You might be able to make it through this movie...

Rating: 10/10 (26 July 1999)

... if you say these words to yourself through most of the film, "It's not for real. It's not for real." Even doing that it's hard to not become so terrified that you leave the theatre at the end shaking. I did. As fun as it may be, don't allow your friends to believe it's real either. We're talking psychological and emotional abuse. There's no gore, no violence, and yet this movie is more terrifying than Halloween and maybe even The Exorcist. I didn't sleep at night after watching The Blair Witch Project, and I may not be able to sleep for many nights to come.
All that scary stuff aside, this film is monumental to modern film making. I have never seen anything like it before, and you can bet there may be a handful of copycats to come. It is not so much that the directors came up with something original, because I can assure you that they did not, but they created something so utterly successful that it could possibly discourage many people from going into films, simply because they know they couldn't compete. Chances are, they were lucky -- all the cards fell into place for them. They found fabulous actors (especially a COMPLETELY believable four-year-old), developed a great premise that actually worked better with a smaller budget, and began a promotional endeavor that will be documented in history books. Anyone could have been lucky enough to do this, it just happened to be the guys at Haxan Films who found that luck.
See this film. Watch it with friends and be sure to plan on staying up all night afterwards. You may not notice it for a while, but by the end of the film you could realize that you've been camping with Heather, Josh, and Mike the whole time. That is what will scare you. That is what will keep you up all night. And that is what will keep you from ever going camping again.