The Blair Witch Project

I had to think a while about what to rate “The Blair Witch Project”. This is going to be a movie that will either terrify you or leave you wondering “was that it? ” You’ll probably anticipate a big movie, one with really impressive visuals, a monster that is just so ugly it’s just shy of reducing you to stone. The truth is that this film is scary because it isn’t big. It’s a tiny movie, one that doesn’t show you a lot. It allows your imagination to do 90% of the work. That’s what makes it wet-your-pants scary. Leave your expectations at the door; just let yourself get swept up in the atmosphere. If you manage to separate yourself from what you think you’re supposed to see, then you’ll know why it’s a big deal.

Three film students, Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams and Joshua Leonard set out to make a documentary about the Burkittsville Blair Witch. A year after their disappearance, their footage was found and released.

It’s important to know what “The Blair Witch Project” isn’t. This is not a typical horror movie. It’s shot from a first person’s point of view (Heather, Michael, and Joshua alternately hold the cameras) and is sold as a film that was discovered by accident after the disappearance of the people involved. It’s literally found footage. It puts you right in the action because there are no jump cuts or special effects, no soundtrack or product placement. It’s just a bunch of people in the woods with a camera. They hear strange noises and you feel like you’re right there with them. You tell me; do you check out what that weird noise outside of your tent, or do you stay still and hope that it doesn’t notice how frightened you are?

This movie is all about atmosphere. The first person POV makes you part of the group. As far as you’re all concerned, this is not a movie, its real life. I mean that in two ways. The first is that in real life if you were lost in the woods and you heard something off in the distance, you wouldn’t know what that sound was. Unlike in most stories where you’re on the outside looking in, you hardly ever know what is off in the distance. The second is that these people don’t know they’re in a movie so they don’t act like they’re in a horror movie. They don’t stumble upon old files in an insane asylum that will tell them all about how 10 years ago this person escaped and they don’t accidentally run over a kid just as the winter solstice is about to come up. They’re just doing something that should’ve been easy and completely harmless when suddenly they find themselves in a nightmare.

What I like about “The Blair Witch Project” is the same thing that I like about movies like “Mad Max: Fury Road”, “Halloween” or “Assault on Precinct 13”. They’re all very lean. There is no fat to trim from them. BWP asks: is it really necessary to know what the true origin of the Blair Witch is? If it isn’t, cut that out. Horror movies are better when they’re short. Is it necessary to have a setup where all the characters meet each other before the events of the film? No? So cut that out too. In fact, cut everything out until and boil it down until you’re left with the essential elements. What remains will get the gears in your head spinning. Even in still shots or when you don’t see anything but absolute darkness, the atmosphere generated drives you mad. There’s something out there, but what? I don’t know, but what I’m certain of is that if I see it, I’ll die of fright. This film is a masterpiece of suspense. It’s done in a way that could never be replicated. What you’re seeing isn’t a Hollywood studio film, it’s something that was discovered by people who couldn’t make sense of it and out of desperation, decided to release it to the world in the hopes that someone would be able to tell them that it isn’t real.

I like this movie for its cultural impact. It’s the progenitor of the found-footage genre. Like most quintessential films that eventually become classics, it isn’t actually the first, but it might as well be. From “Paranormal Activity” to “The Gallows”, you’ve seen the main characters argue and bicker amongst each other, the stillness that builds up the tension. You’ve seen the ending that makes you wonder if what you saw really happened. But not like this you haven’t because here they’re all integral to the film. It makes it that much more frightening because it all feels cryptic and real. Instead of someone following a formula, every development in this “Project” is organic.

The fact is that this film is frightening, suspenseful and still burns itself into your memory as you’re watching it, regardless of whether or not you know about the marketing campaign behind it is simply a testament to its brilliance. It’s a landmark in filmmaking. If I had to describe it in one sentence it would be “I’m scared and I want to close my eyes so I won’t see what’s coming for me, but if I do how will I know when it gets close? ” As a way to enhance your experience and to get the most out of “The Blair Witch Project”, watch it at night, alone in the basement and warm yourself up with the excellent special feature (originally released as a separate movie) “Curse of the Blair Witch”. Every time I see “The Blair Witch Project” it’s with my hands wrapped around my face and through the crack between my fingers. (On DVD, July 11, 2015)