I remember going camping in the woods with a group of friends when I was younger and hearing noises outside our tent. "So what?" you ask. This is exactly what I asked after watching this movie.

The Blair Witch Project gave a clearer meaning to the word hype. The rumor was that this was a true story about a group of three filmmakers, Josh, Mike and Heather, who go deep into the woods to capture live footage of a legend that has been around for years-the Blair Witch. In theory, this witch captured young children, and brought them to the basement of her house. She would take two at a time and bring them into a secluded room. The witch would place one child in the corner and put their face to the wall while she brutally murdered the other one. She would then proceed to take the second child from the corner and slowly kill him/her. Before realizing that this was not actually a true story, the concept of the movie had some level of scariness to it. I went to the theatre with a few friends prepared to be scared to death. I will admit that the concept of being lost in the woods for days and not being able to find my way out gave me the chills and scared me a bit. However, days later, after finding out that this was just a low budget movie using inexperienced actors, the movie was not so scary.

There were parts of the movie that took your attention away from story itself and made concentrating difficult. Much of the film depicts the three students fighting with each other and using obscene language. I only recall a minimal amount of attention given to the Blair Witch at all. As soon as the topic of the witch was brought up, it was almost immediately interrupted by yet another childish fight. I assume that the editors kept these parts in the film for realistic purposes but enough is enough. No one wants to pay good money to see college students swear at each other when we can simply go out into the halls at school and hear the same things.

The acting was definitely a disappointment. I could handle the lack of acting ability from Mike Williams and Josh Leonard but Heather Donahue was outright annoying. She was over dramatic and her fear was unconvincing. At the beginning of the movie Heather is shown as such a confident, smooth woman that you begin to wonder how she loses her cool so quickly. When the movie begins, she seems like the team leader and the one with the most sense out of the group. It appeared to me that she did not really believe in the witch, but still wanted live footage of places involved in the legend. This portrayal of Heather losing control goes back to the stereotypical way society used to depict women in movies where the woman relies on the man and does nothing more than stay home and cater to his needs. However, even during her most pathetic moments, she still remembers how to turn on the sound system and keep the camera running. No normal person in a situation like that, who feared for their life would think about their project for school. They would be thinking about getting the hell out of the woods. Oh, but wait. They can't because it is too dark and the one map they brought was thrown into a creek. How come no one thought of bringing a bigger flashlight? And doesn't it seem odd that no one knows how to start a fire?

Some say that they don't need all the blood and gore as seen in traditional horror movies such as Friday the 13th and Halloween to make a good horror movie. I agree that the lack of blood was a nice change of scenery but the lack of special effects made it hard to keep the imagination running. The noises heard outside their tent sounded more like an innocent, hungry deer than a man-eating, hungry witch. I think anyone who has been camping has heard noises outside and probably never thought twice about what it was. The actors overreacted too quickly. If they had waited until the noises actually became loud enough to hear without really having to listen closely or until their tent started to shake from something outside, then maybe it would have made the idea more believable.

I give a lot of credit to the directors of this movie. By using 2 handheld cameras and a minimal amount of money, they created a multi-million dollar hit. They advertised very well by using both commercials and a very believable web site. The way that the media sensationalized this movie and the tools the advertisers used to sell this story was what made this movie such a hit. I was one of those believers who really thought this was a true story at first. Maybe I am just partial to the old-fashioned horror movies but I would suggest saving your money and getting the same thrill by closing your eyes and walking through the dry leaves in your own backyard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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