"The Blair Witch Project" (1999)

Directed by Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sanchez
Review based upon the Pathe DVD release

“The Blair Witch Project” is one of those remarkable success stories that sometimes occur in horror. It came at a time when people had despaired of the death of low-budget films at the cinema, supplanted by studio-driven audience-pleasing products. Moreover, it was the first time that a film shot on video became a major box-office success. “The Blair Witch Project” was the single entry at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival that had everybody talking. After being whipped up for release, it was one of those rare examples of a film being carried from nothing to a big box-office hit solely by word of mouth and the Internet (also helped by a few judicious reviews that called it one of the scariest movies ever made).

The film itself portrays video footage that was found left behind by a group of students who went missing in Burkittsville, Maryland in October, 1994. The three went tramping in the woods to make a documentary about a local legend known as the Blair Witch, but they became lost in the woods and events brought out fear and tension within the group. They found themselves being haunted by strange noises in the night, and something mysterious left piled stones outside their tent...

It's a rare triumph that proves that occasionally genre audiences aren't the morons that the studios executives are constantly assuming they are. The most perfect example of this comes in comparing “Blair Witch” to “The Haunting” remake, which opened one week before “Blair Witch” went on nationwide release in America. “The Haunting” remade a classic of psychological horror, and replaced all the unseen horrors with a carnival ride of mindlessly applied CGI effects, on the assumption that there was no audience for psychological subtlety anymore. “Blair Witch” has none of the ghostly cherubs, angels of death or collapsing bedrooms from “The Haunting”. All it has are things as low key as a mound of stones piled outsider someone’s tent, and most overtly a series of eerie stick figure woodcarvings in the branches, yet it was regarded as the most terrifying scare show of 1999. In comparison “The Haunting” flopped after its opening week in the USA, while “Blair Witch”, showing on far less screens, completely outstripped “The Haunting” in terms of revenue and the number of attendees per screening.

One of the things that managed to keep audiences transfixed about “Blair Witch” is its clever replication of an amateur video documentary. Many early viewers left the cinema quite certain that what they'd seen was a real film. Directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez create the pseudo-amateur footage with a remarkable degree of skill and assurance (cleverly making the very most of low budget resources).

The three actors (whose characters all bear the same names as the actors) do an extraordinary job. This is a film lacking in any of the cliché horror reactions, and a classic example of subversion. One scene which pointedly punctuates the insistence that this isn't a generic horror film is where Josh turns the camera on Heather, taunting her about her ambition to be a moviemaker whilst saying what would be happening if they were in a conventional horror movie. The scenes where the three key players are gradually broken down contain emotional rawness, and a realism that you would never see in your average stalker movie. Take for instance Heather’s hysteria to find the same stream only to realize that they have just travelled in a circle, or her outburst at finding that Mike has kicked the map away. Indeed, far more so than any psychological ghost story, this is a study in the psychological pressures of a group lost in the wilderness.

For all the labels the film was given, the actual number of scares is not really that many; it's more about the group’s reaction to the tension and fear. There's a terrifying scene at the end where Heather turns the camera on herself and tearfully narrates a goodbye letter, fully expecting to die. Part of the reason for the realism of the film is that it's the real thing - the directors filmed in the wild, and included tactics like running up and spooking cast members during the night and filming the resulting footage.

Not a great deal is ever explained about what's happening, and the ending seems to come rather abruptly, but is nevertheless incredibly powerful and affecting. The film remains a truly uniquely original work, and one that's all the more effective for venturing into an almost forgotten realm of unseen horrors.

Following the film’s release, there was a great deal of debate over whether the piece was as truly original and visionary as had been initially suggested. “The Last Broadcast”, a film that'd been shot and edited digitally, pre-dates “Blair Witch” and deals with similar themes as it's constructed in a mock-documentary style. The narrative also involves a group of missing hikers, who in this movie are investigating the myth of the monster known as the Jersey Devil. The directors of “The Last Broadcast”, Stefan Avalos and Lance Weiler claimed that “Blair Witch” copied many of their ideas. Whilst there may appear to be several similarities, “The Last Broadcast” never creates the air of realism that “Blair Witch” does so effectively. It has a rather different agenda, with the finale suggesting that it was not the Jersey Devil that was responsible for the disappearances of the protagonists, but something far more human. Myrick and Sanchez always maintained that they'd never heard of “The Last Broadcast” prior to completing “Blair Witch”, and it is hard to disagree with them based on the evidence observed when comparing the two pieces.

Regardless of this fact, "The Blair Witch Project" was one of the most influential horror flicks of the past 10 years. Almost solely responsible for starting an avalanche of imitators, this picture stands alone in terms of it's impact and originality. A very unsettling and disturbing experience, enhanced by the clear realism of the situation as well as some superb performances from Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard and Mike Williams, "Blair Witch" has never been bettered. A low-budget classic that deserves it's status as the most successful independent horror film of all time. Thoroughly recommended.

8.5 out of 10
The starting point for all horror mockumentaries... often imitated, never bettered