Heather Donahue, Michael Williams and Joshua Leonard
If You Hear Noises in the Woods, Stay in Your Tent
Horror movies are one of those weird parts of our culture that just make no sense. We hate to be scared for real, but we love to shell out $8.00 or more just to be scared in a movie theater. One of the most effective ways to scare the audience is to let their imagination scare them for you. That is exactly what Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez did in writing and directing The Blair Witch Project, the latest and most creative movie of the Horror genre. This mocumentary (or fictional docu-drama, if you will) tells the entire story from first person perspectives with the actors themselves shooting the footage. And although I wasn't scared (which is typical, since I have yet to see a "scarey movie" that scared me) I was impressed by this movies originality and its innovative movie style.
Heather Donahue (as herself) apologizes for her errors
"In October of 1994, three student filmakers disappeared into the woods near Burkittesville, Maryland, while shooting a documentary. A year later, their footage was found." This is what you read shortly before seeing the camerawork of someone using a camcording in what appears to be a home movie. We soon learn that Heather Donuhue (played by the actress of the same name, in fact all the actors used their own names) is a film student who is directing a documentary on the Blair Witch, a local legend of Burkittesville, Maryland. Her companions are Josh Leonard, the cameraman, and Mike Williams, the sound guy. They soon learn that this Blair Witch had murder seven children back in the 1920's and ever since then the woods near the town have been haunted. They then hike through the woods to shoot a couple of scenes, one of which is in the "cementary" where there are seven piles of rocks signifying the seven slain children. On their way back to their car they become lost and their tempers start to show as they realize they are lost in the woods. On the second night they are camping out in the woods and hear eerie and creepy noises that seem to be coming from all around them. At first they blame them on the local "rednecks," but as the noises turn into vision (like the three piles of rocks they found around their tent one morning). All they want to do is get out of the woods, but that proves to be impossibly difficult.
Josh Leonard (left) and Mike Williams just want to go home
First things first, to clear things up (because there is some doubt out there) , The Blair Witch Project is not true. The story is fictional, the legend is made up and the events never occured except for the purpose of the movie. Some people have the impression (because of good marketing and hype) that this really was footage found a year after three film students disappeared into the woods and that they really are dead but it is not true, they are very much alive. I tell you this because if it were true (even if it was really a legend in Maryland) it would make this movie unbelievably freaky... instead it is just very unsettling. As I said it may not have scared me, but it was very scary. The way The Blair Witch Project was filmed is revolutionary. All of the footage was shot by the three principle actors, and all of the things that makes this movie frightening is never seen except for a few unsettling visuals (like the three piles of rocks signifying Heather, Mike and Josh's graves). The filmmakers did a great job of having noises off camera that made you wonder and imagine the worst. The other really cool thing about The Blair Witch Project is the acting because it is real. There really weren't any scripted lines for this movie, just concepts of what needs to happen. The actors actually did camp out for several days and most of the time they didn't know exactly what was going to happen next, and even if they did they didn't know when. All of this made very human responses and interactions which added immensly to the realism. All in all, if you like Horror movies you are going to love the innovative style of The Blair Witch Project.
