Heather Donahue, ingeniously “playing herself” delivers a harrowing depiction of an overly ambitious kid. It’s a credit to the director’s filmmaking, but also to the performances. People forget that when “Blair Witch” first came out, audiences genuinely thought it was real. All three argue vehemently with each other, and we feel the full stress of the situation after one of them loses a map. That being said, the scariest part of the film is the trio’s descension into madness. The absence lends itself to the film’s horror, because our imagination is 100 times more frightening than reality. We see her rock formations and her “True Detective”-esque stick piles. People forget that we never see the witch at any point in the movie. Heather’s screams echo throughout the house as her video camera drops to the floor, leaving us with a final shot of … a wall. Their food and water run out, one of them disappears, and eventually they find themselves in an abandoned house. They soon get lost, and all three become consumed with paranoia as more and more signs point to the witch’s existence. Heather is the director and the driving force behind the crew’s excursion into the woods where the witch supposedly resides. The movie centers around three high schoolers, Heather, Josh, and Mike, filming a documentary about the mythical Blair Witch. I watched “Blair Witch” for the first time in years yesterday, and it still scared the living bejeezus out of me. Directed by Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick, “Blair Witch” pioneered the found footage style of filmmaking. Add in the prolific vulgarities and this film finds itself in the “must avoid” category.“ The Blair Witch Project” shocked viewers upon its 1999 theatrical release. While supernatural beings and witches do exist, and a healthy fear of such is proper, using them to incite paranoia crosses the line. The Blair Witch Project is an intense, ultra-realistic scare-fest, designed to exploit occult imagery to generate fear. Summary: The mere absence of sex and violence isn’t a good enough reason to see a movie. Other Negative Elements: Heather is shown (from a distance) going to the bathroom in the woods. ![]() Heather asks if anyone has any weed (marijuana). Before they embark on their adventure, they drink Scotch. The name Jesus Christ is abused numerous times.ĭrug and Alcohol Content: The three characters smoke cigarettes (until they run out in the woods). Several hundred crude and profane expressions (including nearly 200 uses of the f-word and the s-word) are bandied about. Sexual Content: At worst, a vague reference to having sex.Ĭrude or Profane Language: Tons. A Bible-carrying townswoman who is referred to as the “town loony” provides information on the Witch legend. Seemingly occult symbols appear in the film (the three characters certainly interpret them as such). ![]() But to be fair, the somewhat simplistic execution of the plot places it in the same category as a very scary campfire ghost story, not The Exorcist. Spiritual Content: The very title and premise of the film fixates on witchcraft and the occult. Also, Heather and Michael care enough for their friend that they put aside their own fear to search for Josh when he is abducted. Positive Elements: Unlike the glamorized portrayals of witchcraft presented in much of popular media (think of shows such as Charmed), this film convinces viewers that witches are scary, evil and undesirable. Then the camera is knocked to the ground and the credits roll. They race to investigate the elusive sound. Finally the two remaining filmmakers stumble (at night) upon an abandoned, rundown house from which emanates moaning and screaming. Then Josh disappears and a bloody bundle of twigs is “delivered” which contains what they believe to be a part of his body. Needless to say, they get lost, and each night scary things happen. (The legend involves a witch who abducts and kills both children and adults). After interviewing a few local townsfolk about the Blair Witch legend, the three young adults hike deep into the nearby woods to get footage of locations associated with the legend. But don’t be fooled by Artisan Entertainment’s efforts to convince the average moviegoer that this film is true. One year later, their footage was found.” The remaining 79 minutes of The Blair Witch Project is “extracted” from that footage, all of which is shot with handheld camcorders and a 16 mm camera. The movie begins with text which reads, “In October of 1994, three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittesville, Maryland, while shooting a documentary.
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