Caution... hype kills

Rating: 5/10 (22 July 1999)

I greatly admired and appreciated what THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT was supposed to be. Supposedly shot for less than the price of a car, unknown actors, POV camcorder work, no musical score... a very gutsy and ambitious project. The film was marketed brilliantly. Everyone wondered, "Is it real?" Enough so that every show was a sellout while in limited release. And slowly, the hype kept building... "The greatest horror movie since THE EXORCIST."
Don't believe the hype. For all its originality and ambition, it's a disappointing scare. Too few heart-thumping moments. It's a story more about how not to get lost in the woods than about any witch or ghost. I understand the concept: don't let the audience know anything more than the characters. Use sparse sounds and suggestions; let the audience's imagination do the rest. But here's the problem with that: there's no payoff. You're left TOO MUCH to your own imagination. A fleeting glimpse of SOMETHING in the last camera shot is all it would have taken to satisfy me (and most of the audience, judging by the reaction I heard in the theatre).
It's a brilliantly shot film. A wonderful concept. If it were my student film project, I'd expect an A. I just wouldn't expect people to pay 8 bucks to see it.