The Blair Witch Project--A Review - Movies - http://maxpages.com/xanadu/blairwitch

3 Stars

It's been called revolutionary, brilliant, and terrifying by the critics. The moviegoers who I walked out with at the theater had comments more like too long, boring, disappointing, and even crappy. Who is right?

One the that is for certain about The Blair Witch Project is that it lacks that Hollywood touch. Rough, grainy, and chocked full of the potential to give you motion sickness, it is obvious there was no script, the actors weren't professional, and the budget was almost nonexistent. However, that is what gives it such a realistic effect. I am not even going to fall into plot summary because if you don't know the plot by now, you need to come out from under whatever rock you've been hiding under and face the real world. Instead, I am going to give you my thoughts.

The story is good. The concept is even better. Give three amateur actors a camera and send them out into the woods with no script and go around scaring the hell out of them. No doubt these people were really feeling a lot of the emotion portrayed in the movie. There is no flashy dialogue, but instead drawn out, redundant, often explicit language used throughout. Not Hollywood, but certainly real. There are gaping holes in the plot, but one hardly notices them.

My main negative thought on the whole thing was it was too drawn out. We are forced to sit through hours of daylight meanderings and bickerings between the three students until night falls and the real scares come around. This is what seems to have alienated many of the audience.

However, when the scary moments come, they are scary. The first night only sounds are heard, and it progress into some of the most horrifying moments one could imagine. They are so scary, the viewer does not even ask himself, "Why do they have the camera out while they are running for their lives?" It culminates into a terrifying climax that will unnerve even the toughest. I did not lose any sleep that night, but, then again, I am sure I will think twice about sleeping on the first camping trip I take this fall.

All in all, Blair Witch is a good movie. Just do not come into it expecting alot of gore or special effects. This one is crude yet effective. It has definately earned itself a spot on the cult favorites list as well as a place in our pop culture. It is far superior to the multi-million dollar piece of crap The Haunting, yet does not measure up to The Sixth Sense, which is by far the most meritorious scary movie since The Exorcist. Still, it will be a good one to settle down to on the night of Halloween. Perhaps the people worst scared by this movie, however, are the big wigs of Hollywood, as they fear it may start a new trend of low-budget smashes. Great work, guys.

Xanadu8503@aol.com

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Page Updated Wed May 3, 2000 3:41am EDT