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THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (R)
Cast:
Heather: Heather Donahue
Josh:
Joshua Leonard
Mike: Michael Williams
Written, directed and
edited by Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick. Running time: 88 minutes. Rated
R (for language).
Released by Artisan Entertainment.
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What it's about:
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On October 21, 1994, Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard and Michael Williams hiked into
Maryland's Black Hills Forest to shoot a documentary film on a local legend,
"The Blair Witch." They were never heard from again.
One year later, their
footage was found. The Blair Witch Project is their legacy. It documents the
filmmakers harrowing five day journey through the Black Hills Forest, and captures
all of the terrifying events that led up to their disappearance.
Shot
on 16mm film by Joshua Leonard with sound recorded by Michael Williams,
Heather Donahue both performed the narration for the film and shot its behind
the scenes footage. Heather's High 8 video recordings document the growing rifts
and realizations between the filmmakers as each frustrating day and terrifying
night passes.
Ultimately written, directed and edited by Eduardo
Sanchez and Daniel Myrick, The Blair Witch Project is an Artisan Entertainment
release of a Haxan Film, produced by Gregg Hale and Robin Cowie.
Artisan
Entertainment released The Blair Witch Project in the Summer of 1999 .
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The Review:
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(Susan Wloszczyna,from USA Today, July 14, 1999)
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Don't go into the woods!
Any kid who has ever been frightened into restless
slumber by the Brothers' Grimm knows you don't stroll blithely into heavliy treed
areas. Especially without dropping a trail of crumbs to mark the way out.
But
the trio of college students - bossy Heather, laid-back Joshua, regular-guy
Michael - who hike inot a remote area of Maryland to shoot a documentary in
the groundbreaking bone-chiller The Blair Witch Project (3 1/2 STARS OUT OF 4) gladly tempt fate.
Playful and smug, they never once
seriously heed the grisly legends recounted by the locals they film early on; children
found slaughtered, men's bodies discovered disemboweled and bound together,
a hairy woman who haunts the environs like Bigfoot's sister.
Into the
forest they go, more concerned about their equipment than their well-being. But
not for long. During a five day plunge into terror, their will to survive will
be more than put to the test.
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Rain dampens their camping gear and spirits. Supplies are depleted. Autumn's chill
adds to their shivers, and shrill arguments erupt, often studded with the F-word.
As it becomes ever more apparent that they are hopelessly lost, Heather reassures
the others with grating overconfidence; "This is America. You can't get
that lost." But such logic is puny relief against the creepy objects and weird sounds
that crop up nightly.
The scares may be primal. But filmmakers Eduardo Sanchez
and Dan Myrick choose to disturb us in a very '90s Cops/Real World way.
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Blair itself pretends to be not a movie but a true account pieced together from raw footage
left behind after the threesome vanished.
The result is low budget horror
at its resourceful best, in the same innovative league as the original Night of the Living Dead. Events unfold in grainy cinema-verite style, using both shaky video-cam shots
and black-and-white 16 mm dailies. The process is intentionally disorienting as
dread heightens with armrest-gripping intensity.
You may get the urge to
shout at the students as matters grow ever more dire. They barely know how to
use a compass but are well versed in Gilligan's Island lore. That would only come in handy if you were adrift in cable's TV Land.
The suspense becomes so unbearable that it's easy to overlook questions about
whether anyone in such circumstances would want to continue filming. But then
Heather, her startled eyes like those of a cornered rabbit, bares her sould in
a shattering confessional. And you realize that The Blair Witch Project has you under its well-cast spell.
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Other Reviews:
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The Sixth Sense (1999)
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Click below to return to
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