31 Days of Horror: The Blair Witch Project
/"I'm afraid to close my eyes, I'm afraid to open them."
Filmology Rating: 3 out of 4
Times were simpler back in 1999. The internet was a rather new technology that most people didn’t understand, and Mambo No 5 by Lou Bega was being played on every radio. In that era, the best way to build hype for something was through actual word of mouth, and you would have to trust that person since you couldn’t just log into Facebook and see what the world was saying about the subject. In many ways things were simpler and better. That would seem especially so if you would ask filmmakers Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez the directing duo behind The Blair Witch Project.
Film students Heather, played by Heather Donahue, Mike, played by Michael C. Williams, and Josh, played by Joshua Leonard, embark on a journey to Burkittsville, Maryland to film a documentary about the Blair Witch legend. The three quickly learn that everything in the Burkittsville woods might not have their best interest in mind.
It has taken me years to finally watch The Blair Witch Project, not because I had disinterest in the film, but rather because I remember hearing everyone telling me how terrifying the film was. I remembered the amazing marketing that went into the film due to the talk on the playground when I was seven. The thoughts of the three teenagers missing while making a movie in the woods kept flying around the playground. Later, I finally saw the VHS of the movie at a local Video Plus and I knew instantly that I would never watch that film that had let my imagination take flight so often. Then in 2016 I saw Blair Witch, a sequel film to the original, and I thought it was honestly one of the most boring films I had ever seen. Indeed, it felt lazy. I knew I would have to conquer my fears and watch the original film to see if the sequel was just a lazy attempt at recapturing the magic of the first film, or if The Blair Witch Project was truly a horror masterpiece.
The Blair Witch Project simply won’t be for everyone, For those of you who like gore and to watch all of the killing happening in front of you then you will be gravely disappointed. This film is for those who have active imaginations, who are terrified by the things left unsaid in life. Those are the things that scare me the most personally, the sounds off in the bushes that don’t sound human, the sudden appearances of objects that seem like they came from another world, the things that you cannot explain or cannot see are the aspects that have always terrified me the most. This film is all mood, getting you engaged into the film and then offering things that are completely bizarre, and not offering any explanations for why those things are happening. That is how life is at times. Sometimes horrible things happen that you can never explain; you could try to tell yourself it is a witch causing all of your misery but it just might be the universe telling you that you are making some wrong decisions.
Some would consider The Blair Witch Project to be horror homework, a film that was great during it’s time, but doesn’t hold up to those same standards today. I strongly disagree with those people, this film in 2017 is clearly terrifying! It will probably be just as terrifying for years to come. Also for those who consider this film homework remember without The Blair Witch Project we would never have gotten films like Paranormal Activity, REC, Cloverfield, V/H/S, Chronicle, Unfriended, The Visit. While not all of those films are masterpieces they all still have a fanbase that adores them, and those fans wouldn’t have any conspiracy theories or fun scares to talk about. The legacy of The Blair Witch Project will live on for generations to come.
Rating: See It
-Jonny G