The Blair Witch Review

I had real trouble sleeping the other night and woke up again around 3am, dreading the thought of work again, and found myself gravitating towards watching The Blair Witch Project. With the volume turned low trying not to wake up my housemates, I soon realised that in pitch black I was in the perfect conditions to attempt this renowned horror classic.

Even at 13/14 when this came out, I was aware of how scary this film was reported to be and heard ridiculous rumours that people were being taken to hospital because it was too scary, though this was mainly due to the shaky disorientating manner of the camera work.  The 'found footage' element, so popular now in the Paranormal Activity franchise, Cloverfield and District 9, gave further credence to the rumours behind the film. Although, it is worth noting that this method had been used in many films before The Blair Witch. But even today, with the 'found footage' perspective thoroughly drained and hardly original, The Blair Witch Project remains a fan favourite and actually avoids being outdated with this format.

I do think the term classic can apply to this 1999 game changer. I am not going to concentrate about how little the film cost and how much it made as I don't think that's a helpful or useful gauge of a film and more one for the marketeers. However, I  do think the viral underground promotion of The Blair Witch did help its cause. Premiering at Cannes, this took the festival by storm and word of mouth quickly accelerated this films demand in the States. With the positive reviews came rumours of truth behind the legend and in the manner of Who Shot Liberty Valance, 'when the legend becomes fact, print the legend'. Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez certainly capitalised on the films feedback even more so than they had planned. Or at least refusing to bow down to speculation and let speculation take care of itself, very much like the film.

The film opens with the entire premise stated before the filming begins that,

'In October of 1994 three students filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, while shooting a documentary...A year later their footage was found'.

Before we begin, we know they disappeared and that everything is from their point of view. Already the narration is conflicted and certainly one sided, there is little reliability and to what extent can we trust this anonymous caption. The film is in fact a documentary of the Blair Witch documentary. Reality is very far removed yet as soon as the film makers get into the forest, we are almost transfixed to the camera holder, seeing what they are seeing and forgetting that we are watching a film and more so, feel that we are part of it. The supposed lack of editing and chaos is unsettling and makes the film seem more genuine and more realistic. The lack of fanfare and gloss only adds to the intrigue and you hope and wait for something incredulous to reassure you this is a film. Though deep down we know it is a film, we are really enjoy pretending it isn't.

By far the scariest parts, for me, were the absence of the predator or whatever you chose to interpret as the instigator of terror. The groups of rocks outside the tent probably affected me the most, they, for me were akin to the sharks fin in Jaws or open door of 237 in The Shining. Something is deeply unsettling. There is a chance that terror doesn't have to ensue but deep down there is a strong willing for it to anyway. You are dying to see the shark and for Danny to go into the door even though you know it will end badly. From that moment the horror has seduced you more so than the characters survival. As soon as I saw the rocks I wanted to see the rest of the stalker/predator. But the imagination of the audience is far more effective in fear than revealing the perpetrator as we can easily reference several horror films where actually, seeing the villain, is a let down. Roger Ebert, on The Blair Witch said, ' a villain is only an actor but a shark is more than a shark'. The less we know and understand, the better we can upset ourselves.

I enjoyed the Blair Witch Project as it let the audience do the hard work and abruptly ended with much ambiguity and horror. It is genuinely hard to be scared in horror movies but easy to be shocked. But the bigger the shock, the better the next shock has to be and a sharp shock is short lived. Films like The Shining, Don't Look Now and The Wicker Man let the audience scare themselves far more than a big reveal of a giant shark or a witch could ever. The unresolved nature of the film and ambiguity of the film makes the characters slow unravelling and realistic interpretations and arguments more genuine and therefore allows the audience to believe more rather than disbelieve. This film however, does need a good appropriate setting to enjoy the film and really get involved in the cathartic experience. The good news is that this will still be scary the next few times round so there is still time.