wri./dir. daniel myrick, eduardo sanchez
st. heather donahue, joshua leonard, michael williams
USA, 80mins, rated MA

It's often difficult to know what to think, let alone where to stand. In lieu of original thought most people hand over control to the media, and if we take their doubled-backed words for a single minute, then The Blair Witch Project is both the scariest film ever made and an utter dud that won t wash with us sophisticated Sydneysiders. We had heard the hype from those damn Yankees and have been eager to see the film, but by then the backlash had begun. It was good for a bit of publicity and attention, and after they had inspired the required emetic effect at the mere suggestion of the film, they then set out to destroy their own inane witterings. In the last week I've noticed lots of talking head stories in the newspapers quoting teenagers to the tune of "It's not all that scary" and "What a, like, letdown!" So what exactly do these people want? More on that later...

Film purists are no doubt afraid to admit they enjoyed The Blair Witch Project due to its runaway success. How could they possibly support something which has made money, which has attracted positive reviews from so many critics? Something must be faulty at the core, right? It's no doubt easier to applaud Fight Club, watch it bomb in America and then use the outcome as proof that people just didn t "get it". Send your conspiracy theories to Pepsi Co., Brad and Jennifer's Hollywood pad or the Texas ranch where they "get away from it all". Whatever you do don't imagine that people wouldn't let the bogus politics of that film wash with them for a second. In contrast, It's difficult to believe how successful The Blair Witch Project has been in America considering It's a big no-show tease in an age where every conceivable monster has been CGI'd into existence by Lucas and his goons up there in frozen 14 year old masturbation-as-art fantasy land. I guess I'm just a sucker (like you).

It's at this point where a thinly veiled stab at credibility is usually attempted. Do I go all out and lavish praise on the film, or do I sneer at it with contempt and then talk about how gullible those Hilfiger wearing fools are? How cool can I seem to be in my little thumbs up/down posture. How affectless do I seem right now? How about in this light? Read on.

First of all, you can't really criticise the movie for not being "the scariest ever made". The filmmakers never said that; it was a media creation all along, a line gleefully swallowed by publicists looking for a way to whittle away the daylight hours. Just accept it for what it is - a scary film. Sure, they're no big deal right, just horror movies that anyone can make for easy profit, a steady line in exploitation (of nubile TV stars and the near dry irony well), but all you have to do is try and remember the last scary film you saw to realise how thankful we should be for a film like The Blair Witch Project. What was the last truly scary film you saw, a film that worked at such a simple, gleefully one purpose level? Scream? The Haunting? Exactly. It's ironic that I've gone on as long as I have about such a lucid (yet inexplicable) piece of cinema. If it was possible I'd just send out small bags of sweat to those near and dear reading the review. Still, It's hard not to get caught up in the whole thing and end up as just another cog of hype, regardless of whether that little cog conceives of his vocation as a truly profound calling. Whether Richard Wilkins or Toto says it, we're both working for the man at the end of the long day. Turn Turn Turn...

All a film like this can do is aggravate you. That's the only discernible "point" of the movie, the only reason something like this exists. It's a relentless machine for saying "boo!", an eighty minute joke with a lot of incidental detail leading to a great pay-off, and even if the story gets a little boring and irritating after awhile, if the pay-off is good, the whole story seems worth the effort of listening/watching. The Blair Witch Project is worth the effort, and even if the joke has been somewhat spoilt by this time, It's still worth investigation. You might even find yourself laughing at a part of the joke you haven t been told yet. And if you want more? Why? Do you desire hints of moralism, a message, some form of redemption, a pat on the back and a wink of the eye to tell you "It's only a movie?" You never forgot.

Perhaps simulations are all we can really hope for anymore, and the only choice is between advertising campaigns, from the innovative (Blair Witch), the blandly obvious (The World Is Not Enough) to the purely cynical (Fight Club). I'm not really certain about any of this. I'm still trying to come to grips with these issues and even if I had the answer to this giant fucking riddle that causes such confusion I'd doubt my own ability to conceive of one. Such a conclusion is perhaps painfully obvious to some people, and even for a second believing that there could be anything else to consume other than a charming counterfeit product is an unforgivable sign of naiveté. All I know is that there is something pure (though I'm loath to use that word, with all it suggests) about this film, something very simple and unsettling that goes beyond the easy artistic decisions most filmmakers seem content to make these days. It's not a perfect film, and you can forget all that "masterpiece" shit that's being thrown around by one side or the other. Leave it to the quote machines. It just seems like a film we need, a film that in retrospect might actually mean something. Still, enough with the fortune telling. It's best to finish with pictures and not more words. In the end I'm left with final scene of the film, a frozen image that's been crawling around inside my head for a few days now. The image is infinitely suggestive, a perfect example of ingenuity and restraint. It's the most unnerving cinematic image I can recall since Bill Pullman walked down that dark hallway in Lost Highway and came back a very different man. Out there, we are waiting to disappear.

adam rivett
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Also in toto:
Sebastian Niemand thinks The Blair Witch Project is disappointing, overhyped, and not all that scary. Read his review.

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