A Chillingly Realistic Found Footage Movie

Rating: 7/10 (24 October 2019)

What Blair Witch Project does so well, is create an unsettling, uncomfortable tone that lingers throughout the movie. There is a constant feeling of unease that takes place as soon as the three lead characters enter the woods.
The film does a great job of making a tale about witchcraft feel so realistic. This is primarily due to the incredibly believable performances of the cast, especially the main three, who we spent much of the runtime with. They always feel like real people, and their frustrations and fights with one another never feel forced but feel as if the oppressive atmosphere of the woods is influencing their actions.
The movie has an incredibly effective setup, with locals from the town telling stories of the Blair Witch legend. The fact that these stories feel like they're being told from the perspective of real people gives them a chilling quality.
The low quality, found-footage documentary style also adds to the grounded tone. It does not feel like a conventional movie due to the lack of a narrative structure or musical score. The occasional use of a 16mm black and white cameras is very effective in adding a chilling quality to the film, especially the daytime scenes in the woods.
The use of sounds in this film is incredible. A lot of this movie takes place at night with a blank black screen, where we can hear only distant noises. By not showing us anything, it allows the audience to imagine what is out there in the woods, which makes it even scarier. This also applies to the Blair Witch, who we never see throughout the movie at all. Our imagination is more terrifying than anything that could have been put on screen. Despite not appearing, her presence is felt throughout.
The final ten minutes of this movie is genuinely terrifying, with simple images such as children's handprints on the walls of the abandoned house in the woods, sticking with the viewer long after the film ends. And while it does end very abruptly, the final shot is very unsettling and gets under your skin.
While the sense of realism created by the filmmakers works so effectively throughout the movie, it also has its negatives. By creating such realistic and believable central characters, they become unremarkable and uninteresting with minimal characterisation. This is only a minor flaw, however in an otherwise excellent horror movie.