Mis-marketing in action

Rating: 7/10 (23 September 2011)

The Blair Witch Project is an interesting mockumentary with an intriguing concept, that was the victim of many bad decisions, in the process of making it and especially of promoting it. The ambition, it seems, was to create an experimental art-house film that would appeal to mainstream audiences, and by marketing it as a 'horror' movie, create surprise and buzz. The attempt to bridge the gap between the two viewer groups was quite positive, but what it actually achieved is alienating both: the horror crowd was disappointed and annoyed, especially younger viewers who sneaked into an R rated movie expecting gore and heads-on horror; and the more sophisticated, avant garde crowd, turned off from day one by the film's promotion, didn't even bother to go see it.
A decade later, it's easier to put all that aside, as well as the internet-based hype generated by the producers at the time. The film can now be appraised as what it is, an exercise in experimental filmmaking, and an interesting one at that. It takes a lesson from the true great classics of horror - in that the fear of the unknown, the anxiety and anticipation of violence are much more effective than explicit violence in itself - and indeed, it's scarier than almost any horror movie created in the last twenty years, although the teenagers who usually go for that kind of movie will probably disagree. The Blair Witch Project creates tension and anxiety, and draws the viewer into the characters' world. And it doesn't matter one bit whether or not you think it might be real - in fact it's more impressive when you know that it's not.
Unfortunately, it doesn't achieve true greatness in that respect either. In its attempt to bridge between mainstream horror and experimental indie movie-making, the film reaches a sort of middle ground that isn't quite here nor there, not quite satisfying anybody. The Blair Witch Project is not a classic or a great film, nor will it ever be, but it should be watched by fans of independent and experimental cinema and of classic horror, and remembered as a brave and innovative experiment that didn't quite make it.