The Blair Witch Project
an Artisan Entertainment release Story

review by Renfield

"I'm afriad to close my eyes. I'm afriad to keep them open." - --Heather Donohue

Imagine you are a film student who, along with two friends, decide to film a documentary about a local witch legend. Imagine you have to go into the "supposedly" haunted woods in search of a burial ground as part of your documentary. Imagine you get lost in the woods. Imagine you get really lost and are running low on supplies. Now Imagine there is an evil presence in the woods that is hunting you.

Heather realizes da woods is full o' Evil

Why do I keep saying imagine? Well mainly because the majority of this movie takes place in your head instead of on the screen. Due in part to the bad camera work (which i will return to ) but mostly due to this movies auditory frights. The often blackened screen allows us to use our own imagination to dream up whatever boogie man (or in this case, woman) is out there trying to frighten the hapless trio. Infact I would say the audio helps to carry this film. Odd as that may sound.

The basic premise of the film is intriguing in almost a "snuff" film allure. It is the film shot by three students who are doing a class project documentary on something called "the Blair Witch". In the course of thier filming something happens, and they vanish. However one year later, thier film footage is discovered under the foundation of a 100-year old cabin. This movie is those deperate last moments caught on tape.

The other factors, that makes this one hell of an inventive film and carry it, are the actors. Heather Donohue especially stands out. She does for acting what a someone like Nicole Kidman could never do. Heather compliants and cries and freaking out sounds so damn real. Of course the other two actors, Micheal Williams and Joshua Leonard also do a great job. I especially enjoyed Micheal's whining throughout the hike. He reminded me of a close friend of mine.

Now keep in mind that these three literally took method acting to an extreme. That is why this movie works. The directors of the film handed the cameras to the actors (ergo the bad camera work), a loose outline of the script, a map with preset coordinates, and one of those global positioning trackers and set them loose in the woods. Now as the actors were hiking through the woods to their appointed sights. the director and others were sneaking around the woods making wierd noises at night and screwing around with the actors. Brilliant, eh?

Another reason why I recommend this movie is that although it is very low budegt with practically no special effects, It still manages to be ultra creepy and intense. See this movie and hear horror.

OFFICIAL WEB SITE:
www.blairwitch.com

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