Damn Scary!

Rating: Null/10 (5 April 2004)

SPOILERS::
This movie is good. Really, it's great. It was just so surprising all the time, you never knew really what was going to happened. Heather Donahue, wow, they couldn't have found a woman better for the role...the plot's great, the story line stunning and the actors...GREAT JOB!The acting (well, I HOPE it was acting!) was well done. The teenagers make an interesting and compelling portrayal of their characters. I have always admired Heather Donahue and this serves to keep that high opinion in tact. Technically, the direction, filming and editing are well done, but not outstanding in any way.I love a good scare, when it's not accompanied by gratuitous gore. This fit the bill nicely. I look at it as fiction, despite the notice that it's based on true events, and it was an enjoyable fictional movie. Very, very creepy.A nice idea, and good execution of that idea make this a foreign film to see. The film does have a few cliche moments, but don't let that distract you from the film itself. It's very clever, very scary in bits, and the final twist is worth waiting for.
It just goes to show that a decent horror film can be made without all the blood and guts. I don't think it was better than Ring, but you can see some similarities. It's worth a look, and you never know, you might be pleasantly surprised.
And if you really can't be bothered to watch it, watch out for the Hollywood remake which will either be a total load of rubbish, or a good adaptation - probably the former!!
Some friends were ranting about how damn good The Blair Witch Project and its sequel were, so I rented the first one last night to see whether all the fuss was justified.
It was.
Bloody hell. I've never been to terrified at a film in my life. Actually, I've NEVER been scared so bloody much by a film. I can appreciate creepy moments and often feel mildly uneasy after watching a film, but never this level of fear. Oh, no. I had to sleep with the light on. What sort of fool am I? I guess because it's way more realistic than your average teen horror fare. This movie was pretty good, but the way it was filmed, it looked like someone just used a video camera, so the shakiness and zooms sort of distracted you from the film itself, which is indeed brilliance. This movie really captures that disturbing feel, and it doesn't skip showing the raw things. The actors are good. Good horror film.
The idea of a sort of going into the woods with a thing stalking you while taping it is rather American High School Horror Film, but The Blair Witch Project is so much more than that. It begins with a couple of teenagers in the uncomfortable (but brilliant) opening scene, then begins to concentrate on them.
The tension builds slowly -- helped along by the magnificent soundtrack and the sound effects of the video -- and things that happen often have no build-up. For example, if it was a Hollywood film then THAT spectacular bloody hand print scene would have been chock-full of intense music, building up to a crescendo. But was it? No, there was no sign that anything was going to happen. I mean, I had my suspicions but there was no build up. So, when it happened I jumped a good five feet into the air.
I thought that was it, but there was yet ANOTHER climax in which they see the bloody hand prints and hear the children laughing. That scene should go down in history as THE second (or third) creepiest film scene of all time. The bloodied hand prints, the children laughing, the witch stalking them and the cliche bad-always-moves-slowly-and-good-always-moves-quickly-yet-bad-always-gets-good thing to create a scene that I fear will never leave me alone. I feel stupid now in the bright morning sunshine, having to explain it to my sister. We've turned it back around, but don't think for one second that it'll stay that way when I go to bed.
I've turned off my phone. And I've forced my boyfriend to watch the film, and told him to show it to his mates.
Just in case.

8/10.