The plot is simple:
three student filmakers on the hunt in the woods
of Maryland for a legendary evil that may or may
not have murdered seven children and five men in
the 1940s. They are lost. Their footage - the
film - is found.
I have studiously avoided most comment on and
criticism of the Blair Witch Project because it
is a horror movie and as a rule, it is best to
know little about horror movies prior to viewing.
The introduction - as the filmmakers meet and
speak with the townsfolk to unearth the mystery -
is deft. The snippets of information given during
these mostly humorous encounters are valuable,
and the interviews are indistinguishable from any
conversation you might have with a denizen of a
small Maryland town.
Obviously, the trio move locale from the town to
the woods, in search of the sites of the murders.
Make no mistake. It is horrifying. And not in the
Kevin Williamson, tongue-in-cheek, stylish and
ironic sense. It is not violent, nor grotesque,
but bare-bones and primal. They are lost. They
begin to break down. Something is tracking them.
Your vantage point is their clumsy vantage point,
through the eyes of a film and a video camera.
The reviews of the film, some of which I have
since read, state that the actors were given
minimal training with film and video cameras, and
then they were let loose to act spontaneously
along the lines of the plot. This may or may not
be true, but either way, all three convey realism,
and the camera-work (well edited) intensifies the
terror.
I also thought about this film more than I
expected to. One scene in particular, where the
female filmmaker films an apology to her parents
and the mothers of her two companions - runs your
blood cold. It stuck with me, because the actress
seemed so bare and so alone.
Finally, the ending scene is one of the most
gripping in film history and better, through
quick visuals (in a darkened melee) much is
revealed that stitches the Blair Witch Project
together, proving it not only creepy, but
accomplished.
Two personal anecdotes. Some folks may feel Blair
Witch stagey because the filmmakers shoot their
personal interactions, which obviously helps the
plot. I participated in student films in college,
and everything, including banter, tends to get
filmed because video costs nothing, the film
allotment is free or subject to a huge reduction,
college students making films are hopeless hams,
and everyone wants to laugh at "The Making
of . . . . "
Second, I went to summer camp as a child in
Southern Maryland off the Wicomico River. Legends
abound of witchcraft, strange worship, murder,
and the like, in the woods off the camp (a common
occurrence stoked by the purveyors of camp lore).
That said, you hike too far in any woods an hour
outside of D.C., you can get real lost, real fast.
This film is not for everyone. Some folks behind
me in the theater were exasperated by the hand-held
camera (which can make you queasy) and loudly
complained, 'What was the big deal?" My
guess, and it is only a guess, is that they heard
the buzz, thought to see the work of young
auteurs, and had no idea they were walking into a
stripped-down, cleverly realized supernatural
"Deliverance."
