By: Mike Redman
August 1st, 1999

"The Blair Witch Project" is one of the most over-under-hyped movies I have seen in my life. What does that mean, you ask? "The Blair Witch Project" has been an independent film since its inception, meaning it didn't garner a ground swell of popular until long after it was completed. That is where the "under-hyped" comes from. However, since it has been hocked at the general public, it has been "over-hyped," drawing compliments like "The scariest movie since 'The Exorcist'!" and the like. However, the movie deserves little of the accolades it has received.

This review will contain spoilers, so if you haven't seen the movie, and you want to see it without being spoiled, don't read the review.

The premise of "The Blair Witch Project" is one about a college documentary team that went in search of a legendary witch in an old town called Burkittsville, Maryland, formerly called Blair. The directors of the film then "found" the footage that the team had made during their filming a year later. However, before viewing the film, I knew, as many people did, that the whole thing was staged, this event never occurred, and there is no place called "Burkittsville." This knowledge basically ruined the movie for me, because then I was able to separate myself from the plot. I also reminded myself constantly during the movie that it was fake, so that I would not freak out. All of this made the movie unenjoyable for me.

The movie, filmed on two cameras that were a part of the documentary's equipment, follows the three main characters (Josh, Heather, and Mike) as they interview a few locals about the Blair Witch, and as they move into the woods near the town to dig deeper into the lore. A few days pass before the film ends. During these days, they stumble across piles of stones that the Blair Witch uses to mark her killings, and an area of hanging stick figures, which, in our popular culture, have come to symbolize the movie. The nights, however, suffer the more obvious attacks of the Witch. The first night, they hear voices and unnatural sounds, as well as the second night, but see nothing. They do find piles of three stones surrounding their tent, eerily sealing their fate. On the third night, their tent is attacked, and they are forced to flee. On the fourth night, Josh disappears, and Heather and Mike, far beyond any care of finishing their documentary, fret until the fifth night. They hear the sounds of Josh screaming in agony, but can't find him. The next morning, Heather finds a pile of twigs with Josh's left hand, soaked in blood, inside it. The sixth night, they again hear Josh and the unnatural sounds, and head out in a last-ditch attempt to save him. They find an old, beat-up house and go looking for him inside it. They follow his voice into the basement, until the final scene finds Heather knocked over by the ghost, and Mike, standing inhumanly still in the corner, which is the Blair Witch's style of killing.

The movie is not, despite the hype and my own plot summary, much of a horror film, in the classic sense. The horror of the Blair Witch and its mystery is only a backdrop for a film of psychological terror. The film seemed more and more, except for the night hours, a film chronicling three different peoples' reactions to a hidden terror. As the days wear on, and hope about their survival fades, the three characters clash more often, and more violently, until entire swaths of dialogue are littered with four-letter words, and pushing and shoving become common events. The controlling Heather, who insists on filming as much of the trip as she can, clashes often with Mike, because he wants to get out of the woods and back to the car, and Josh, whose role as the responsible and logical 'eminence grise' impel him to state that all the filming is unnecessary. He and Mike convince Heather several times to stop filming, until an adequate cooling-off period allows her to flip on the lenses again. Heather also seems to be the daring leader, willing to lead the team into the night to try and capture the Witch on video. Josh seems more concerned, especially by the fourth day, about being late for his job than the finishing of the documentary. Mike always seems to be reluctant to believe in the witchcraft or hear its sounds, so as not to allow himself to be scared. Gradually, all three of them lose their cool, until emotional breakdowns and flare-ups constitute the majority of the film. Therefore, this movie is less about the witch and more about the human element of the young film team.

The film, despite the lack of fear it instilled in me, was marvelously acted. Without a question, if you were to pop this video in a VCR and start watching, you would have no question that you were watching a documentary, not a film about a documentary. The fear and pain and anger and all other emotions are excruciating real, mainly because, for the most part, they ARE real. The actors were given a loose script, and ad-libbed most of the lines, which gives a fresh reality to a summer of fully-scripted blockbuster extravaganzas.

The video quality, to go along with the theme of an amateur documentary, fits seamlessly into the film as a role. The grainy film of the hand-held camera and the grayscale amateur film camera give the film a gritty, believable reality. The actors do all of the filming themselves, and you can almost feel their fear as the camera jitters and sways, sometime nauseatingly, in an intense scene. It gives the film a more powerful feeling than a professional movie camera.

"The Blair Witch Project" was an extreme let down in terms of hype. I was expecting to be scared out of my mind, but was only mildly entertained by the movie. The only entertaining parts were few and far between, during the nights. It's supposed to be a documentary, yes, but it's also a real movie. However, the genuineness of the acting and film work give it more credibility as a decent film, but still not a decent horror film. Therefore, I five this movie a score of –0.5 on my scale of –5 to 5. I use this scale because movies should be at least average-good if they are going to be released.

Final Score: -0.5

See this film if: You are able to look past the fact that it is fake; You like to be scared; You haven't heard much about it; You want to see a decent film and are a little squeamish (only two scenes with blood in them); You like to see how different people react under stress.

Don't see this film if: You are expecting a great horror film; You think it will be awesome; You want to see gore; You don't like swearing (The 'f' word appears probably over 200 times); You plan on going camping or staying in an old house soon; Jittery cameras make you nauseous.