Since I'm out CAMPING.... the first time since THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT... I have to hope what happened to Mikey happens to Quint.... bum bum buuuuuummmmm! Just kidding. But I figured... what the hell... the sounds do wake me, it is cold... and most people think that Star Wars fans waiting out in line for days are lost beyond help... well... why the hell not run Optimus' review? So... I did.
In 1975 Jaws made people afraid to go into the water. In 1999 The Blair Witch Project will make people afraid to go into the woods. But in 20 years people will not be saying how fake the witch looks. This is a horror movie that will work at any time period. With absolutely no f/x at all, it manages to be the scariest movie I have ever seen.
The reason it is so scary is that it is so easy to put yourself in the characters shoes. This is not some slick Hollywood production, with the beautiful actors, the Hollywood sets, the smooth glide of steady-cam, and the perfect colors of 35mm film. This is you and your friends in the woods with a video camera. Try to remember that it's just a movie.
The film makers are extremely talented. Armed only with a video camera, a 16mm camera shooting B&W, and 3 actors with a hell of a lot of talent. With a few props, sounds, and the responses of the actors to their situation, all the scares come via your own imagination. Which I think is the most effective way to scare people. Hours after seeing the movie I was still scaring myself, just by thinking of what was happening off screen.
I really don't want to say anything about the plot. I'll just tell you what the opening quote lets you in on. Three documentary filmmakers go into the woods looking for the blair witch. A year later this film is the only thing that is found of them.
I was lucky enough to see this film 2 months early, at a screening at the University of Washington. I can't wait to see it again come July. I can not imagine this movie not being a huge hit. Anyone who see's this movie will have to tell their friends to see it. It was so scary, that people were leaving the theater, the guy in front of me spent the last 20 minutes looking at the floor. Now I think that's a sign of a good movie.
Oh, and Harry I'll have a review of Breakfast of Champions for you Saturday the 15th, after I see it at the Seattle Film Festival.
Optimus Prime signing off.
