A new way in WITCH to see

Rating: 9/10 (8 August 1999)

Ah, THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT.
A revolutionary film. It tells a story the way no film ever has. Presented as a edited version of found footage, the filmmakers successfully created reality cinema. Undoubtedly influenced (if even subconsciously) by "Cops" and the myriad other shows categorized as "reality TV," BLAIR WITCH tells its story from a cameraman's perspective. In this case, the cameramen are more than just voyeurs; they are active participants in the unfolding action. We believe that they'd keep the cameras rolling to document their strange and terrifying predicament. We believe the characters are real as the superlative three actors never slip up and remind us that it's just a movie. We believe in the sounds coming from the woods, and we try to decipher them, to make sense of them. We do this in spite of the fact the most of us know through reading articles that it was just the film's producers making scary noises.
It's so easy to buy into THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT because it is a simulation of reality. No music, no cutaways, no special effects, no professional photography. No film conventions at all -- only "home video" conventions. It's a presentation of edited found footage left to us to determine what happened to this doomed threesome. Like it or not, BLAIR WITCH has introduced a new way to believe in the movies. And if you don't believe me, just ask someone from Burkittesville, MD.
Grade: A