the beauty of simplicity

Rating: 8/10 (8 January 2006)

The Blair Witch project is a film that is perfect in its simplicity. It is a tribute to the film makers that they manage to do so much on such a small budget and with so little. the reason for it's success is its masterful playing on two central themes the first of these being isolation. in the cases of the characters who are isolated in a wood it is particularly crushing as they are so close to civilisation but yet so far. The theme of fear of the unknown is exploited by the film makers because we never see the witch that is hunting them and perceive no limit to her power. this is all the more scary because our minds are left to wander over her seemingly limitless power.
The use of a hand-held camera to do the filming, genuine people as actors when possible and a lot of improvisation gives the film a gritty realistic edge. something that magnifys our fear as in our minds we do not see the famous actors and all to familiar Hollywood sets that would usually allow us to disbelieve but the truth.
when this film was released in 1999 clever promoting and rumors that the film were true meant that it arrived with a lot of hype. This may of contributed to its success but its simple story line and good Acton sti9ll make it a cracking horror film.