The Blair Witch Project (1999 Movie)

Category: Found footage horror/drama

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While it's easy to blame TBWP for the found-footage horror genre, you can't deny that this movie still holds up some 20-something years later, especially knowing the numerous FFH movies that have come about since.

What makes this movie gripping is that it really does come across as legitimate found-footage - the camera work is shaky, amateur and sometimes misses things, the arguments between the cast members come across as authentic (and apparently were), and the ending is so ambiguous that you don't know what really happened, especially when we never ever see who (or what) is out to hurt the crew.

Far from hurting the film, the low-budget actually helps the film to stand out - there are no special effects, no CGI, no background music, and you don't need to do make-up and give credits for an enemy that never appears on screen.

To summarise the movie - Heather recruits Josh and Mike to assist with her amateur documentary about The Blair Witch, a local fable about a murderous supernatural being in the woods around Burkitsville, Maryland. After some interviews with the locals, the three hike through aforementioned woods with their equipment to find a couple of landmarks to shoot some footage over the course of a couple of days. On the way back to the car, however, Heather unwittingly gets the team lost which causes them to be tired and hungry which in turn leads to discord among the three - and just to add to the drama, weird noises are heard and weird things are left outside the tent for the team to discover each morning.

The frights really ramp up when one night, something shakes the tent causing the three to disperse, find their belongings rifled through and later on, Josh goes missing. In the end, Mike and Heather come across a house where they think they hear Josh's voice, only  to be attacked off-camera.

That iconic scene of Heather holding the camera to her face, crying and apologising, on its own and devoid of greater contect is dramatic, but to truly appreciate it you have to see it in context after all that has happened - it is brilliant acting and storytelling.

I loved this movie enough to give it 4.5 stars. It is a brilliantly-made film and definitely worth watching. What stops me from giving it 5 stars? The fact that the simplicity which makes the film brilliant is also its drawback - what exactly was terrorising the trio? We never find out, we never get any hints, and without any answers, the pay-off just isn't there.

Final rating: 4.5/5 stars