The Blair Witch Project

The Blair Witch Project...1999...81 minutes...rated R...starring Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Michael C. Williams...written and directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez

I thought this selection would be appropriate after the last post. Most of you already know the story: three film students (Heather, Josh, and Mike) were making a documentary about a Maryland legend known as the Blair Witch, and decided to hike into the Maryland woods in order to find the sites where strange things have been reported to happen. The only thing that was recovered after they were reported missing was the film footage that was shot...which only deepened the mystery and controversy surrounding the case.  What's shown is the recovered footage.

Or so the premise for the movie, web site, and all related materials went. Blair Witch was remarkable when it came out for being made at a very reasonable cost, and getting the distribution that it did. The marketing behind it was inspired as well, using a website to help spread buzz about the "strange case of 3 missing film students". Of course, it's now remarkable as being the genesis of the "unsteady cam" movies as I like to call them. By this, I'm referring to films being shot from the vantage of the characters such as Cloverfield and Quarantine, to name a couple.

The movie does work in many ways as we watch the intrepid filmmakers get further and further into trouble, and the reactions we as movie viewers are seeing feel very real. From what I understand of the behind-the-scenes process, most of the "acting" wasn't that much acting...talk about people being willing to suffer for their art... so it's not surprising that we feel for these people.  The pace of the film stays active, and the scene where they find the hanging stick-men is truly a moment where you know things have taken a turn for the eerie.

Of course, watching the movie can be hard...especially if you don't do well with shaky camera work. Yes, it's accurate for what is being presented, but I know some people who just can't do films of that nature. A lot of people were also unhappy that the audience was shown very little in terms of effects or seeing what "it" was. The movie presented a lot of different tales associated with the Blair Witch legend, and a lot of what was put out wasn't explored. There's a great amount of tension building as the events progress, but whether or not there's payoff is up for debate. (Even more came out with the associated site and games that helped market the Blair Witch phenomenon, as well as in an add-on feature with the three actors on the DVD) Of course, the movie precedes a lot of the computer effects that would become available to people not long after, and this fact has to be kept in mind as well.   Lastly, people who may not be familiar with the movie may be very familiar with one of the seminal moments of Blair Witch; Heather's confession shot in extreme close-up...because that scene had been heavily parodied.

Most of the movie I have to leave to viewers to decide for themselves if it works or not. I will say that, for what it is and working within the limitations that the cast and crew had, Blair Witch holds up pretty well. Certainly it added ideas to the filming process in general, and may have helped pave the way for smaller companies to get movies like the recent "Colin" out to the attention of a bigger audience. That alone makes it worth noting. I give it 3 dangling stick-men out of 5.