A real scary movie (The Blair Witch Project (DVD))

Member Name: Dr_Evil

Product:	The Blair Witch Project (DVD)
Date:	07/11/00 (147 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Original and truly chilling

Disadvantages: The style is not to everyone's tastes

The Blair Witch project is almost certainly one of the most original films of recent years. Produced on a shoestring budget and with a reputation built on word of mouth The Blair Witch Project became one of the biggest hits of 1999.

While opinions on The Blair Witch Project vary greatly, I personally am a great fan of the film although I would agree that it is a film that you will either love or hate. Taken at face value you would be hard pushed to find another film that is so simple but effective.

The film tells the story of three young student filmmakers from Burkittsville, Maryland. Burkittsville, formerly Blair, is a small town which has suffered many tragedies over hundreds of years, many of which remain unexplained, that have been attributed to 'The Blair Witch'. The film starts with the filmmakers interviewing various Burkittsville residents about the Witch before entering the forest, where the Witch is rumoured to live, to film their documentary. Although initially the filming is a success, the students find themselves lost, unable to find a way out of the forest and at the mercy of the ‘Witch’.

The film does not scare the viewer with scary images like traditional horror films, and in fact, you never actually see the Blair Witch. The fear is entirely psychological as you feel the fear of the filmmakers as the Witch plays games with their minds and they struggle to remain sane, turning against each other as they sink into deeper and deeper despair. Heather Donahue, Michael Williams and Joshua Leonard, all playing themselves, do an incredible job of creating a tense atmosphere and it is the way they express their own fear and desperation that makes the film so effective.

I can understand that the visual style of the film is not to everyone’s tastes as it is filmed using a hand held camera, meaning the picture is very unstable and of a pretty low quality. However, I think this unique style makes the
film far more believable and gives the viewer a much greater sense of immersion within the film.

Unlike other Hollywood films Blair Witch does not have a happy ending, and I am not giving anything away to say, the stars do not survive. I have heard many opinions that say the ending to Blair Witch is disappointing and I have to say the first time I saw the film I agreed with this. However in my opinion, to fully appreciate the ending, you must pay attention to the stories told to the filmmakers by the Burkittsville residents at the start of the film. If you do this then I am sure that you, as I did when watching the film again, will find the ending incredibly chilling and a perfect ending to an incredible film. The ending is unexpected and very sudden and as a result will leave the memory of the film lingering in your mind.

The Blair Witch is a film that really should be watched in the right setting to be at its most effective. If you see the film while drunk or in a theatre full of teenagers who laugh the whole way through, then the atmosphere may well pass you by and you will leave thinking the film is overrated and not scary. However, if you watch the film on your own, in a darkened room then it is sure to scare you to death. I think is a way the hype has worked against the film as it left people expecting too much and knowing too much about the film before they saw it, and this was probably the reason why it was so much better received in the US than in the UK.

I would highly recommend buying the DVD release of the Blair Witch Project as it also includes the excellent documentary, The Curse of the Blair Witch. This documentary looks at the history of Burkittsville, the tragedies that have beset the town, and past sightings of the Witch in much greater detail, setting the scene well for the movie. It was this documentary that created much of the buzz about the film in the US as many people believed it was real, and that the Blair Witch
film was actually the footage discovered of the last movements of the three filmmakers. The DVD also includes an informative commentary from the directors and producers, a rather poor additional scene, and various interviews with the directors. All in all the DVD package is superb and an essential purchase for any fan of the film.

Unfortunately, as the recent sequel has shown, The Blair Witch was a one-off and it is very unlikely that the fear of the original could ever be recreated. The Blair Witch Project is evidence that a film can be successful without a massive budget and without following the formulaic style of regular Hollywood movies.

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