excellent horror film, NOT mainstream garbage

Rating: Null/10 (19 March 2002)

"the blair witch project" is one of the most brilliantly conceived, best acted and directed horror movies I've seen in years, although it does have it's weak points. i hate mainstream movies, and never go to the theatre because i think of american film in general as corporate, ephemeral, whimsical crap. i mistrusted this movie and did not bother seeing it until i read the plot, which sounded ingenious and lovecraftian to me. the reviewers on this page who didn't like it were determined to respond negatively just because a lot of teenagers thought it was 'freaky' or whatever, and so they dismissed it offhand without really caring whether it was actually good or bad. it is suggestive, frightening, realistic, and everything in it is believable except that these none too intelligent twenty-somethings would keep the camera running at all after a certain point of crisis. while the character depth was almost nill and we never get to find out anything about the filmmakers beyond their names and ridiculously excessive use of foul language, the terrifying night scenes more than compensate for these flaws and their gradual descent into desperation and madness has a real ring of authenticity to it and is not at all affected or contrived, as i imagined it would be.
having thought the horror genre was thoroughly down and out, even beyond the point of no return, "blair witch" is an unexpected joy and, while not quite a masterpiece, certainly constitutes a cult classic and something that will be remembered for a long time to come.