Well made -- wait to see it until the thrill-seekers die down, though.

Rating: 8/10 (6 August 1999)

The Blair Witch Project was an interesting movie that easily kept my attention, but I'm afraid the atmosphere in the theater wasn't exactly conducive to the eerie mood the movie attempted to create.
I saw it at the Lakewood 15 last weekend, in the company of what felt like about 50,000 shouting, giggling, popcorn-throwing, guffawing, snorting pseudo-teens. It seemed that they were there, not to consider the movie on its own merits, but because they thought it would be a hip, raw, scarefest blockbuster. It wasn't and isn't, so don't go if that's what you're looking for. If the audience hadn't been expecting Freddie Kruger to mysteriously materialize with a gore-dripping chain saw, they might have been able to identify with the characters and realize what an unnerving experience it would be to be lost, frustrated, and hearing weird sounds in the night. And they might have been drawn into the movie enough to flinch and squirm when the REALLY scary part finally happened, like I did, even under such poor movie-viewing conditions.
If you're looking for a quietly entertaining movie with supernatural overtones as well as subtle commentary on changing group dynamics in the current age, go see it; then maybe the theater will be quiet enough that the movie can weave its spooky web around you. I can't guarantee it will happen, but I suspect that the absence of popcorn and Milk Dud missiles makes any non-"Police Academy"-type movie better.