Good movie,GREAT concept and promotional push

Rating: 7/10 (8 September 2010)

Now somewhat expected in scary movies,around 1998 filmmakers Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez made the daring and clever move of not only creating a singular camera,FX-free horror film with unknown actors(which may've as much been the end product of being relative first-timers of movie making as it would be credited to being ingenious,to be sure)but also going to work promoting the film as if it were a real occurrence,replete with its own website,its own history,documentation,and plenty(and I mean PLENTY)of interviews and fake newscasts. By the time of it's running,thru a number or film festivals and word-of-mouth promotions thru the early part of 1999,the movie was a virtual dynamo of anticipation when it finally landed in commercial theaters a week or two after the 4th of July that year.
For the most part,it feels like a lot of invention and inspiration for a movie that,while inspired and effective enough,seems to be really challenging the viewer to love it or hate it. When I first saw it eleven years ago,I was much more in the "love it" camp. Upon re-watching it in full more recently,I'd more put it in the "solid like" category.
Treated,at its broad-frame as a sort of "Super documentary",it portends to show the film of an attempted documentary of three film students from Baltimore(Heather Donahue,Michael Williams and Joshua Leonard--all using their real names and not seemingly attempting to show any distinction that would give them away as actors)who go on the trail of the rural legend of the Blair Witch,an 18th century woman who was cast into the woods of post-colonial Maryland,only to disappear and somehow,foist curse on the locals in neighboring towns. After roughly eight days of being lost in the woods somehow,the three understandably lose their cools,rationale and eventually much more as their uncanny knack to be tracked by someone(or something)in the woods has them unable to think clearly and,ultimately,escape.
Plenty of "cinema verite" and improvisation(supposedly,the directors made the actors merely react to situations by leaving index cards along the woods telling them of what was happening next)made this simultaneously one of the more organic and unnerving films made.My lessening of enchantment of this movie is mostly from the passage of time,a chance to digest all the elements of the film/story and the re-evaluation of camera and filming tactics,which,while appreciable for their lack of excess and attention to more intangible fear and atmosphere,seem to be challenging the viewer in ways that threaten to break the viewing experience as well as enhance it.
Extras on the DVD are a real plus:getting to see much of the back-story attached to this show is a largely satisfying element(and also gives me some insight into a couple of less-than-flattering reviews)to accompany a film that may seem a bit thin or "naked" on its own. An inspiration for ensuing "shocker" movies to come(Cloverfield,Quarantine,Paranormal Activity,The Last Exocrcism come to mind),this movie is worth a look,though the cleavage of opinion on it is gonna be quite difficult to overcome. Back then,a near ten;now,a weak seven. A keeper? You be the judge.