Eerie, but not very scary tale

Rating: 1/10 (10 August 1999)

"The Blair Witch Project" is not the scariest movie. It isn't even scary. It is a bit eerie. However, it is so crudely filmed ($100,000 budget) to reflect its feeling as a student documentary film, that it works against itself. So much of the screen time is devoted to a black screen or shots of grass and trees shot with hand-held cameras, that it is just annoying. The most atmospheric thing about the film is the soundtrack composed of dialog and weird sound effects. The hype around the film's origins and promotion on the Internet is just that, hype. The movie just doesn't have much entertainment value. It is just a curiosity, and audiences are flocking to it just for that reason. I suspect they will be as disappointed as I was. The writers/directors, Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez, gave the gist of each day's shooting to the three actors who use their own names for their characters. They then just took the two cameras, one 16mm black & white and an RCA video camera, and improvised the dialog and action to fit the generalized plot of the day. The actors should be given screenplay credit. Their performances are natural and in its final sequence amazingly real. All of the film's creators will probably go on to more expensive productions in the near future. Possibly then their creativity and talent will be more fully realized.