The Blair Witch Project
(whaddya mean, 'no spoilers'? I can't put in *any*??)
Okay, okay. Conscience is the ultimate editor. After the admittedly brilliant merchandising of this film, what with the Internet and the 'Curse of the Blair Witch' special on the Sci-Fi Channel, and the articles in USA Today and everywhere else, and the reviews, and the word of mouth (I'm completely discounting the official website's chat room, which as far as I could tell was half kids going 'is it true???', the other half kids going, 'No, stupid, it's made up !!!'), I was foaming at the mouth to see this. I'm only human. I just wanted to get it behind me one way or the other. If it sucked, I'd be sadder and wiser and out seven bucks or so; if it didn't, well...
Well. You might be pleased to know that rbadac is happy. More pleased to know that none of the hype need concern you; it won't ruin your enjoyment of BWP even to know beforehand that it is made up. Frankly, all movies are made up, in case you haven't noticed, so you should have no unusual problems there. What you know already (it's a cheaply-made film because of the format used, which adds to its veracity, the filmmakers dumped the cast in the woods and had them improvise dialogue, etc. etc.) will only add resonance to your reflections after the film is over.
Much to enjoy here, even a nod to Karl Edward Wagner's story 'Sticks,' which this film resembles more than anything else. Never a dull moment either, remarkable in a movie constructed entirely of POV shots and no script to speak of. The extensive editing which must have taken place is so seamless that we are totally unaware of it (except for one instance where the camera is placed on the ground away from the players, and inexplicably performs its own 'jump cut' ! An example of the Blair Witch really wanting to direct, I guess, and at this particular juncture not so improbable that it doesn't fit the premise; it is so roughly blunt and obvious that it might actually have been *intended*).
We are completely convinced that the finished version actually is the raw in-camera footage 'found,' so aghast that the immediate question becomes how anyone could have had the guts to go back there and 'find' it in the first place ! Little details like that are left just possible enough to be filled in by the viewer, as is much of the horror, though there is ample of that explicit as well. Curiously, it almost takes a back seat to the fascinatingly-realized human drama, but this is misdirection of the best sort, for that back seat is the ideal location for a stranglehold.
You will be taken in with a minimum of the usual suspension of belief you usually bring to the theatre. That is, if you aren't one of those types who cavil at every possible lapse of logic (and let's face it: looking for THAT much logic in a horror film is a little like asking for Grey Poupon on a lifeboat). Believe me, there aren't enough of those to worry about. One review I read stated that the reviewer found it hard to believe that the three unfortunate film students lost in the woods and pursued by malign forces would actually run their lights, much less their cameras, in the dark the way they did if they knew Something was after them. To this I reply: yes they would. By this point they knew their location was known at all times, had always been from the start. There was no escape. Running the lights made them no more conspicuous than not running them. It just didn't matter, and by this point they wanted light desperately, wanted to see. It was, to paraphrase the girl who was directing the ill-fated project, 'all they had left.' It wasn't enough, as you already know.
You will crumble along with them. This is the ultimate consequence of seeing what they saw through their shaky, hand-held 'eyes,' hearing them angrily insist that their own filming be stopped, and their continuing to film in spite of it. It is so refreshing to see cinema verite come back to us so splendidly. This may be the picture that finally drives a nail into the much-deserved coffin of the young people's horror film as it has been formulated for so long, from the pointless teen slashers of the Eighties to their substanceless and self-centered offspring in the Nineties. After all this time of having them thrust upon us as unpleasant and expendable fodder, we are finally led to care about them as people and as victims, and are shocked and sorry at their deaths. I cannot stress this distinction highly enough; at one stroke our intelligence (and theirs) is no longer insulted, and the emphasis of true horror is back where it belongs. It is, in terms of the genre, cause to celebrate.
The audience I shared laughed at all the right places (there are several hilarious lines); later they laughed nervously. No one laughed at the end-- until the credits rolled, and that was from relief. This is one of those films that plays creepy and gets even creepier afterwards the more you think about it, not as 'one of the creepiest films since 'The Exorcist,' as the ad line goes; that's not a good comparison (there is, in fact, no comparison at all. BWP is in a class by itself). Much as I enjoyed 'The Exorcist,' this film is completely different. It has heart, for one thing.
There are no special efects. There is no acting in its usual sense-- the unknown cast is completely natural. There is no cinematography in the usual sense either, only what you would expect from hungry, lost, scared amateurs who are about to die. It is Candid Camera with an unhappy ending, and I'm afraid it will haunt you.
That's about it. When you go to see it, pay attention to the stories told by the townspeople in the beginning; remember how the legend goes when the very last scene plays, and your hair will stand up, guaranteed.
rbadac
'This wasn't done by rednecks. Rednecks are not this creative.'
-- a favorite quote from the film'It'sonlyamovieit'sonlyamovieit'sonlyamovie...'
-- another favorite quote. Repeat as necessary.