Member review

Oh Blair Witch Project, how I enjoy thee. I think, before I start with this review, I gotta get something out the way. I don't really like found footage, for the most part. While I can recognize that movies like Cannibal Holocaust, Faces Of Death and this movie are important, for the most part found footage just doesn't really do it for me. I think the reason for this is because it's rare a movie does SOMETHING with the genre and when it doesn't something, it feels really lazy (I'm looking at you Area 51 and Paranormal Activity) Found footage films I like are The Last Broadcast, Rec, (segments of) Grave Encounters, Man Bites Dog, UFO Abduction and of course this movie. I like those particular movies because they actually put me on edge, with their tone and attention to detail. You can tell that they cared about what they making, (any film with a substantial amount of effort and craft always shows that in every frame) and they're just kinda different (or established a certain cliche) Well, now I'm gonna stop rambling about found footage horror, there I spared you. Check your backpack and ready the 16 mil, I don't think we're alone out here! So let's take a gander into The Blair Witch Project. So, what's the plot? Heather, with the help of Michael and Joshua, goes hiking in the Black Hills near Burkittsville, Maryland, to film a documentary about The Blair Witch. In the first act of the movie, Heather interviews many natives of Burkittsville and they all (at least the ones we are shown) have their own, different tale to tell about The Blair Witch. Okay, I'd just like to say: THANK YOU movie. Thank you for not explaining everything. The movie is much creepier than say, Paranormal Activity, where a Demon (which has been established in story telling) is the antagonist and half way through the movie a Priest explains all of the Demon's motives and traits. This movie lets you choose for yourself and wonder about it's lore. The Blair Witch is original, which is also a pro of this movie, as you have never seen or heard of it. That's why Freddy Krueger (at least in his screen debut) or The Xenomorph (again in it's first movie, noticing a pattern here?) worked, because they're original. Anyway back to the plot! So in the second act, Heather and co head into the dense forest of the Black Hills and ditch their car in the road. They seem to know where they're going, they have a map after all. Along the way they shoot footage and come across a few small obstacles, find some weird stuff and joke around. But, as they go on, they start to become more nervous and scared by their surroundings. Now, this is the kinda character development and the rising action of the movie. This is where you learn about each character, their relationships grow and they gradually have their lives jeopardized. Though it's my least favorite act, it is important. It still sustains the tone of the first act and run time never feels wasted. There are funny moments, tender moments and really freakin' creepy moments. I don't have much to say. Many key moments are in this act that I can't spoil, and I mean key. The third act is where it all hits the fan. Again, I can't spoil too much, but let's just say the stakes are more than raised. After many nights of interrupted sleep, due to creepy noises in the woods, Heather, Michael and Joshua are fed up and scared. One night, it gets worse. Silhouetted hands on the tents, screams and erm, extreme peril (I'll leave it that), the character's lives are just turned upside down. The movie, for me, never lets up in it's third act and it's either an absolute blast, or it's scary as hell. When you get to the creepy old house at the end, the level of tension is priceless. Somehow this movie really sells me on it's characters, so I feel for them. Anyway, the ending is abrupt, but in a good kinda way. When I first watched this movie, it was scary man, I mean I was covering my eyes, shaking my head and really getting into it. Now, that was a long time ago and I'm not scared by it now, only put on edge. It's no Rear Window in it's suspense, but hey it doesn't have to be. It has a consistent tone that never lets up, similar to Nosferatu or Alien, where there are no out of place moments. For it's scare factor, I'd say it's pretty good, It's not like your first time watching The Texas Chainsaw Massacre or something, where it feels so real you're just totally taken back, but it leaves a long lasting impression. I think that the acting is awesome. Acting in found footage is one of the hardest things to get right. Look at Jennifer Carpenter in Quarantine, no offense but she's terrible! At least in this movie, the characters feel natural and grounded in reality (but not in an annoying way) The three characters gel together very well and I can see why some thought that this was real footage. The natives of Burkittsville are also good. The sound design is fantastic. It has no conventional score, but that helps. The score of this movie is the soundscape of the forest and the creepy noises made by the antagonist(s) Similar to the 1931 Dracula, where Lugosi and his wives rise from their coffins, or the 1932 Mummy, where Karloff slowly takes off his bandages, (both of those scenes have no or minimal music) some scenes in this have hardly any sound, but that makes them much more atmospheric. I love how the directors, Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez, unexpectedly made a lot of the creepy sounds in the night scenes, putting the actors on edge, that's just awesome and definitely helps with the acting. What else, what else, oh yeah, I liked the look of the movie. Of course you have the forest, which is awesome, but it's even cooler when they pop out the black and white 16 millimeter and record some documentary footage, it helps change up the view for a bit, add another perspective (which anybody saying that The Gallows did that first is an idiot) and it's just cool (I find old cameras cool, leave me alone) Now, negatives. I'm not a fan of the scene where they get drunk. It almost (in fact I lie it kinda does) feel out of place. It could easily be cut out. I also don't like the scene where *SPOILERS* Michael throws away the map and starts laughing like a crazy dude, only to revert back to his normal self in the next scene. People do dumb stuff, sure, but even if they would have kept his character villainous I would have been fine. It's like in Cube where David Hewlett suddenly becomes the hero. It's dumb and not necessary. *NO MORE SPOILERS* Oh and the part where Heather first picks up the bundle of sticks she carries them to the river. During this she steps over a log on the ground and if you look closely you can see the black bag containing the guy's teeth fall out but when Heather opens up the bundle it is still there. She couldn't have put it back herself. It's annoying. Any way, I really enjoy this movie. It's cool.