I was so... bored.

Rating: 2/10 (16 May 2003)

'The Blair Witch Project' was one of THE film phenomena of 1999. It managed to do something that few 'horror' films do - audiences were enraptured and critics applauded. Well done. The film was original in its approach and atmosphere was quickly projected. Unfortunately this seems to be all the film has going for it.
Spoilers herein.
Centering on three young people making a documentary about a local myth in order, it seems, to find out whether there is any truth in it, the film follows the protagonists into woods around which the 'Blair Witch' myth centres. They hear noises in the night, see some blobs of light and get lost in the woods. Soon, they begin to become agitated with one another sporadically, and tensions rise within the group. One of them disappears and leaves his teeth behind. The pair left behind worry for their friend and follow his voice to an empty house where they get killed. Boo-hoo.
My summary may be only skeletal, and biased by my distaste for the film, but it gives one an idea of how inherently awful the plot is. Of course, plot is not everything, as so many have proved before, but unfortunately the film also suffers from a terrible script. The characters, while not suffering from one-dimensionalism, fail to convince because they seem so utterly motiveless in everything they do or say. There is some improvisation, which utterly fails to convince due to the chronically opaque acting during the second half of the movie. Development seems totally absent. The closest thing is the repetitive structure of increasingly emotionally tense days followed by increasingly noise-filled nights. Unfortunately this is all that happens. The emotion merely increases and the noises merely get louder.
Much of the 'footage' at night is punctuated by long moments in which the viewer merely sees a blank screen and listens to some heavy breathing (and wonders why they were foolish enough to PAY for the privilege). When finally, the plot moves along somewhat, it is exceptionally dull. The characters supposedly begin to 'lose it' and become feral enough to begin running around screaming, jerking around their camcorder just a little bit more than necessary. They enter a house, scream some more and lose sight of each other before dying.
But, alas, I have explained why the bad constituents are so awful far enough, I hope. Now I should perhaps state why the good parts don't work. Firstly, the film's original approach. The pretense that the film is 'footage' left behind serves to allow the camera to be extremely subjective. One would surmise that this would draw the viewer in to the picture, but it in fact alienates the viewer due to the camera's own self-consciousness. Presumably this is because the actor's apparently filmed much of the footage themselves (or so I am told). Whether the directors wished to alienate the viewer intentionally I don't know, but it does not work with the hyper-personal nature of the film.
Secondly, the films evocation of atmosphere. This is the one thing that the film does very well. Very quickly the viewer's mind is filled with ideas of witchcraft, the supernatural etc. The power of the horror genre lies in its ability to take one's fears and twist them into something worse inside your head. This film doesn't do that. It merely continues those fears' natural proliferation in a boring manner.
I will not recommend another film, but rather suggest that you think about the supernatural, or demons, or whatever, and then go and sit in the living room late at night with the lights off. It will be a wholly more interesting experience.
2 out of 10