''The Blair Witch Project''

The Blair Witch Project (1999)               8/10

Once again, this is a film, that’s very hard to mark, because it doesn’t fit in any of the normal categories. Its original, OK, its not the first of its kind, but it is first that used the style so effectively.  This film defined and you could say created a genre- found footage genre. However, the genre is what it is. After this film, there really isn’t any new place to go with it. There is no other way of shooting or making a found footage film. That being said, it really is worth acknowledging. However, because there is no other way of making ff film, it doesn’t have to mean that all the found footage films are great. Still, I would always give a solid 6 just for being found footage film. It really does give a different feeling and a different perspective into the film- it's a lot more personal. And it is hard to film-it’s hard to think of all the logistics(that no crew is visible) and make it look real and believable, recognizable (the way we (normal people) do everyday filming. Now to be any better than 6, it has to have good story and good actors and good execution.
I am not really into horror movies, however I have seen enough, to sort of know what is going to happen in one. All the time I was watching the film, I kept waiting for the grand moment when the Witch will appear. I was certain that in one of these pitch black scenes, a somehow gleaming white black f**ing scary Blair witch will appear.  That’s why I could not bring myself to watch the film in one go( I admit I had to turn the light on , and continue after I had made tea and made sure there is no one in the dark of my garden) . Anyhow, that moment never came! A lot of classic horror movies have done that so obviously that's why I was expecting it in this one as well ( like Alien films,Jaws , Anaconda, Jeepers Creepers, Predator , etc. these films build up to the big revelation of the ''monster''). In modern films it would have happened rather sooner than later. But in this film, it never did. Now, I am not sure whether I liked it or not- the Witch not appearing. As I was saying from the horror standards, that would have happened, and then when the witch appeared , the film would go on for another half an hour( at least) showing the teenagers fighting with her and blurry shots of action and stuff. Here it never happened. Now, that can be seen as originality or lack of budget that made the whole film short (only around 80minutes) and producers unable to figure out a way to show the evil Witch (what would definitely involve more money).
Well lets look at the facts:
The films budget was $60,000 !! Not too much but probably enough to make the appearance of the witch , so i guess not showing it was more a creative decision. And well, I must admit the film WAS scary! It was really creepily scary, even if it didn’t show the source of the fear. So, hmm, I guess it accomplished what it wanted! It made you feel very at unease and turn on your light. AND it did it with a tiny weenie budged! and well,  to boost the awesomeness the film was shot in just 8 days!! AND Its total gross was/is  $248,639,099 !! for f** sake that's not too bad is it? 248million profit?!. Yes, so I guess that’s the answer to the question.  I believe that makes this film professional and successful and even good ( 50 million people can't be that wrong*)

Actors?  The creators claim, that a lot of the things that happened, where actually surprises for the actors as well, as they didn't know all of the plot, so a lot of their performances are just genuine expressions. However, we don’t see too much of them to be honest, most of the time it’s their back or feet. But when we do see them, I felt them; I felt that they were scared and desperate.  However, again, the closer to the end, the less of the actor’s performance we see -we hear most of it! And once again that works rather well, as we all perfectly well know the face of a crying scared person, and with a little imagination we can clearly picture the horror in their face following the screams and sobs.
As the first mainstream film of its kind, cheap but scary, with believable performances, I give this film an 8!
Of course for a trained, experienced horror film viewer this film probably wouldn't be too scary. Most of all because of the fact that I was talking about earlier, the Witch never appears. Again for a person with a good imagination it probably is scary( and in 1999 it sure was one of the scariest things people had seen in cinema), but nowadays people get lazy on imagining Witches (they are better at imagining numbers and money on their bank accounts). So they have to be shown what the scary evil thing looks like ,and then they can be scared out of their pants, because they have never anticipated or never could have imagined something that looks that creepy, and then that being set into that scary environment and dark scene..! … Well then this would have been a modern scare masterpiece… Maybe it’s time to do a remake?



*according to average ticket price in 1999 , source boxofficemojo.com