st. heather donahue, joshua leonard, michael williams
USA, 80mins, rated MA
'What's your favorite thing to do on a Sunday?' 'It used to be to drive to the woods and go hiking.'I was reading in the Fashion Journal that one of the 'in things' is watching bootleg copies of the Blair Witch Project because it is a long way away from being released here. Finally I have made it, I am cool for at least the next month. I also make the cool list because I am fond of ethnic beading which is also in and I don't own any ¾ pants which are out and I don't have a cocaine habit which is also out. I could shorten some of my long pants and start snorting drugs so I could be 'out'. But can you really be out if you are trying to be out? Can you really be cool if you are trying to be cool? Acceptability is such a fragile thing and I am yet to master it.
To fully appreciate a film, it is important to create the right atmosphere. Forget the cinema and its uncomfortable seats, irritating patrons and dodgy food, nothing beats watching a film at home with friends. For the Blair Witch Project I tried to create a forest like atmosphere in my living room. It was night, the room was dark, I emptied all the furniture out of the room, pitched a tent on my favourite rug, had candles burning to produce shadows like trees, used a woody oil in the oil burner to mimic the forest aroma, surrounded the tent with potted plants and grass clippings, locked the cats inside the house so they could roam around making noise, and I turned on a fan to make the room cooler and cause some rustling. The mood was right, and so we started the film...
I am glad I saw the film before the hype set in completely. Sure I knew a bit about the film, it has been flogged relentlessly in the U.S. but since its official release here is still some time off and I don't have cable television I have been spared the onslaught of gratuitous, self-congratulatory praise.
The Blair Witch Project chronicles the misadventures of three students who went missing in the woods outside a small North American town. The film is based on a clever gimmick, that it is supposedly constructed from the videotape that was found at the student's abandoned campsite. Because the film is shot on H18 and 16mm it has a realistic feel. The film is either b&w or the colour is washed out, much of the talking comes from offscreen since one of the three characters is working the camera, and the film is shot outdoors (Maryland) not on a Hollywood lot.
At the time of its release there was some confusion and misconception that the footage was 'real' and the three students had actually gone missing. This probably has something to do with the website that was running before the movie's release and the missing person posters that appeared. These posters have appeared in Brisbane already, and feature photos of the three 'missing students'. Why do people have such a problem distinguishing reality and fiction, or advertising and reality? Do you ever get the feeling the world is populated by morons who are just bait for the entertainment industry? I tried to convince my friends that the film was real, just to spook them out more (I like to be a an effective host), and I made out it was a documentary like Waco rather than a pseudodocumentary like Man Bites Dog. My friends didn't believe me, they are apparently not as naïve as the people I read about.
The film starts with the students preparing for their trip, then shows them interviewing townsfolk about the legend of the Blair Witch, and then going into the woods to find the evidence, and then someone or something starts to terrorise them. And then the three becomes two. We spend the rest of the movie wondering what is happening? Unlike The Haunting where every event is blatantly predictable and the actors never have a chance to wonder what is happening or who is doing it, in the Blair Witch Project the three leads roam around the forest lost, confused and terrified, never knowing what is happening, who is doing it, or why they are doing it. 'Gritty realism' is a cliché I would like to throw in to describe this film. No superstars, no glamour, no costly special effects, no ludicrous bodycount. Just what you would expect from a film that only cost $22,000 U.S.
The film is a study of human terror which I found dull and uninvolving, in fact I was sadly unmoved by the whole experience. I wasn't scared and I didn't care if the filmmakers lived or died. In fact I wished they died so they would stop wandering around like idiots complaining and bickering. There were a few scenes that snapped me out of my boredom. The students make references to Deliverance while roaming through the forest, as you would in the backwoods of the USA, and while in a terrified state they find the Blair Witch crosses suspended in the forest and they comment, 'This is no redneck, no redneck is this creative.' I was quite fond of the ending, but the ending could just be the result of not having the budget for anything more spectacular.
The film's unexpected success has created too much hype for its Australian opening. I was curious if the Blair Witch Project could be as good as the press said it was, and now I know it isn't. If your idea of entertainment is watching three people, with no concept of survival skills, roam aimlessly around the forest, this is the film for you. At least it is short.
I should be more derogatory of this film. I am so tired of people saying how scary and innovative it is. There is only so much you can do with a hand held camera. It is not innnovative, it is restricted. If these people had access to a steadycam the film would not have been so 'innovative'. They did all they could do with the resources they had (cameras, sets, actors, special effects). See Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2 for innovative camera work in the forest. I say again, the Blair Witch Project is a home movie with good, perhaps innovative, publicity.
sebastian niemand
comments? email the authorAlso in toto:
Adam Rivett wishes people would just see the film, and stop complaining that it's overhyped and "not the scariest ever made." Read his review.