Funny Funny
 May 16th, 2001
Advantages:
Acting, Ending, Hype
Disadvantages:
Nose Bit, Start, Hype
Recommendable:
Yes
Detailed rating:
Did you enjoy it?
Story
Characters / Performances
Special Effects
How does it compare to similar films?
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  Peakly
About me:
As a long-term member of dooyoo.co.uk, finding my feet as a 'new boy' here at ciao is proving diffic...
Member since:16.05.2001
Reviews:12
Members who trust:3
Review rated by 18 Ciao members on average: very helpful 
It seems all those who have watched the Blair Witch Project have, as the cliché goes, either loved it or hated it. It would probably be in the best interests of this opinion for me to claim to be somewhere in the middle, undecided as it were, and it would be easiest and most obvious for me to slate it, but I think it’s going to be more fun just to like it, so there you go. Most people who disliked The Blair Witch Project watched the film expecting the scariest thing in the world or expecting a standard movie – both big mistakes. The Blair Witch Project is original, first of all, no one can deny that. Of course, original doesn’t always translate to ‘good’. The story follows three Americans trapped in some woods, making a documentary on the local legend of a witch who supposedly kills men and rapes the souls of virgins or something – you get the picture. The whole film is shot through this supposed home camera (although the quality of the picture is better then that) and cost pennies to make (yet made millions at our cinemas).
That’s the bit I like, it takes the p**s out of all of us, this movie, it really does. We make these films that cost millions, and there all gunned down by this one dodgy, low-budget joke of a film, why? Because we’re all stupid enough to believe the hype. Some Americans, I believe, even thought the tape was genuine, and the whole thing was true. Crazy.
The acting is, well, actually rather good. I suspect this is because a huge amount of it was spontaneous and un-scripted. The film has no structure at all, and the dialogue is pretty much random, just cleverly edited so no one talks over each other and such. The young woman who leads the project and gets everyone lost is a tad annoying, specially to ears not adapted for listening to strong Yankee accents, while the two male actors are slightly more bearable, and given more rounded performances. The whole thing though, it seems just too real, and I suspect that is why it freaked some of us out. Personally, I wasn’t particularly scared, after all the worst thing we see is some twigs tied to a tree and a pile of rocks, but nor was I sitting huffing and puffing and thinking how crap the whole thing was. Bit’s I didn’t like? Well the close up of the young ladies nose was a tad uncalled for, and it lost all sinister value when all the children I shared the hall with exclaimed ‘burgh! Wipe your snout hen!’ and threw popcorn at the screen. The best bit though? That masterful ending, that once again laughed at us all. The two characters had entered an old house looking for their lost companion and the tension was building. Hang on a minute, we thought, this is turning out just how the old woman predicted at the start! (Gasp) Going up the stairs, they hear shouting! Someone’s shouting! Into the next room, wait for it, what’s going to happen, what the… Dead. The camera drops, the credits roll, and everyone sits in shock. Genius, pure genius. It’s not so much the film it’s self I enjoy, but what the film achieved that makes me giggle. It entered the race like a timid little kitten, but in the end it managed to put the entire of Hollywood to shame. I like the fact that, if only for the briefest of moments, we as an audience slipped up. We are supposed to demand big name stars and the latest special effects, yet The Blair Witch Project provided that all we need is a bit of hype and clever marketing and we’ll march into the cinemas throwing our money in which ever direction we have to. It showed us up for exactly what as a collective audience we are – stupid. Or just curious.
I can’t bring myself to whole-heartily recommend you go and rent Blair Witch right this instant, because in all honesty just by reading this opinion you already know most of it, and I haven’t even gone into detail. But, if you haven’t already seen it, I suspect your curious right? Hey, so was I, and I’m glad I went to my local picture house for that hour and a half, I feel a richer man for it make no mistake. Just watch it, you know you want to – after all this talk you still haven’t got round to seeing it? The Blair Witch Project is one of my favourites of all time, because when I watch it I sense a delightful yet subtle bitterness, at us and the entire industry. If you don’t like films too much, even if you’ve hated everyone you’ve even seen to date, then watch this, it’s for you. I just wish they hadn’t sold out on the sequel and gone all up-to-date big-budget. In fact, there shouldn’t have been a sequel at all. Watch this, and then laugh at yourself.
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![The Blair Witch Project [DVD] [1999]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/76559047.jpg)
20.05.2001 22:19
Sounds like a worthwhile watch. Excellent, informative op.- cheers- Timmy.
16.05.2001 22:39
Great op - I have videoed this and am looking forward to watching it at the weekend!