Disappointment & Confusion

Rating: 1/10 (22 July 1999)

My friend and I saw two of the more anticipated movies of the year (1999)in the same night; Eyes Wide Shut and Blair Witch Project, and I don't think I could have found two better examples of the opposite extremes of filmmaking. Blair Witch, for all its hype is disappointing and even insulting at times. Granted, the core performances are very convincing however much of what they do doesn't make any sense at all. The film's key distinction is essentially that it looks bad with lots of hand-jerky motions which only serve to make one dizzy. There is little real story to the movie and suffice to say the movie feels improvised and off the cuff and subsequently amateurish. The only facinating aspect to this movie is how in the world it could have generated so much hype. The theatre I went to was a packed house while the EWS was only half full (both were good-sized theatres). I honestly don't know how such a badly-filmed inconsequentail film could steal thunder from the genius of Kubrick. Blair Witch commits the worst crime for a horror film; it doesn't scare. It doesn't even tease us with a scare. Its just boring. For all those critics who compared it with the Exorcist I can only imagine they meant Exorcist II. Save yourself the trouble and pass on this dude.