Today’s film is known for reviving and popularizing the found-footage technique, which is a type of narrative that involves footage from handheld cameras or various diary entries. In addition to that, today’s movie is also a good example of horror movies because it involves the actual feeling of horror rather than the constant use of cheap jumpscares.
The Blair Witch Project is a horror film written and directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez, starring Heather Donahue. It tells the story of three film students traveling into the woods in Maryland to film a documentary on the local Blair Witch legend.
The story starts like an ordinary horror flick, which has three adventurous young people going to a small town in Maryland called Burkittsville, previously known as Blair, to uncover the famous legend of Blair Witch. As they try to learn more about the legend, they interview the local people but don’t learn more than they already know from the old stories. However, they are advised not to go into the woods because there have been many disappearances throughout the town’s history. Nevertheless, as the bold and enthusiastic filmmakers they are, they venture into the woods.
The other essential part of the movie is its storytelling. As I said in the beginning, this film uses the found-footage technique, which means that we see the events unfold from the characters’ perspectives. This type of narrative really fits this movie’s overall tone and style as the film doesn’t use any external light source or background music and gives us a truly natural feeling of the surroundings. Thanks to that, not a single aspect of the movie feels fake or forced, instead, the characters, their reactions, and the world around them feel so real convincing. This is further elevated by the terrific performances of the actors. Apart from that, the only downside of this movie, in my opinion, is that it sometimes loses its pacing and gets rather slow. Despite that, it still protects its extremely mysterious feeling for most of its runtime.
Another important part I’d like to mention is its lack of cinematography and a soundtrack. As the film is a found-footage movie, it doesn’t offer amazing visuals or a powerful soundtrack, instead, it uses natural sounds around the characters and visuals from a budget handheld camera. For this reason, the movie gives a realistic feeling and feels like a true story.
After all, I think that The Blair Witch Project is a good horror film with an ordinary but interesting story, thrilling storytelling, and superb acting performances. It may get slow and boring occasionally but it’s still a fine example of horror movies.
RATING: 8/10