Blair Witch Project (1999)

 

    Hello everyone! Thank you for being patient with me the last few weeks. My family had a recent passing and I wasn't in the right headspace to post a review prior to my trip. Thankfully, my trip was incredibly refreshing and provided the tranquility I so desperately needed. All is well and our regular film review schedule resumes.

    As promised: I was to review a film chosen by my readers and the winner is the Blair Witch Project. It was a close tie with another film but we still have a chance at it for June's review. A big thank you to all that participated. I hope both readers and voters are just as excited as I am for this!

    Truth be told I also watched this during my early college days and was...unimpressed by it. By then I've watched other better found-footage films so I talked shit about it every chance I could. I often described it as "forgettable" and "bland". Fast-forward a few years later my vocabulary expanded and accepted my memory was shot so here I am honestly reviewing it.

    The Blair Witch Project was released on July 14th, 1999 by Haxan Films. It was written, edited, and directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez. It's praised for reviving the found-footage genre and for it's incredible marketing strategies. Prior to its highly anticipated release, it was presented as a true story with real footage building hype all over the internet as technology was just beginning to emerge making it all the more believable. I suggest you take some time to read this article by the NY Times about the film's impact: (NY -TBWP). 20 hours of footage were shot within only a week (with the help of the actors themselves for a personal touch!) and working with a decent budget of $60,000. It spawned a few unsuccessful sequels that I have absolutely no interest in watching. The film stars Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard. Blair Witch runs for a total of 81 minutes.

    The Blair Witch Project consists of three film students set out to Burkittsville, Maryland to interview the locals about the legend of the Blair Witch. The students mysteriously disappear deep in the woods and the film is the only piece of evidence left behind.

    Once again, because this is considered to be a cult classic, I will keep it short and sweet. I did not take notes for this either for a more authentic review.

    By now most of my readers know that found-footage horror is my absolute favorite because it provides an intimate perspective with low effort and gives the story a chance to truly shine. Without a solid story, a found footage film is very likely to fail. The Blair Witch Project presented a familiar, safe story already setting a disappointing tone for me. However, knowing the script was improvised, I believe the actors did a fantastic job winging it. Their acting was both believable yet tame. The majority of the film had incredible footage that you often have to remind yourself it's not based on true events. In tandem with the quality of the footage, the atmosphere was quite unsettling. I had moments where I asked myself what I would do in their shoes, as a result. It had its fair share of slow moments where I naturally dozed off. There were no jumpscares or anything horrific, by the way. Just three college students. The ending was a bummer with no closure whatsoever. I'm sure the sequels provide more context but I won't bother with that.

My overall rating is 4.5/10. I believe the film did very well at the time it came out but did not age well. Having it released in an emerging technological era with genius marketing made this film quite successful (which I sincerely praise it for!). To truly enjoy this film you had to watch it in 1999. Otherwise, it makes well for a background film any day of the week. I'd watch it again in a few years. I suppose my initial review stayed the same.

    Thank you for reading! Once again, thank you for being patient. I have a film selected for next week's review that I'm quite excited to share with you all. I will say I've seen this one in the past but I'd like to review it properly for everyone that's interested. We've had more less-than-favorable reviews on this blog than the opposite so we'll change it up a little bit. Please share your comments about The Blair Witch and feel free to send suggestions.

Stay safe and make wise decisions!

-CL