# Blair Witch Project, The (1999)

### reviewed by
Akiva Gottlieb

    The Blair Witch Project ***1/2

    rated R
    Artisan Entertainment
    87 minutes
    starring Heather Donahue, Michael Williams, Joshua Leonard
    written and directed by Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick

Hype is a term usually associated with a highly anticipated big-budget film, and it exists to spark interest so that the studios can make lots of money. Too much hype almost always leads to a letdown, as proven with "Godzilla" and "Wild Wild West". But "The Blair Witch Project" is a "victim" of a different kind of hype. A hit at Sundance, "Blair Witch" was hyped because of its critical praise and its unconventional premise.

"The Blair Witch Project" is a fictional film about 3 twenty-something filmmakers who head off into Maryland's Black Hills to film a documentary on a local myth called the "Blair Witch". The three never return(as we're informed at the beginning), but the footage which they have filmed has turned into this movie.

The first few minutes of the film are comedic as the filmmakers ask the locals whether they believe the myth or not. Then, as they begin their hike into the woods, they begin to notice strange things.

The high-strung Heather is holding the camera, filming basically everything that she, Michael and Josh do. What started off as a documentary about the fiction of myths has turned into an exercise in paranoia.

I don't want to give away much plot, because the thrill of "The Blair Witch Project" is not knowing what is going to happen. Filmmakers Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick have created one of the creepiest and most original horror flicks of all-time. Heavily hyped on the internet, many who see this film believe that it is totally real. But if you see the film knowing the truth, then you will notice the incredible wonder of the entire project.

Shot on a miniscule $100,000 budget, "The Blair Witch Project" used its limited resources to make an incredibly creative thriller that relies on smarts instead of effects to shock the viewers out of their seats.

The filmmakers sent the three actors into the woods with cameras and an understanding of the film's premise. They spent a week hiking from spot to spot, and then picked up food and film. It was up to them to improvise and film their scenes. The result is shot on poor 16mm and Hi8 video with a couple of handheld cameras.

"The Blair Witch Project" has been breaking all kinds of box-office records in its first week in limited release. Destined to be a cult-classic, it proves that a low-budget can spark surreal creativity, and that psychological paranoia is much scarier than costly aliens.

"Blair Witch" reinvents the horror genre moreso than "Scream" supposedly did. I'm glad that smarts and great marketing are adding up to dollars for Artisan Entertainment, which is currently the boldest name in independent cinema. "The Blair Witch Project" is far from perfect, but it is a piece of landmark filmmaking.

a review by Akiva Gottlieb, The Teenage Movie Critic akiva@excite.com http://teenagemoviecritic.8m.com

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