OK. here it is, my take on the
Now when I saw the commercials before the movie came out, I said to myself, "Self, jeeze that looks cool, so how come I never heard of it before??" I mean, I'm quite well read on the occult and strange stuff and real live mysteries. I mean maybe not the film makers disappearance but I must have a book or something that mentions the Blair Witch Legend, but of course, no luck. So I go online, but not wanting to wreck the movie I don't click on anything that says see the movie before clicking here. Then I watch, and tape of course, THE CURSE OF THE BLAIR WITCH and now I'm fully under the Blair Witch spell and there is only one week to go 'till it opens. But then my girlfriend, always one to help, broke the news to me, it was just a movie with no basis in fact. Still I went to see it with her and and thought it was supercool. As I walked out it became obvious, from the chatter of the crowd, that the rest of the audience didn't have a clue it wasn't real.
I went to see it again a week later with my daughter, she thought it was real, but wasn't really scared by it (of course she is only 8 and only seems to be scared of werewolves). By this time the rumors of motion sickness were rampant but I have never actually talked to someone who experienced it personally. Having seen it once, this time I paid closer attention. I wanted to know what the film makers premise was, was it the spirit of the Witch, or was it a cult or both or something else. I was reading alot on newsgroups what others thought and read a bunch about the making of the film. I even aquired a Video of HEATHER DONAHUE speaking at the SAN DIEGO COMIC CON about the making of the movie and fielding just about every question that could be asked about the movie.
It was about then that I started reading all the bad press about the movie, too much hype, not really scary , stuff like that. I think that was the reaction of people who were convinced of its authenticity , getting the news , and feeling tricked or cheated somehow.
Personally I think the film makers were genius's. It's my #2 horror pick for 1999. They totally innovated a new unique way of film making. I only wish I coulda seen it before I found out it was not real. I think that would have added to it. Of course, its not a big jump out and scare movie and the idea that it's faked seems to stick and disrupt the supension of disbelief to make it not much of a scare for me to watch. But then the TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE was just as unreal. They shoulda kept it a big secret like they did with the AMITTYVILLE HORROR. But still, I enjoy watching it and making up theories about what or who was fucking with the film makers and what happened to them.
If anyone out there wants to see the tape on DVD of HEATHER DONAHUE (she looks good in make-up) I have it for trade or you could send me about $10US to pay for a DVD and shipping and I'll send it to ya...
I also have the SCI FI/SPACE CHANNEL pseudo-documentarys on tape but these are now also availible on the DVDs:
THE CURSE OF THE BLAIR WITCH (included on the original BWP DVD)
THE BURKITTSVILLE 7
and SHADOW OF THE BLAIR WITCH
And now, since the time of the original writing of this review, there has been a sequel, which I thought was pretty good even though it was a more conventional style, and it did have all those hidden runes to look for to solve the secret of ESREVER.
Oh did I mention that THE LAST BROADCAST came before the BLAIR WITCH PROJECT?
So the documentary idea is not entirely new. But then, even before that, there was CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST.
