The Blair Witch Project (1999) Reviewed by Eugene Novikov http://www.ultimate-movie.com Member: Online Film Critics Society
*** out of four
"Turn that f***ing camera off!"
Starring Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, Joshua Leonard. Rated R.
The Blair Witch Project will go down in the books as one of independent filmmaking's biggest triumphs because of the extent which it has broken through to the mainstream. Not only has it gotten an inordinate amount of unabashedly positive reviews from critics but in its first few weeks of limited release it has also achieved commercial success of gargantuan proportions. Whether this $20,000 project can attain box-office bliss by studio standards remains to be seen, but, if nothing else, it's already a cult hit.
Popularity is fine, but is the movie any good? That's unrelated to its Hollywood status and it demands more thoughtful discussion. It's certainly original -- I've never seen anything like it. But does it have any cinematic merit? Is it junky fun or is it a serious movie? This is one of those films, I think, where the answers to all of these questions are solely in the eye of the beholder -- and that's okay. What seemed to me clearly true, however, is that this is no masterpiece of American cinema: it is far too flawed to attain that status even though many fans and even some critics, who have gone off the deep end, insist the opposite.
Three student filmmakers -- Heather, Josh and Mike go on a hike into Maryland woods to film a documentary on the Blair Witch, a local urban legend. They disappear. A year later their footage is found. The Blair Witch Project is that footage and nothing but that footage. They film the whole trip, from the interviews they do with people in a Maryland town to the hike. When one of them loses the all-important map they are lost in the middle of nowhere with something mysterious and frightening on their tail.
Inevitable tensions escalate within the group. Josh and Mike are furious at Heather for refusing to turn the camera off and and focusing on their dire situation. Heather and Josh are furious at Mike for apparently kicking the map into a creek. Their desperation and refusal to cooperate with each other threatens to destroy them. So, evidently, does the Blair Witch.
The Blair Witch Project is constantly creepy and occasionally unnerving but up until the gut-wrenching climax its format prevents it from being genuinely scary and even then it seems to dilute it somewhat. It's a grand idea -- making a movie solely filmed with a hand-held camera by its characters -- but it has its drawbacks. All too often it's slightly hard to tell what's going on because, understandably, the camera doesn't stay steady when the people behind it are in hysterics. It's very difficult to argue that being sure of what's happening is scarier than a menace unknown, which is why something like The Game or the best of Hitchcock's stuff is always more frightening than any slasher movie. Tense anticipation makes the "boo" moment anticlimactic. Still, when the viewer is utterly confused (which, luckily, happens only in a few instances here) horror films tend to have less effect.
The dialogue, much of it improvised (the directors sent the actors alone into the woods to film the movie), surprisingly comes off as realistic. It's not particularly witty but it seems to resemble what real people would utter in that kind of situation; it never feels fabricated or manipulative. Profanity abounds but hey -- would you expect anything less from three mightily pissed-off young college students?
Some will insist that even adequate execution of such brilliantly original idea is enough to make this movie a milestone in cinema; especially horror cinema. I disagree strenuously. It's enjoyable stuff but folks, it's nothing to write home about. The climax approaches terrifying and it contains many suspenseful, well-made sequences but by the same token The Blair Witch Project is inconsistent, confusing and unevenly paced. In a word (three, actually, but never mind): hit and miss.
This nifty little film gets off to a slow start (to the extent that is possible in a film running barely over 80 minutes) and drags through some of its first half. But when it's going, it's good. Crafty, visionary and enjoyable, this may not be a masterpiece, but it's a refreshing digression from the pretension that indie filmmaking tends to represent and from the horror movie clichés that make this movie's companions so dull. ©1999 Eugene Novikov‰
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