The Blair Witch Project Review
by Bob Bloom (cbloom AT iquest DOT net)July 31st, 1999
The Blair Witch Project (1999) 4 stars out of 4. Starring Heather Donahue, Michael Williams and Joshua Leonard. Directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez.
So few events live up to their advanced hype that it's a pleasure to report that "The Blair Witch Project" indeed fulfills all the expectations created by the past several months of buzz.
"The Blair Witch Project," a small independent movie about a trio of filmmakers who disappear in the woods of Maryland, is one of the most harrowing films you will ever have the fortune of viewing.
The movie follows a basic tenet of filmmaking: Put ordinary people in ordinary surroundings, create an extraordinary situation and see what happens.
As human beings, our most primal fear is of the unknown - of those things that go bump in the night. We may sense something, even believe we hear it, but if it remains unseen, our imagination becomes our worst enemy. It runs rampant with dread, creating worst-case scenarios that can drive a person mad.
And that is the genius of "The Blair Witch Project." It plays upon those fears like a violin virtuoso plucking at our nerves, assaulting our senses.
What makes "The Blair Witch Project" so frightening is its understanding of the mundane, of normalcy. The movie is not set on some alien planet or in some dank, dark castle in a distant land. It's here in the woods.
And the woods, for the most part, are associated with pleasurable experiences - camping, hiking, sex.
Scorning the use of special effects, filmmakers Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez utilize rocks and sticks to generate an unsettling atmosphere of suspense, which slowly but continually builds: first to curiosity, then to dread, up to fear and ultimately to outright horror.
"The Blair Witch Project" is the quintessential independent movie. - shot on a shoestring budget, relying heavily on improvisation. It is ragged and dizzying, and this rawness - again - contributes to the overall uneasiness that multiplies as the film careens to its abrupt climax.
The trio of actors - Heather Donahue, Michael Williams and Joshua Leonard - were given camera equipment and sets of instructions by Myrick and Sanchez, turned loose in the woods and were allowed to improvise most of their dialogue.
This illusion of reality permits them an enhanced sense of hysteria as they stumble lost through the forest, which becomes more foreboding as the movie progresses.
Their dialogue is not Shakespeare, consisting mostly of "We're lost," "Where the fuck are we?", "What's that?" as well as intermittent arguments as they take turns accusing each other of incompetence and placing all their lives in jeopardy.
They curse and swear at each other while continuing to cling together for safety.
The true-to-life manner in which they deliver their inane lines only adds to the realism and the horror of their predicament.
The three actors start off self-assured, almost cocky, and by the end are babbling, frightened children.
"The Blair Witch Project" is not for the faint hearted, yet it is neither explicitly violent or bloody. It is nerve-wracking and intense. It is not a movie you want to see alone.
I saw "The Blair Witch Project" at a midnight screening. When I arrived home and climbed out of my car, I know I walked a little more briskly than usual to get into my house. The movie will cause you to do the same.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected] or at
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Carol Bloom of Bloom Ink Publishing Professionals
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