Review of The Blair Witch Project (1999) by Riren — 28 Jan 2007

I watched this movie for the thirteenth time last night, and was still creeped right out. Watching it on DVD in my house, I still felt as though someone might be watching me from down the hall. This is the effect of great atmosphere, and the Blair Witch Project has it.

Every financially cheap aspect helps it. It's shot in a real environment, not a sterile set or against a CGI backdrop; its actors improvise their dialogue rather than read from scripts; the lighting is completely natural, and all the sounds are ambient.

Instead of a soundtrack, this movie has whatever the microphones picked up in the woods - much scarier than a bunch of licensed music or orchestral tones. By shooting this movie over six straight days and camping in the woods, these college-level actors access real fatigue and real emotion that blows away Hollywood performances because even though their premise is every bit as fictional as a blockbuster, their feelings are real.

Minimalism is the name of the game, hiding or only showing a little of any scene - only what was caught on the characters' cameras. Outside of those people who can't stand student film to begin with or can't appreciate something filmed with shaky cameras (something most people get used to in a matter of minutes, and something that is a huge part of modern news reporting), nothing can draw an audience in quite like this movie.