Sunday 7 May 2017

Review: The Blair Witch Project by Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick (1999)

Figure 1 - The Blair Witch Project

The Blair Witch Project is a psychological thriller directed by Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick in 1999. It was one of the first ever horror movies to create a sense of POV, and 'homemade' video. The actors, Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard and Michael Williams all play themselves and the film follows them as the document their journey through the woods, looking for the Blair Witch. The Blair Witch Project is said to have influenced many films after 2000 such as Paranormal Activity. The film does not centre around graphic violence, but instead, it focuses more on the unseen forces within the woods, which could be argued as being more scary and hugely more effective. 

The Blair Witch Project follows three students that are interested in finding out more information and investigate the myth of the Blair Witch. The film begins with a short piece of text stating that these three students went missing, and 10 years later their footage had been found, therefore, the film gives away its ending before the film even begins. This puts the horror directly on how the students went missing, still creating a sense of shock for the audience. It begins with the three students looking forward to the investigation ahead, but encounter a man that tells them about a man call Rustin Parr who ''had claimed that the Blair Witch forced him to kill 7 young children in the 1940's. Rusting would take the children to his house in the woods, take 2 down to the basement and make one of the face the corner while he killed the other.'' (Argyrou, Undated). 

Figure 2 - The Blair Witch Project

The Blair Witch Project has no use of fancy special effects or crazy monsters, all it has is the environment, an environment that produces creepy wooden stick figures and slime, along with weird wooden creations and rock piles that get left outside their tents. The film almost has a sense of the environment being against the three students. The wood is disorientating, and even though the group followed south the entire day, they still ended up going in a circle and ended back at the same lake they started from. The darkness is also against them, bringing the strange occurrences and blinding them from any danger, along with the vastness of the woodland, making the trio seem trapped with no possible chance of escape. ''They walk in circles. Something happens to their map. Nature itself begins to seem oppressive and dead. They find ominous signs. Bundles of twigs. Unsettling stick figures. These crude objects are scarier than more elaborate effects.'' (Ebert, 1999).

As the film develops, the characters desperation grows and their personalities begin to appear. Throughout the film Heather seems pretty optimistic about the situation, confident that they will find their way out, she says ''This is America. We've destroyed most of our natural resources'' and ''It's pretty hard to get lost, especially to stay lost'', but later on in the film, her optimistic attitude begins to fade which is particularly shown in the scene where she is in the tent filming her own apology to each of the trios parents. The two men slowly get more and more aggressive throughout the film, both attempting to rip the camera out of Heather's hands and react in a much more dominant way that Heather did, as hers was more emotional. 

Figure 3 - The Blair Witch Project

The films use of improvised dialogue brings a huge sense of realism to the acting. Throughout, all of their reactions to each other seem real, blurring the lines between what is real and what is fiction. It almost brings the audience into the film, putting them in the same situation as the characters. This is paired with use of the handheld camera, making the whole experience a very real and invaded one for the audience. 'Inevitably, the film has more rough edges than most (many deliberate), and the improvised dialogue veers from the unsettlingly convincing and the needlessly rambling. But as an object lesson of how little you need for terror beyond pitch darkness, The Blair Witch Project deserves all its success, and then some.'' (Thomas, 2015). 


BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Argyrou, S. (2017). Blair Witch Project- Horror Film Analysis. [online] Selina Argyrou. Available at: https://selinaargyrou.wordpress.com/blair-witch-project-horror-film-analysis/ [Accessed 7 May 2017].
Ebert, R. (2017). The Blair Witch Project Movie Review (1999) | Roger Ebert. [online] Rogerebert.com. Available at: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-blair-witch-project-1999 [Accessed 7 May 2017].
Thomas, W. (2017). The Blair Witch Project. [online] Empire. Available at: http://www.empireonline.com/movies/blair-witch-project/review/ [Accessed 7 May 2017].

ILLUSTRATIONS:

Doyle, J. (2017). Shocking (but true) facts about ‘The Blair Witch Project’. [online] The Loop. Available at: http://www.theloop.ca/shocking-but-true-facts-about-the-blair-witch-project/ [Accessed 7 May 2017].
Loughrey, C. (2017). The Blair Witch Project had some pretty dumb alternate endings. [online] The Independent. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/the-blair-witch-project-alternate-endings-horror-crucifix-hanging-stick-men-a7675841.html [Accessed 7 May 2017].
PAPERMAG. (2017). Catching Up With Heather Donahue, Star of the Original 'Blair Witch Project'. [online] Available at: http://www.papermag.com/heather-donahue-blair-witch-project-catching-up-1999071913.html [Accessed 7 May 2017].

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