Could have been brilliant...

Rating: Null/10 (28 July 2000)

This is going to be a very inchoerent text, i´m sure, because to tell you the truth i still don´t know what to make of this movie. I don´t know, and as probably i never will, i decided to write this, and decide on the spot what i think about THE BLAIR WITCH...hemm...thing.
First of all, i can´t understand how many people were fooled into thinking, this was real life footage. There´s a particulary scene where two of the characters are having a discussion and the third one is filming everything, then one of the characters who were fighting changes place with the guy holding the camera, and goes in front of camera continuing the discussion, while the other now keeps filming the whole thing. Now... Wouldn´t it be more natural, when a discussion broke out, that the guy holding the camera, would put it aside or droped it on the floor so he could break the fight apart ?... Why keep filming the whole thing and then trade places with one of the persons figihting ?
It´s clear that they wanted the figth on camera, so that would create the "classic" tense moment between friends when lost. Just this scene would be enough for me to get realy suspicious.
So, apart from this...is this a good movie ? Well...where´s the movie ?...It´s a cool scam, a very good idea, with a great marketing campain.
As for the movie, if the idea of random shots of trees and people walking around in the same place for about an hour is appealing to you, then go right ahead. I mean, there are "empty" films where aparently nothing much is going on but are very profound sideways like David Lynch´s " A Straight Story", and then there are films where nothing is going on at all like BLAIR WITCH, wich as far as i know doesn´t have any deep meaning or philosophy behind... I´m not totaly against this, because at least i think it´s a very original experience particulary nowadays where all the films have a very stylized look, but it´s no great movie.
If you want an horror movie, with a crude raw look, then go rent THE EVIL DEAD instead. Or Peter Jackson´s BAD TASTE. Now this is how you make a very low no-budget production with imagination. And i´m not talking about special effects. The problem with BLAIR WITCH is its emptiness where nothing happens, where not even the location changes. It´s not scary. It´s just boring. If the idea was to create some suspance, well it works at the begining, but then what ? The scene in the tent is brilliant and very well acomplished. I only wished the whole movie was as creepy as this segment. The ending is abrupt and inconclusive, but of course it had to be, so this could pass for a real misterious crime footage found somewhere. Many people complain about the ending, i don´t, i think it´s perfect for this story and fits perfectly in the idea of reality.
I only saw this movie at the theater, but i´m sure this one is perfect for tv, where you don´t have to ear people eating pocorns next to you, and talking about last night´s football game while nothing happened in the movie. After this kind of theater experience with BLAIR WITCH, now i give even more valour to a music soundtrack. :-)
By the end, i don´t know what to think of this movie. I enjoyed it, but it could have been brilliant, instead of just original. Overall it´s a missed oportunity. Even the fake Blair Witch documentary responsible to give credibility to this story is a million times better and scary than the actual movie, wich only has two good bits, the scene in the tent with the voices of little children, and the final moments. It´s a nice peculiar movie, but it sure didn´t deserved all its sucess. On the other hand, it´s good to see someone in american movies, trying to inovate. Just for this Blair Witch should be praised. But not to much...