Reviewed by Geno McGahee
Three college students disappear and a year later, this film footage turns up. Heather (Heather Donahue), Josh (Joshua Leonard), and Mike (Michael Williams), are in the woods and doing a documentary on a legend known as “The Blair Witch Project.” They begin to interview people of the town…mostly elderly. Hey, they’ve got nothing else going on. They can take a break from walking around aimlessly through the mall right?
After interviewing the peeps, they make their way into the woods, where this supposed witch resides. During this time, nearly everything is filmed. They film their arguments, and their hike through the wilderness. Being so far into the wilderness, they have to camp out and that’s where the strange stuff begins. They begin hearing noises at first and then the tent starts shaking, and finally, they see the legend, face to face, prompting Heather to scream: “What the fuck is that?!!!”
For some reason, Mike gets rid of the one thing that can help them escape this madness: the map. The map which will lead them out of the woods was destroyed by this moron, which is one of the absurd points of this movie. No matter how stupid a person is, and I know a lot of stupid people, I can’t see them doing something like that, but this is a movie about a wicked witch of the woods and we will have to suspend disbelief.
They camp again, since they are lost, and when they awake, Josh is gone. Heather and Mike are now really freaking out. They are lost and Joshless. Now Heather has to hang out with that annoying geek, Mike, exclusively. At this point, I would pray that the witch would come and kill me or at least take Mike away, but they unite and try to make it out of the woods. This is a horror film, however, and they never have happy endings.
The conclusion of this film is outstanding, and the way that it forces you to use your imagination is a great thing, considering that most horror films nowadays rely on cheap scares. You know what I’m talking about. A person is walking, walking, walking, and it’s quiet, quiet, quiet, and then all of a sudden, some fat retard jumps out holding a machete or some adult toy, and the 13 year old girls in the audience scream. I am not a 13 year old girl, and would not be, even if the price was right. I like true horror films that stay with you when you leave the cinema. They are supposed to scare you…not just make you jump.
Now, what made this film so great is that it was made with a close to zero budget and turned a lot of change due to the creative marketing. They played the public, and didn’t say that it was real or that it wasn’t real, but just put out the story and let the people draw their own conclusions. I remember when everyone was saying that the footage was real and that the story was true, and I loved it. I loved the fact that people got excited about a horror film. It was great and original movie (don’t say that too loudly to the makers of the “Last Broadcast,” who may scream “RIPOFF” whenever anyone mentions originality and the Blair Witch Project in the same sentence) and I really like it. I highly recommend it.
Scared Stiff Rating: 8/10 I still believe it’s real!