The Blair Witch Project (DiVX Movie Review)

There aren't many movies I would classify on the "horror genre". For example, I think that all the "Friday, the 13th" titles (including John Carpenter's) are more strict suspense exercises than true frightening motion-pictures. So what do I call a horror movie?

Fright - that is what "horror" should be all about. But how can a film deliver fear? Answer: evolve from a great script and never, ever, steer away from what is basic / primary. Sex is primary. Hunger is primary. Survival is primary. Instinct driven attitudes are primary. What is primary shouldn't grow complex, if you are to make a "horror" movie.

When a film runs towards complexity to deliver fear, it becomes more of a "science-fiction" title or a "thriller", than a true "horror" experience. "The Sphere", "Starship Troopers", "I know What You Did Last Summer", "Scream" and so on... are great examples of superb action movies that may kick some chills out of you, or even some sudden hysteria, but - more generally - opt to entertain viewers with pretty people, high-technology, and not that primitive situations.

So, when I write about "horror" I really mean basic, hardcore, crisp, un-digest and nearly offending fear. Examples? "Night of the living dead", "The Thing", "The Exorcist", "The Re-animator"... (out of memory)... and "The Blair Witch Project" (TBWP), which I recently enjoyed from a DiVX file.

TBWP is the story of three friends, who decide to film a documentary about a legendary figure, known as "the Blair Witch". After a bit of interviewing, they'll figure that the "Blair Witch" was Elly Kedward, a woman accused of "trying to suck children's blood", somewhere in Maryland / USA, in the 18th Century, and then banned out of town.

The Blair place was to disappear, and Burkittsville would be founded there, only to witness many terrible deaths in the woods... Due to many macabre deaths, the Blair Witch legend lives until the present day, when Heather, Mike and Joshua decide to go film the spot.

TBWP was a very low budget movie, entirely filmed with "amateur" cameras. Most of the "action" is filmed from Heather's Point-of-View (PoV) and shows people being interviewed, some houses, trees, a blue sky, a small river, some black screens, her friends, and herself. Nothing else is seen: not a drop of blood, not a single "monster", not a single "special effect"... in over 80 minutes of tape, corresponding to what was found of the three friends attempt of a documentary... the two boys and the girl are now disappeared...

80 minutes? No special effects? How can it work? Answer: remember the "be primitive" need to deliver a true horror movie? Well, things can't get much more basic, can they?

Once in the woods, our film directors will get lost, despite having a map and a compass. Heather is accused of not being honest about knowing her way, but the accusation will come too late.

The horror begins at night, when strange noises are heard from outside the tent where the documentary heroes sleep. Just noises. Complete darkness. In the morning, the friends are to find strange rock formations, strange kind-of-human figures done with sticks and hung on trees... Creepy. For short, too much stuff that can't be understood.

Heather, Mike and Joshua decide to return to the car, but they'll simply won't find the way out of the woods, even when being completely rational - ie, always traveling in the same compass direction - and this will drive them (slowly) nuts.

Night after night, the noises get nearer. There will be a moment of "contact". There will be a moment when one of the friends will not be found, by the morning, and yet, will be heard, screaming, by night. And, finally, a house.

There is no risk in being a spoiler, when writing about TBWP, because the movie itself tells you all, on the very first minute. Yet, even knowing exactly what will happen, the way it does happen, made me feel "horror feelings", which was something I was missing, for a long time.

This movie is a must. My DiVX edition, on just 600 MB, delivers very acceptable picture quality, due to the slow paced action and the 4:3 image size ratio.

TBWP remembers me mostly of "the night of the living dead" (TNOFLD), but it has no sexual scenes (in TNOFLD, even the trees try to penetrate a girl...), no blood, and it features a completely original story. The remembrance must be due to the primitive attitude...

Mandatory!