An Educational experience

Rating: 9/10 (15 September 2008)

I got to see this film after my brother's room mate and his girlfriend remembered the occasion of seeing it at a Home cinema in a cabin. I had heard very much about the title. Even at a Media class at my university the professor mentioned 'Blair Witch project' for the hand-held camera view. Also one of my friends came into making some short movies about campus and stuff, and he was really into it, so one day he said: ''Rei, let's make a movie, I mean a real feel movie, OK - not quite as Blair Witch project- but still...
After all this I just couldn't stand missing out on a influential piece of culture. The film itself is just one hour and a quarter long, but I guarantee you would want it to end way before and have impulses to check your watch.
The footage found from three (probably cinema) students that wanted to make a documentary over the legend of the Blair Witch, and for the purpose they went into the woods of Maryland to find evidence.
I really liked this movie! As a horror film it is a favorite. All classic horror movies are just "directed", they build the tension through some events the director chooses and the actors behave as if wanting to get your chills going. Well, in Blair Witch all that happens is perfectly - and I mean it - normal.
Just remembering the decline the group suffers, that you might think the guys will resort to inhuman acts to survive (probably in a Hollywood movie this would have been sought - but here the mere idea of it is oh so creepy).
It is as if I were in the group. The movie tempts me: 'Rei, what would have you done in this situation?' That's why it's so great and I preferred it so much.
After seeing it for the evening of course I couldn't get to sleep. I actually myself got going in the genre, so I put some fragments of classics, The Exorcist and The Shinning. Apart from just scenes in which the scare is inevitable, these look like toy inventions: they want to find a better way of scaring you. They just pale in comparison...
I don't mean to ignorant, but 'Blair Witch' is something that gets a special place in one's memory. It's a story. It's not a directed story, the interesting facts in and cinematic achievement to be remarked. It's a story that gets you gripped and it has full effect. After watching it think about the 'educational experience part'! If somebody asked me about my scariest movie or horror films, I'll just suggest them to see 'The Blair Witch Project'. A mandatory experience, in my opinion.