Blair Witch Project, The

I didn't want to like this movie. Really, I didn't. After all the previews, all the hype, and all the saying that this was the "scariest movie of all time", I really became sick of hearing about The Blair Witch Project. Indeed, after it's heyday, a lot of other people were saying the same thing, and this became one of the most reviled movies around. So, by the time I actually got around to catching The Blair Witch Project on DVD, I didn't know what to expect. In retrospect, going into this movie with no preconceptions and an open mind was the best way to go, as this movie is most effective if you don't know what you're getting into.

In October of 1994, three student film makers disappeared in the woods near Burkittesville, Maryland. One year later, their footage was found. So goes the opening title card of The Blair Witch Project, and so goes our introduction to one of the most unique horror movies in quite some time. The movie is told through the edited together film and video footage taken by the three amateur filmmakers in a style that was edgy back in 1999 and is now pretty standard in the day and age of reality television. Going into the usual plot outline is difficult for a movie like this is rather difficult, in that it's more of a situation that these people are forced into rather than a film with a straightforward storyline. We are simply presented with these three students and given the opportunity to watch as they live, fight, and ultimately die alongside one another in the middle of the Maryland woods. We watch the horror that they go through as they are attacked by something we will never see, let alone fully comprehend.

All that being said, is this a good movie? Without a doubt, I would have to say yes. Never before have I seen a movie that made me feel as claustrophobic as The Blair Witch Project, a funny thing considering the fact that this movie takes place in the great outdoors. The true horror from this film comes from the pure isolation that these three kids are faced with, because once they step off the beaten path, they are all they have, and when they cannot rely on each other for their very survival, things really go to hell.

It's a movie that uses simplicity and the imagination to its greatest benefit. The scares are simple but unbelievably effective. Never before has the sound of rocks being thrown in the distance been so chilling. Dozens of stick figures that appear out of nowhere are made to truly terrify. You don't know what it is shaking their tent, but it's scarier than hell. Not once during the course of the movie is the titular witch actually seen. Conversely, we don't ever know what it is that is terrifying these filmmakers. Is it a witch? Is it some other supernatural force? Is it just a bunch of redneck yokels messing with the kids? In the end we'll never know, but what we do find is rather grim.

The greatest criticisms leveled against this film all come from the three leads and their jerky camerawork. I've heard people saying this movie sucked because their acting is amateurish, because they were whiny twenty-something's who only knew how to scream and cuss, and on that I have to call bullshit. Yes, they are whiny twenty-something's, but let's face it people, most twenty-something's are whiny by their very nature. Amateurs though they may be, this adds a definite tint of authenticity to the film, as their reactions to everything that happens is genuine. These three kids were thrown in the middle of the forest while those truly behind the production messed with them every night, so every reaction you see is real. Sure, they know that they're not really going to die, but the terror they show upon seeing some pretty messed up things is genuine and truly frightening. As for the film's notorious camerawork, well, this is supposed to be the final hours of an amateur film crew, it's about as good as you can expect. I'm sure some people had problems with it on the big screen, but in the day and age of reality television it's not all that bad or nauseating on the small screen.

I'm not about to say that The Blair Witch Project is the perfect horror film. What I will say however is that it is a genuinely frightening one, working on all our fears of the supernatural, the dark, the unknown and pure, unadulterated claustrophobia. It has perhaps the grimmest ending in recent horror history, and a formula so difficult to copy that we're lucky it hasn't spawned too many imitators (something the 90's other great horror flick Scream can't profess.) So, it's one of those movies you either love or hate. I personally love it, and I'm fully willing to support it