The Blair Witch Project (1999)

The Blair Witch Project

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Directors : Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez

Writers : Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez

Actors : Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, Joshua Leonard and others...

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Overall : 8.5/10

Direction : 9.0/10

Acting : 7.5/10

Cinematography : 9.5/10

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For all you Grudge and Saw fans out there, this movie will be boring as hell. Watch it at your own risk.

However, for people who enjoy a good horror flick (read : people with some intellect) and can do without the unnecessary blood and gore, The Blair Witch Project will be an exhilarating cinematographic experience.

First things first. The movie has been shot with a handy-cam. Yes, you read it right. A freaking handy-cam! It is this deliberate amateur recording that adds to the movie's eeriness. The directors are careful not to make it too disorienting. The balance is just perfect.

This horror ride is about 3 film students - Heather, Michael and Joshua - who set out to make a documentary on the alleged haunting of the woods north of Burkittsville, Maryland (formerly, Blair) by the "Blair Witch," who, as they came to discover from the locals, had apparently coaxed a certain Rustin Parr to murder 7 innocent children. Or so the man had pleaded.

Hence, an impending sense of doom is established pretty early on.

The trio commence with their adventure. They camp on Coffin Rock, where 5 men had been murdered, in the 19th century, for the first night. The next day, they move deeper into the woods and camp near a cemetery. Gradually, an unknown force starts following them, triggered by what I believe is to the Mike's fault : he had accidentally disturbed a cairn at the cemetery.

The fiercely uncanny and frightening howls they hear the second night prompt them to abandon the project. Thus begins the race for survival...

The novice actors do justice to the script. Their performances are smart, crisp and very much real. You don't feel for a second that they are faking their fear.

I will reveal no further. The end is as good as they come. It leaves you all cramped up, trying to shake off those goosebumps you didn't even realise you had.

Watch it for the direction and the dedication of the actors involved. Not many independent films have a cult following.

PS : Don't mind that Heather received a Razzie nomination (and won) that year. She was decent enough in the movie. Screw those who want a dumb blonde in every horror flick! The genre deserves (and needs) more movies like this.

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Official Trailer