Review of The Blair Witch Project (1999) by Spangle — 31 Oct 2014

The Blair Witch Project is a case study that focuses in on the riveting question: Does a fantastic ending save an otherwise terrible film? The researchers in this study ultimately concluded that the answer is no.

While the ending may be terrifying and completely effective, the hour and ten minutes prior, which amounts to nothing but terrible camera work (purposeful, but terrible all the same), terrible acting, aimless walking, yelling, and things that are supposed to be scary but are not, ultimately serve as the film's downfall.

Coming in, I expected something very scary and, as somebody who does not watch many horror films, I figured I would be entirely freaked out. Yet, I came away thinking that the entire thing had to have been done as some terrible parody of an equally horrible horror film.

They attempted to make it seem real because of the documentary style, but very little (hint: none) of it was believable, which was a bummer. I was all willing to buy in, but the film failed to convince me.

All that freaked me out was the ending, but even then, it was painfully predictable once I saw where they wound up and could have been done better, certainly. But, the way it tied the story together was nice and entirely spooky, which worked out well in the film's favor and saved it from being rated later by me.