The scariest...

Rating: 9/10 (7 August 1999)

As the lights in the theater went up, every single person immediately said something to the effect of "Oh sh--." Then playfull nervous laughing emerged. "The Blair Witch Project" is a movie that still affects me now. Like the people in the audience, I feel like I need to laugh it off, or say something like, "Heather was so annoying." The simple truth is, though, that the movie absolutely terrified me. Why exactly, I have few clues. A friend of mine who attended the movie made fun of my slacked jaw and tight grip on the armrests. He didn't think much of the movie(He likes "Pet Cemetary.").
That is why it is hard to decide whether or not to recommend the film. Alot is made of things in the movie that go against typical "lost in the middle of nowhere" films. Maybe the movie's lack of standard cliches, and it's "Spinal Tap" innovative approach is what draws the critical acclaim. I guess horror, like humour, is subjective. Some people are scared of people in hockey masks with chainsaws. Some people are scared of things that go bump in the night. For me(and the young lady behind me who jolted loudly in her seat during the last 15 minutes), I think the scariest thing is the idea that strange things are out there, and there is absolutely nothing you or your friends can do about it.
Some things about the movie bothered me, technically. The camera's constant movement was perhaps too real, and I struggled frequently to make out some of the strange things that the group finds in the film. I was unclear about one particular detail towards the end involving a bundle of sticks(I will say no more to avoid any kind of spoiler).
The bottom line: The movie may scare the pants off you. You may find it silly. It could be just "all right." All anyone can do is say what they thought of it. I thought it was so scary, so suspensefull, and so primitively instinctively terrifying that I probably can't bear to watch it again. Then again, my friend I saw the movie with hasn't like cats in quite a while.