Joshua and Michael struck me as much less believable.Ī fun mixture of black and white and color footage helps lend the film atmosphere, which isn't reliant on jump scares (something I truly loathe), and the way the film makes you feel like you're behind the camera is quite effective, more so than any of this film's imitators, which often leave a camera in place to capture footage. The acting? Hammy as it may be, there are moments where Heather can get a rise out of the audience, due to how very well she believes she is going to be killed. The premise is intelligent, at the very least, and the manner in which the film is edited is quite effective. Perhaps the main reason for this is the effectiveness of similar films in recent years, taking the ball and running with it, but I'd like to think that word of mouth, and the audience effect, are what made this film what it is. I get that the idea of this being real makes it more "scary" than it would be if one went into it knowing it were a clever hoax, but there's not one moment where my stomach leapt into my chest, or my heart plummeted to my bowels. Yes, I do get the fact that the advertising and gimmick of the film were quite ingenious, but the idea that anyone was scared by what was captured on film here seems somewhat ridiculous to me.
I'll admit, I've never quite understood how this particular film became as famous and recognizable as it did. At first, they didn't believe it was real, but their opinions change soon enough. The trio (Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, Michael Williams), using their real names, had enough food, and time on their schedules, for a couple days of wandering and shooting in the woods, though through mishap or fate, they ended up capturing the very subject they were seeking. In October of 1994, three student filmmakers entered the woods of Burkittsville, Maryland, shooting a documentary on the Blair Witch. Of course, the film I'm referring to is 'The Blair Witch Project,' a film that wasn't ruined by a cash-in sequel, leaving its legacy in the future films it would inspire. In a year that saw 'The Matrix' revolutionize the way films were made, an entire genre (or subgenre) was created, taking the idea of a mockumentary and turning it into an account of horror, a genre that has since been populated with some very talked about, very successful films, most recently ' Paranormal Activity' and ' The Fourth Kind.' Two handheld cameras, three "actors," a fistful of dollars, and a clever idea, did what it could to change cinema, or, at least, how we look at cinema. Of all the films released in 1999, a truly amazing year in cinema, it's amazing to think that one of the more influential films, one that became a part of popular culture, a borderline phenomena, was only made for $60,000.
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