Deserves an Oscar for "Hype of the Year"...

Rating: 1/10 (27 July 1999)

The pre-release publicity campaign for Blair Witch was truly awesome in its success at building anticipation, from the teen-target word of mouth stage right through the SciFi Channel hourlong trailer that set the movie up very effectively for its limited release in major US cities. It's been many a full moon since this filmlover has seen an audience so charged up that they literally were running into the theatre to grab a good seat. We were going to see something new, something different. Above all, we were going to experience a film which was "Scary as Hell!"
Instead, we got faux cinema verite with just a hint of Tobe Hooper. Instead of shock we got a crock. The cinematography, let's face it, was just plain poor. The vaunted "performances" of the three leads were adequate acting-class improv. The ending simply did nothing with the basic premise except to close it within the acceptable minimum running time. As a fear-inducing entertainment, Blair Witch is dead on arrival. When it opens wide this weekend, many an exhibitor will be deluged with demands for return of the ticket price. Those reviewers and fans who suffer from the Emporer's New Clothes Complex (I believe this will be great, therefore it is!) are in for a mighty repudiation from the American filmgoing public, and Artisan, which artfully managed the hype-machine on this little movie, will be forced to pull the plug on any notion of mass-market success with this TBWP.
This said, Blair Witch does work really well on one level. As a metaphor for the ignorance and ineptitude of the American media covering any story of real importance, the film is, in fact, a powerful indictment. I do suspect this was the real intent of the filmakers, so blatant is this theme as the movie unreels. But as a fearsome chiller-thriller of the psychological variety? Please.
For real films of this type, I refer the interested reader to Polanski's The Tenant, to Cronenberg's Videodrome, to M, Peeping Tom, or The (original) Haunting. Blair Witch is worth seeing, but for none of the reasons put forth by its publicity campaign. Filmgoers not conditioned to believe everything they hear will feel ripped off by Artisan, the Sundance crowd, and the filmakers themselves.
To these, I have one last word:
Booo!