Last year around this time I reviewed the sequel to this film, which is one of the worst films I've ever seen. But this film, for what it is, is one of the best horror films ever made. Why? It's scary. Even though the hand-held, first person camerawork does get a bit nauseating by the end, the cinematography adds to the realistic feel, which makes the film even scarier. The filmmakers understood what scares us, playing on those fears. The fear of the dark, strange noises, getting lost, the supernatural, the unexplained and insanity are all used. Anyone watching can relate.
Heather (Heather Donahue, BOYS & GIRLS) is a documentary film student, setting out to make a movie about the Blair witch, a Burkittsville, Maryland local legend. Along with her are cinematographer Josh (Joshua Leonard, MEN OF HONOR) and soundman Mike (Michael Williams). Leaving an unsettling mood, they find some strange symbols made out of twigs hung from trees. As it gets later, they find themselves going around in circles, and fear begins to set in as they realize they are lost. As tensions between the threesome rise, their nerves are rattled more when they are spooked by a presence, maybe real or maybe imagined, in the darkness of the woods.
Directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez devised an innovative approach to making this film by leaving instructions along the way for their actors to find and play upon. The trio of performers didn't know what the other would do before it was capture on camera. Additionally, they were free to sink completely into their characters and the situation, freed from a film crew around them. After shocking filmgoers at festivals around the world, the film arrived in theaters backed by an innovative marketing campaign that made people wonder whether the film was real or not. Breaking records for independent films at the box office, BLAIR WITCH was a phenomenon. There hadn't been a film this scary in theaters for a very long time.
Adding to the overall effect is the realistic performances by the then amateur cast. Every time I watch the film I think about different ways the film could have played out, making it smarter or scarier, but that is not this movie. But it goes to show how solid the film is when it has me thinking every time I see it. More importantly, it has me on the edge of my seat every time, because it's not what we see on the screen that necessarily scares us, it's what the film conjures vividly in the viewer's mind that has us gripped with fear.
Buy "The Blair Witch Project" Here!
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
