willfully misread

Rating: 8/10 (11 November 1999)

I love The Blair Witch and I think it has one of the best finales in the history of horror films. I kind of wish it hadn't achieved quite the level of success that it did though. That way I wouldn't have had to endure so many goofy comments from the people who hated it. Things like: "You didn't even get to see the witch" (exactly, the filmmakers decided to plant the horror in the viewer's minds, rather than directly under the camera, it's called subtlety-look it up); and "what's so scary about a bunch of sticks and rocks" (gee, nothing in and of themselves, why don't you try placing them within the context of the storyline?); and, "Why didn't these morons just follow the stream back to civilization"(they did, and they ended up right back where they had started....There was a WITCH in the woods with them, you know, supernatural forces keeping them there, no matter what they did)...and don't even get me started on the folks that complain bitterly about the low budget aspects of the whole enterprise, as if said-budget is a filmic crime in and of itself. It's a shame to see such a good little film run into such metaphorical brick walls; I can't remember any recent movie that has been as willfully misread by so many people. I guess Hype does kill.