117 of 1001 Movies: The Blair Witch Project (1999)

I underestimated this movie's ability to scare by a long shot. This also is one of the the biggest money making indie films of all time as it was only released by a small studio, and though the main actors never went on to achieve bigger fame you will always know their names as they use their actual names in the movie. Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez team up to direct this film that features the very early and new way of making a horror movies in the late 90s by documentary style.

Heather, Josh and Mike are film students looking to make it big, and they believe that a documentary featuring the mysterious deaths and Blair witch in Maryland may be their claim to fame, but unknown to them it will be their disappearance that causes their names to become known. The three get lost in the woods and from there find themselves terrorized for several nights by whatever is haunting the woods as they capture it on the camera that they will leave behind.


What helps this movie be so terrifying is what also probably gets it wrote off a lot as well and that is the fact it is filmed as if the crew is filming it right then and there on their amateur camera. So yes, there is a lot of shaky camera, bad sounds, and basically a story that is told only from the perspective as if we are looking through their eyes. The fact that they we are inhibited as a viewer from their perspective is what makes it so terrifying because it isn't just what is lurking in the woods that is scary, but also the fact these three are lost without a map, in the middle of the woods, without food and water, and being terrorized at night with the screams of their missing friend and other sounds.

The three actors also help because they do well at making this feel real. I didn't think I would like the fact it was a fictionalized documentary, but I can't imagine it being as scary had it been done in any other style. You get the lost and alone feeling from the single camera. They actually start off very unlikable for much of the movie, but as the movie goes and their lives are endangered you feel for them because whatever is harassing them is doing it for the fun of it.

The movie only runs around 80 minutes and it actually takes 30 minutes for the movie to really get into a spot where you feel the intensity building. Then the whole atmosphere changes and you spend 50 minutes watching something has built into a well executed horror movie. This movie proves that you don't need a lot of gore, or to see the actual thing causing the horror for something to be scary. The psychological aspect of the movie is well done also as you see the three trying to balance not turning the blame on each other for being lost and keeping hope on being able to get out of the woods and go home.

The Blair Witch Project makes a good scary movie. It's way more intense and scary than expected, but it takes a few minutes into it's short run time to get going as they build up the story around the horrific things that have happened in the woods. Before you know you are sensing and feeling as if you can sense what is happening to these people yourself just because of the way it is filmed.

Rating 7 of 10.