Review of The Blair Witch Project (1999) by Courtenay I — 10 Sep 2016

Simple, effective, creepy, and quite scary (There were a few parts that sent chils up and down my back). Perfectly captures the terror of being lost in the woods. Add onto that some seriously creepy, supernatural shit going down and you have a film that works surprisingly well.

It's a plus that it moves at a pretty good clip, and doesn't overstay it's welcome. I also have to give props to the sound design which is great and effective. For a film that was only made on a budget of $60,000 (and that made a domestic gross of $140 million, worldwide total was 248 mil), I'm shocked at how well it holds up even 17 years later and at just how well made it was.

The performances are believable (There are some bad lines though, not many), and the setting is a simple but terrifying. The Blair Witch Project may be the most successful film experiment I can think of, and it still stands as the best found footage horror film I've seen (They really should have stopped making found footage after this beauty).

It's like a really good, scary, late night campfire story....one that I don't mind re-visiting. Naturally, it's highly recommended (There is also a good deal of shaky cam, so if you get motion sick maybe you should sit this one out.

...or just close your eyes when these parts happen and listen to the proceedings, trust me, you'll be just as scared).