Blair witch project - 12 years on...

[TheRoadWarrior]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blair_Witch_Project

What do we think about film now folks, after all, it's been around for a while now, at the time of release and for many years afterwards it seemed to split opinions down the middle with horror fans; some saying it was a cheap unscary, even boring little attempt which only got somewhere out of all the hype, and largely because American audiences are scared of absolutely everything.

On the other hand the realism threw people off, and when the characters get lost it acquired a feeling of hopelessness and being out of control, the sound effects of crying babies and movements in the woods, and the final dungeon scene appeared to leave space for the imagination and a sense of dread, evil is banal, the film appeared to be banal and show us the ordinary, but it was anything but.

I'm probably a fan.

Post the hype, watching it as though it's a rare "dvd find", or pretending it's an unknown lil film and divorced from the web hype i works for me, and did it change horror for better or worse?

Paranormal Activity and many other films seem to still be following in its footsteps whereas Torture Porn seems to have dropped off fairly quickly after its early bursts and saturation?

[drterror666]

Do you know, I've never even watched it. I caught it the first time around when it was called Cannibal Holocaust and didn't really want to tread the found footage subgenre. I have got Cloverfield recorded off the telly to watch though; I thought that sounded intriguing.

[Dave Jay]

Crap film then, crap film now.

[TheRoadWarrior]

Crap film then, crap film now.

Ha ha.

Harsh, very harsh.

[TheRoadWarrior]

Do you know, I've never even watched it. I caught it the first time around when it was called Cannibal Holocaust and didn't really want to tread the found footage subgenre. I have got Cloverfield recorded off the telly to watch though; I thought that sounded intriguing.

I bought Cloverfield on dvd, and was very into it for a while. But I wont say anything, it's interesting but will not be saying anything more, and let you see how you find it.

[cloud]

I doubt you will get many positive replies on here because from my years of experience on these forums it seems that most people hate modern horror for some reason, and especially the "found footage" sub-genre of horror. I've never understood it and I feel those that don't like so many excellent modern horror movies and devices are missing out. But each to their own I guess.

I still regard BWP as a masterpiece of unnerving horror and suspense, and unlike a lot of movies I appreciate that it leaves a lot to the imagination so really works and has provided lots of discussion down the years of who was behind it, what happened to them etc. I also love Paranormal Activity which I thought was even better than BWP and so far is the crown jewel of the sub-genre. Those two movies plus An American Werewolf In London are the only horror films to ever truly put the shitters up me.

[TheRoadWarrior]

Paranormal Activity is one I haven't seen yet cloud, but I'd probably enjoy it.

It's good to see a fan of BTW, because I think it deserves careful attention.

One of the reasons I keep coming back to it is because it grows on you and I remember lines like the one about "filtered reality" which I thought was a brilliant and simple way of saying, you guys out there in the audience are not here, you are not seeing and feeling what we see, so it called into question the nature of reality, even with a film where we feel or believe we are seeing everything that there is to see and there has been the absolute minimum of manipulation.

I also like how raw and visceral it becomes, when the guy (I forget his name) has kicked the map away and the girl's voice is incredibly raw, it's absolute fury and despair and the threat to life is obvious, and not quite the SCREAM of much horror, we are used to a scream or two in horror, and then later Josh just loses it and fades away. Things are breaking down ...

The idea of the witch, and the early descriptions by the actor/citizens seemed to me to be an ideal way of summing up something that was beyond make-up and effects and complete understanding, and those two fishermen, "... damn fool kids" funny and ominous, and along with these tension-builders the careful editing was ideal imo, the way it appears to jump clumsily, and go against the editing rules, but doesn't, and intentionally disrupts a smooth flow.

Anyway, I'll stop there, and actually, I've not watched it since acquriing a large flatscreen, so I think it's time to fish out my copy of BLP and watch it on something closer to how it would have appeared on the original cinema screens.

Btw, I've always thought that if a film can use the viewers imagination against them, that's ideal, it's like being in a secular world and nobody believes in witches and demons or spooks anymore, but if you stranded people out in the woods and they were confronted with something apparently very evil, reasoning breaks down very quickly indeed and imagination and fear kick in, reasoning doesn't seem to assist when the "primitive wiring" we all have as part of us kicks in, that's probably a key to what I really enjoyed about BWP.

Anybody know what the filmmakers went on to do?

[Kel E]

I didnt like Blair Witch. It is a film where the marketing is as important, if not far more important, than the film itself (was it real? was it the most scary movie ever made? etc).
Same with Paranormal Activity if you research its history.
I dont know when I first heard of Cannibal Holocaust but the film that BWP made me think of was Alien Autopsy from a few years before.

I like the idea of documentary-style narratives---the original War of the Worlds radio broadcast was like that (I would have loved to see an expensive news broadcast-style version of that story). But I dont think the content of BWP added up to much. They will say its meant to be atmospheric and you let your imagination fill in the blanks but I found the ending incredibly cheap and a rip off.

[TheRoadWarrior]

Well, this is the beauty of debate, people have wildly differing reactions. I know that I took a long time to come around to it.

[thehamish]

Paranormal Activity is one I haven't seen yet cloud, but I'd probably enjoy it.

It's good to see a fan of BTW, because I think it deserves careful attention.

One of the reasons I keep coming back to it is because it grows on you and I remember lines like the one about "filtered reality" which I thought was a brilliant and simple way of saying, you guys out there in the audience are not here, you are not seeing and feeling what we see, so it called into question the nature of reality, even with a film where we feel or believe we are seeing everything that there is to see and there has been the absolute minimum of manipulation.

I also like how raw and visceral it becomes, when the guy (I forget his name) has kicked the map away and the girl's voice is incredibly raw, it's absolute fury and despair and the threat to life is obvious, and not quite the SCREAM of much horror, we are used to a scream or two in horror, and then later Josh just loses it and fades away. Things are breaking down ...

The idea of the witch, and the early descriptions by the actor/citizens seemed to me to be an ideal way of summing up something that was beyond make-up and effects and complete understanding, and those two fishermen, "... damn fool kids" funny and ominous, and along with these tension-builders the careful editing was ideal imo, the way it appears to jump clumsily, and go against the editing rules, but doesn't, and intentionally disrupts a smooth flow.

Anyway, I'll stop there, and actually, I've not watched it since acquriing a large flatscreen, so I think it's time to fish out my copy of BLP and watch it on something closer to how it would have appeared on the original cinema screens.

Btw, I've always thought that if a film can use the viewers imagination against them, that's ideal, it's like being in a secular world and nobody believes in witches and demons or spooks anymore, but if you stranded people out in the woods and they were confronted with something apparently very evil, reasoning breaks down very quickly indeed and imagination and fear kick in, reasoning doesn't seem to assist when the "primitive wiring" we all have as part of us kicks in, that's probably a key to what I really enjoyed about BWP.

Anybody know what the filmmakers went on to do?

there's this....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbeXG...eature=related

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0617130/

loved TBWP at the time, a cross between Carry On Camping & CH i felt haha. Rewatched in response to the slew of ripoffs that followed (though I dig a few of them as well...) and to me it had dimished slightly, but the last 10 minutes is still up there....you either get it or you don't.

[cloud]

You would have to be incredibly naive to have thought the movie was real, there were credits, a huge media frenzy and the filmmakers were doing interviews promoting it. Heh. I also disagree entirely with Kel E's post, basically saying it was all hype and no substance? See what I don't understand is if people would prefer to be spoonfed narrative and outcomes in movies. You say the ending was "cheap and a rip off", how? That ending has led to a lot of discussion down the years and I don't see what's wrong with leaving things to the imagination, if anything it shows ambition on the filmmakers' part and that is an area where BWP most definitely worked imo.

Good post TheRoadWarrior, I agree with that. I'll never understand the hate it gets on forums, I regard it as a masterpiece. As for other work by the directors, I definitely enjoyed Altered, that was a solid backwoods alien invasion movie, shot in a different style to BWP and not in any way scary, but definitely fun.

[jacksmith1983]

When passing judgment on The Blair Witch Project, I do think you have the keep in mind that it ultimately is what it is, namely an extremely low budget, regionally shot indie film, filmed in Maryland for roughly $60,000, by comparatively young filmmakers with limited prior experience, who probably never imagined their little film would - off the back of a masterfully innovative marketing campaign and huge media hype - reach mainstream consumption.

Certainly when I watched it at the cinema back in 1999, aged just 15 and giddy on a diet of Lucio Fulci films, the Friday The 13th and Halloween sequels, and the films Vipco were re-releasing on tape back then, I was underwhelmed by it, and simply couldn't understand why the media were hyping it up as the "scariest film ever made". However, having watched it a few times since on DVD, freed from the media frenzy and with a more mature, objective mindset, it's definitely a film which has grown on me a great deal. With its genuinely foreboding Maryland forest settings, earnest, almost improvised performances and the impressively maintained sense of verisimilitude the "found footage" motif has, it's a creepy little film, and the gaps which are left for viewer interpretation, particularly during the films finale, if anything add to its chilling, suggestive power. I would also struggle to think of another example of a low budget film where its makers have put such painstaking, imaginative effort into crafting a detailed back story for their creation. In fact I actually think the mock-documentary The Curse Of The Blair Witch, which delves into the circumstances concerning the "disappearances" of the young filmmakers, and the various macabre local tales relating to the the Blair Witch legend, is even more well crafted, creepy and effective than the film itself. When you watch it, you find yourself quite forgetting that what you are actually watching is a fake documentary about a fictional film.

On a final note I also don't quite understand why some still insist on dismissing The Blair Witch Project as a "rip-off" of Cannibal Holocaust. While it is true that both films share the motif of "found footage" relating the grim fate of a group of filmmakers who are missing presumed dead, for me the aesthetic similarities between the two films are practically nil, and really the motif of a narrator relating the sticky end of a tales protagonist via a "found" manuscript can be traced back to classic literary horror tales of M.R. James and H.P. Lovecraft. So while Cannibal Holocaust did not have too many cinematic peers, it is hardly the case that Deodato invented that particular story structure or narrative approach to begin with. If anything I think The Blair Witch Project, coincidentally or otherwise, has more similarities - in terms of its plotting or atmosphere - with Charles B-Pierce's cult classic Bigfoot mockumentary The Legend Of Boggy Creek, James C. Watson fondly regarded Sasquatch gorefest Night Of The Demon and James L. Wilson's atmospheric and underrated Screams Of A Winter Night. Saying Blair Witch is a rip-off of Cannibal Holocaust is but a small step away from stating that any film featuring a vampire is guilty of ripping off Nosferatu. At the the end of the day, almost every filmmaker without fail has his or her influences, and provided their work entertains or absorbs me to some degree, it is not something I pay too much attention to.

[Kel E]

As I said the film was hyped up as something monumental-the scariest movie ever made etc--I have heard that in ads before but usually AFTER the movie was in circulation. They said it well before hand. And from what I read they had people post in usenet groups and forums claiming to have seen the film when they turned out to be employees of marketing companies.

I have no problem with using one's imagination and the "less is more" philosophy, but I dont think they did it effectively. The modern era in film is dominated by overhype and marketing that sometimes costs more than the film itself--Blair Witch was the perfect example of that.

And I was never suckered by the claims it was real--that was part of the hype--i.e. making fake websites to promote the film. I think the real impressive aspect to the film is the marketing, not the film itself.

And its not just me becoming jaded to film.
When I saw the Asian version of the Ring(whatever one it was) I was literally squirming in my chair with people just in the other room at the scene where the woman slowly crawls out of the tv. I said Holy Fuck! out loud as well.

No moments like that for me in Blair Witch. Though I may check it out again sometime just to see how my perception might change.

[cloud]

I was the opposite, I thought that The Ring and its remake were dull beyond words and not scary in the least. To be honest, the only Asian film I've seen so far that I've found creepy has been The Eye, other films I've enjoyed to an extent but never thought they were particularly scary. In fact on the DVD of The Grudge, I actually found the real life story of the faces at the window to be much more effective than how it was filmed.

As far as BWP is concerned I think we'll just have to agree to disagree on that.

I agree about the documentary, I thought it was excellent and if you watched it blind would be convinced it was based on a real life event. I wouldn't say I enjoyed it more than the movie though. As for Cannibal Holocaust, I agree that the comparisons between that and BWP are strange as CH isn't scary in the least and as far as style and content go it couldn't be more different. I just view that comparison as an opportunity by those who don't like BWP to belittle the movie further by comparing it to something that most people on these forums hype up to be much better than it really is, afterall, the praise of CH is always over the top, as is the criticism of BWP. I do like Cannibal Holocaust, don't get me wrong, but I don't hold it in as high regard as others here that's for sure, and I always have much preferred Ferox.

[Kel E]

I didnt care for the whole Ring-but I paid attention enough that when the tv scene came I was quite disturbed by it. Unlike BWP-it didnt have massive marketing (this was before the US remake which I havent seen).

[thehamish]

Has anyone seen The Burkittsville 7 then? this turned up on channel 4 a while back and relates Rustin Parr's "tale" in more detail. A suitable companion piece to Curse, it just added to the whole mythos that they tried to create around the witch etc.

Or did i see a REAL documentary??? (hums Twilight Zone theme whilst sauntering away...)

[drterror666]

As for Cannibal Holocaust, I agree that the comparisons between that and BWP are strange as CH isn't scary in the least and as far as style and content go it couldn't be more different.

Agreed, but I was just using CH as it was the original found footage film. Unless I'm wrong, of course...

[mrb]

Blair Witch 2 : Book Of Shadows is a better film.

[drterror666]

Uh, oh, now the fight's gonna start!

[thehamish]

People are entitled to think that the "sequel" is a better film, for instance, it has a more conventional structure.

I, on the other hand think it is pond scum