it into a 'franchise'. Let it be a horrifying little slice of Americana and let it go at that. Please.

Be careful about seeing this movie, because it is not easily forgotten. My wife and I saw a preview the day before we moved into a new home; let me tell you, those first nights with the new sounds and the new silence got mighty long.