AN exceptional example of BRAVE filmmaking. Horror for the senses & Imagination, not cheap thrills.

Rating: 10/10 (1 August 1999)

Without compare, this low-budget thriller is in a close run with THE EXORCIST in my "scariest movies of all time," and the only reason it doesn't beat out THE EXORCIST is because imo it's not as "real" and disturbing spiritually. It is, however, a terrifying experience which I think is sure to set a new precedent for Hollywood scare-fests (or atleast I hope so).
Simply, most of what happens with TBWP doesn't happen on the screen at all. I hate to burst your bubble, but if you go to this flick expecting to see some mean and evil looking "witch," forget it. The movie has barely anything to do with witches in the typical Hollywood sense of the word (nevermind the real sense of the word). Neither will you find teenagers being axed to death during or after having sex, scantily clad cheerleaders fending off chainsaw welding maniacs wearing pig heads, psychotic transvestites with machetes bent on hacking apart those who jilted them, buckets of blood, HP Lovecraftian creatures lurking in shadows and beneath damp graveyards or any of the other stuff your USED to seeing on the silver screen these days being billed as "horror." What you will discover is yourself immersed in the experience of the movie, like a cinematic funhouse where most of the horror is supplies by your imagination spurred by slight visual and mostly aural screen cues.
For the most part, not much happens on the screen... but the suggestion that there's something exceptionally horrific and inherently diabolical will ignite your imagination to fill in the blanks with a host of horrors individually suited for each theatergoer. Now those are some noteworthy special effects!
I won't give away any of the plot. I won't tell you what finally happens at the end (?) of the film, suffice to say that I sat there with my jaw open staring at the screen in near shock. And something else happened in the nearly 3/4 full theater which hasn't happened in a long time (and I'm a pretty regular theatergoer)... the audience was DEAD SILENT. I could hear the breaths of those around me, sharp intakes, gasps, heart-pounding heavy inhales... this movie gripped the audience and held it quiet and interested. There were some minor scenes where the tension was allowed to vent a bit, but for the most part it was a slow boil toward a crescendo which was unlike most any other movie I could mention to compare.
This film is innovative by design. Everything from the actors to the presentation to the marketing was a refreshing wind to this summer's movie calender. It's ironic that perhaps the lowest budget film I've seen thus far this summer is perhaps the best. It is perhaps best successful because it really does draw the viewer into the picture like the best campfire ghost story.
FOUR STARS, no disappointment, this film lives up to the hype. You WILL be scared.