Forget Blair Witch, it's great hype.

Rating: Null/10 (31 July 1999)

I have not seen such original backstory and hype since Twin Peaks. But unlike Twin Peaks, BWP does not execute (except the characters, but that's a different execution). Essentially, the two behind this film are hardly filmmakers in a professional sense. Read any film making book, attend any seminar, even if you focus on an independent audience, these guys break all the rules. And breaking the rules is not innovative. The MTV-like jumpy camera shots and angles may work for videos, but they do not work for film. (This is the only movie I have ever seen where fellow film goers came out dizzy and ill as if suffering from motion sickness.)
If I were to attach a 16 mm camera to the back of a Rottweiler (big, scary dog) for a day, I will most likely end up with the same technical quality, and arguably a much better story. And can I please have one character I can sympathize with? Of all the true stories I have heard of people lost in the woods, I can't recall the part where the lost people had survival tips of (1) cuss at everybody in your party all day (2) shove video camera in everyone's face.
As said earlier, the backstory is great, the premise is great, but the film itself is not scary. Fear of the unknown is one of the scariest, well executed by ALIEN, but miserably done here. I think the filmmakers tried so hard to fulfill the backstory, they were too successful. Home movies are not interesting. Even in an independent, low-budget film, horrible sound, horrible writing, horrible acting, and horrible directing does not somehow evolve into a good film. The true talent is in the marketing, whomever did that has a future, as for the filmmakers, well....good luck.