The Blair Witch Project

Rating:
Summary: Not Only a Hype!
Review: Have a 35,000 budget, make a film using three talented amateurs, hire no sets and just film mainly in the woods, market your film agressively on the internet, and get a 240 million return..It is not so bad now is it?
This is the story of the Blair Witch Project, a film that has divided movie goers like no other film has managed to do in the last few years. Opinions about a film have never been so extreme, either people hated it, felt dizzy due to the constant moving camera and grainy pictures, and did not see what the fuss was all about, or many have seen it as a masterpiece, a film full of tension, original and fresh ideas, and a cinematic experience that does not happen too often these days.
I am of the latter group.
I saw BWP, to be honest because of the hype surrounding it, but having said that, I really did not have prejudgements, only a 'let us watch and see' attitude. I have to admit that what I saw was a chilling and disturbing horror film.
As a result I was quite disappointed with the very low marks and negative feedback that came from many,clearly missing the point and the atmosphere of the film completely.
One criticism of this group is that they were never scared at all in this 'supposedly' horror film.
Well what makes a horror film I wonder?
The genre has evolved greately since the days of Boris Karloff and giant spiders, and while films like The Haunting and Night of Living Dead have started the psychological horror genre, buliding tension, unseen or/and determined evil, films like Halloween have revolutionized the genre, which resulted in many imitations to this day, where the tension and brilliant camera work and music helped to grab the viewer's attention and senses till the very last frame. The Omen and the Exorcist went a bit further and used the supernatural, biblical evil to tickle the imagination and fear of movie goers everywhere.
Of course, the genre took another path as well, the path of gore.
And the seventies were awash with blood and spalsh movies, like Argento's films, relying on the viewer's eyes, shock images and repulsion to induce the required reaction.
Each sub genre had its champions, and while in the eighties and most of the nineties, horror films experienced a creative crisis, in comes filmmakers with fresh ideas to revive it, most recently we saw The Others, and The Ring/Ringu and of course The Blair Witch Project.
The BWP uses cleverly the supernatural, unseen evil, and relies on building up the tension gradually until the climatic ending, the Donohue's 'I am too scared to open my eyes, too scared to close them' speech, which in my opinion is one of the most chilling scenes ever filmed.
Another criticism of the BWP is that it looks like a film student excercise. Well in a way it is, for all involved are amateurs working on a flimsy budget, but if it is so, then I it is a brilliant student excercise!
What I found very clever, is the set, the woods, take a life of their own. Like the hotel in Shining, it comes alive, breathes heavily down the character's necks, and carries with it many secrets,both innocent and sinister.
This film does not really mean to make you jump in your seat like some well used horror stunt, and does not aim at your visual, more basic, stimulis.It is rather a gripping anxiety and tension filled ride aimed at your brain.
In BWP, the characters are trapped from the beginning, and you can feel that they are doomed from the start.What you watch throughout the film is how and when and not if they will all persih.
There is no gore in the film. If you are a fan of this subgenre then, of course you will be disappointed.
If you like intelligent films then you should watch BWP with fresh unjudgemental eyes.
If you are not scared by what you see, then probably horror movies are not for you.
Yet if you like these type of films, the BWP is certainly one of the best, if anything only because at last we have independant filmmakers with vision and a love of their craft, something which is so desperately needed in any genre.

Rating:
Summary: If the footage was real, it might have been a little scary.
Review: I think that this movie made it's fame through hype. I'll admit, I was excited when we finally got the video and we first turned it on on Halloween night. However, it was possibly one of the most boring movies that I've seen... recently at least. I was extremely disappointed. It was cheaply made, which is what brought it all of the attention I guess, but there are plenty of other scary movies with good special effects and where the camera doesn't bounce around the whole movie filming feet and piles of rocks. Don't waste your time.

Rating:
Summary: Great low budget horror in the tradition of Romero & Hooper
Review: The Blair Witch Project is a great little independent horror film. There is no gore, monsters, teenagers having sex, hockey masks, razored gloves, glib one-liners etc. Instead, what you get is a claustrophobic, taught chiller in the tradition of "Night of the Living Dead" and "Texas Chainsaw Massacre." These films, like the Blair Witch, have virtually no gore. All of these films look cheap, but turn their low budgets into an asset with Blair Witch actually doing this in the cleverest way...the film is supposed to have been made by film students making a documentary for school. Like "Chainsaw" and "Night", the film is claustrophobic, the victims are generally petty and unpleasant, and the terror builds unrelentingly into eerie climax.

I have read and heard many criticisms of the "Blair Witch Project", and believe that these people did not understand what the movie was supposed to be about. Perhaps all the hype and unwarranted comparisons to "The Exorcist" caused people to expect something other than what this movie really is. The movie is as much a study of three characters under extreme duress, as it is a horror film. The witchcraft aspect of the movie appears to be a backdrop for a broader social commentary. This is very much in the tradition of early George Romero and Wes Craven films where the allegory shows through quite clearly. I believe that the "Blair Witch Project" is a horror classic, redefining the genre as "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "Night of the Living Dead", "Last House on the Left", and "Halloween" once did.

Rating:
Summary: This movie was great.
Review: I thought that this movie was so good. The idea was original and that is not an easy thing to come by these days. A lot of people say that it is boring, but that is because those people lack creativity. Anyone who is an artist or a writer can see the genius that is The Blair Witch Project.

Rating:
Summary: The Myth is Real, the movie exercises the Mind
Review: Having lived 10 to 15 minutes outside of Burkittsville MD, for approximatley 3 years, I heard and read about the Blair Witch myth and legend many times, well before the movie was made. Fact or Fiction, the legend is real. Just like in the movie, 'Coffin Rock' exists, the stream exists, and the hollow shell of the 'house' where the movie concludes exists. The 'woods' are even creepier than they appear in the movie. When you near or in the woods, you feel something, something you've never felt before. The movie is scary at times, but more so the move is meant to make you think. If you think a movie like Scream, which is basically Party of Five on Crack with Blood, is scarier, then you are no longer in touch with the world and too narrow-minded to understand the Blair Witch Project.

Rating:
Summary: Scariest movie I have ever seen
Review: Completely original well done piece of work. This DVD offers all the extras you could want in relation to this movie.

Rating:
Summary: Riviting.
Review: A film that is shot mostly with 8mm and 16mm cameras, the film makers remember what scared us most as kids, the dark and the unknown fueled by imagination. We learn to fear things in life, but there are basic fears that are hard wired into us, and the makers of this film exploit them briliantly. My wife and I watched this film on October 31st just after dinner, and at 31 years old, I have never watched a film that has left me with goose bumbs THE NEXT DAY. This is an outstanding movie, and a must see.

Rating:
Summary: very good acting
Review: I would just love to know if this is based on a true story there is so many rumors going around that you don't know whats true and what is not

Rating:
Summary: Everything you would expect from a dodgy video camera!!
Review: Hysteria! It's not what you see, it's what you dont see. So for all you ungrateful people out there; would you camp down the woods after watching this film i do not think so? If this is not the case; then you are really warped in the head. If you have not seen the Blair Witch, watch it, and if you have seen it see it again, and understand the film.

Rating:
Summary: It's Just Crazy White Kids Lost In The Woods For Two Hours
Review: I saw this movie once with my boyfriend Tyrone and three times with his homeboy Eddie. I thought I was gonna be really scared the first time. It's like two hours of these crazy white kids lost in the woods. They never really find a witch or nothing. After the third time, I hated the whacked out white girl with the plump cheeks and that grating voice. Man, her voice sends chills down your back. She's the scary part. No, but I give it two stars for effort. But it just ain't scary at all. No way. It's just crazy white kids lost in the woods for two hours. No lie.