Once It Gets Going, a Powerful Exploration of Fear

Rating: 5/10 (31 October 1999)

It is amazing when I see an interesting movie like Blair Witch that cost under 50 thousand dollars to make. I say interesting rather than rave about it because there is about half of a very good movie here but the rest I was less impressed with.
First the acting in Blair Witch is top notch, absolutely believable. I recently saw Clerks, another successful ultra cheap feature, where some of the characters weren't even acting. Instead they were simply being their strange selves. But Clerks from start to finish has something that Blair Witch does not. It is tightly paced while Blair Witch rambles for the first half hour. It is too slow and some of the townspeople are given too much air time. Now I understand this is supposed to be some quasi student documentary but it does not have to be dull.
Once the actors get into the woods, the film begins to hit its stride. My only complaint about the second half hour is the lengthy time spent on reactions to piles of rocks and tied together sticks. The editing here needed to be more crisp. On a positive note the tension between the actors begins to build in a very believable way.
The last third of Blair Witch was terrific. The actors slipping into madness, the running into the night is electric and the incredible speech in the tent by Heather Donahue is great. The final crazed moments in the house have a mind bending David Lynch feel, very disturbing.

Few movies that I have seen are as up and down as Blair Witch. Considering that this is a first film and the limited budget this is understandable. But while the beginning is slow, the wait was worth it. Few films explore the depth of fear as well as Blair Witch.