the Blair Witch Project

[FS]

Just saw it a second time, on TV, and I was wondering what people here thought about it when they first saw it.

Of course it was rather overhyped, but even though I knew it wasn't "real" the first time I saw it, I thought it was quite good. Good real life acting, pretty much the ultimate in making use of what you don't see to create suspense... I think I was a little disappointed at the bizarre ending of it all, but this really can't be compared to other horror movies - or other movies in general. I also think that if you know it's still just a movie, you need to pretend it's real to like it, and let yourself be swept along by it.

I'm not saying it was brilliant or anything, just that it was very original and well done.

[The Unseen]

i havent seen it yet :)

[James]

I couldn't watch it out of fear... that my brain would rot from the idiocy.

I saw some bits here and there, but I couldn't watch it for more than a couple minutes. The whole concept, while original, wasn't very entertaining (shaky cam + lots of screaming = annoying).

And I hated how people were like "Oh, you gotta look closely at this! You can see the witch!" and shit like that. No, you fucking can't. Get over it. >:

It really was overhyped, and too many weak-minded imbeciles played up to it, using their own "imagination" to make it seem like the greatest movie ever. And Blair Witch 2 was just pathetic.

[Zomboid]

I can't stand any movie that has the idiots at school going "Ohh shit, you've gotta see the blair wittcccchhh. It's so scary, myrrrrna".

Ugh. I've never been able to sit through more than 3 minutes of it after hearing shit like that from when it was new.

[WorthlessLiar]

I thought this movie sucked.

making use of what you don't see to create suspense
I think this is the ultimate cop-out in "horror" movies these days. People just use this as an excuse to make up for not coming up with any actually scary material. Movies should play on your imagination but they should have the visuals to back it up.

[Skulhedface]

this movie didn't deserve the hype it got though. But because of that, it made back something like 500x what was put into it (I don't have exact numbers so forgive me)

I thought it was a novel idea, but just because something is a good idea doesn't make it work well in practice. And Blair Witch 2 was just a complete waste of celluloid.

[FS]

Well, it was really just kind of a neat trick, a gimmick. Probably not worth basing 90 or so minutes of material on. Problem is, you're not going to do anything with 15 minutes or a half hour... well, maybe a short TV movie.

Movies should play on your imagination but they should have the visuals to back it up.

I'm sorry, but I think that's just closed-minded. When the hype wore off, Blair Witch Project took a lot of shit for being as low budget as it was, but I think that's just making the most of a clever idea. I guess this particular idea really wasn't big enough to base an entire movie on, but suspense is probably 90% working around the issue. When you're making a movie, you're going to try playing with the viewer's emotions, and be honest - when's the last time you saw a big slimy rubber creation in a horror movie and went "EEEEEE IT'S HORRIBLE"? It's all psychological play. It doesn't cost much money, but it takes thought.

One big reason why I liked this 'movie' though, is that I wished I'd thought of it. As for Blair Witch Project 2, I'm not touching that with a 30 ft pole... well, maybe I'll rent it sometime just to see how bad and rehashed it undoubtedly is.

[Skulhedface]

BW2 wasn't really a rehash, it did have it's moments, but it still can't say much about the movie itself when the only reason most people sit through it is the boobies :/

You'd expect to see this on Cinemax at 3am or something.

As for the first, it was a great gimmick, but I can't help but laugh at the people that went to this movie several times (like they did to the Scream movies) and THEN went back and complained when the hype died down.

Other than the fact that I like a movie that can give you a psychological shock instead of relying on a cheesy made up monster (I'm referring to bottom of the barrel B Movies here, not decent flicks like Evil Dead or such) I just found this movie boring.

[FS]

Yeah, I can't really see why someone would want to watch this movie more than once. I didn't even watch the whole thing yesterday, just came back later on to see the ending. That's the weak point of a movie that relies on a gimmick.

[KevinTheOmnivore]

As somebody who was raised on scary movies and lame slasher films, I still argue that this was one of the best scary movies EVER.

[noob3]

Most people watch it knowing it's a movie, so they think it sucks. I watched it with NO IDEA it was a movie, I thought it was a REAL. I thought they were just uncovered these and decided to let us watch them for money, or something! What can I say, I'm not too smart. And you know what? It creeped the fuck out of me.

[AChimp]

My friends and I rented it when it first came out on video, and we waited until 2 a.m. to watch it, and when we did, we laughed our asses off at how stupid it was.

"Which way should we go!?!"
"I don't know!"
"Hey, I kicked the map into a stream when you all weren't looking! HAHAHAHA."

:lol

And of course, they didn't bring a compass for running around like crazy in the bush for a few days, because that would have been intelligent.

Blair Witch 2 was fucking shit, BTW. Except for the naked chicks. :yum

[Jeanette X]

They did bring a compass, actually. Josh had it and wandered away with it.

Why didn't they use the handy copy of How to Survive in the Woods that Heather packed?

Or make markers? Tie a piece of cloth to a tree so you'd know if you passed it...

Stupid people.

[AChimp]

Or use the compass properly? :(

[Skulhedface]

Well, it WAS realistic, so I almost DID buy into the notion that it was real (of course, this is based on the commercials) and I just started thinking, being as the confirmation of snuff films, especially theatrically released snuff films, is practically zero. With the way people are, I doubt that it would've showed in the theaters if it WAS real.

After all, Faces Of Death was never shown theatrically :/

[Professor Cool]

That should be a new reality TV shows, Idiots in the Woods

I didn't like it because it wasn't real and that they try to make it look real, and they ended up with crap. :(

[Skulhedface]

it wasn't really quality that bothered me (after all, Clerks had pretty shitty quality, and an equally low budget, but was by far a superior movie)

it's just that there wasn't much substance to this flick at ALL. It was more like watching some shitty reality TV show, like Prof. Cool mentioned, than watching an actual scary movie.

[ShanghaiOrange]

I saw it on FX, which made it all the more scarier. :(

[Mr. PickleFeather]

All the arguing was just stupid, they kept arguing about the fucking map, and how they should keep going and stop arguing.

As said above, the people(characters and makers of the film I guess) where ridiculously stupid and could of tried many ways to get out.

Three things I liked about the ending of the movie: The atmosphere and look of the house, the last wall-facing scene, and the fact that it was over.

BTW: the rental version had the weekest bonus footage ever, oooh, maybe the townspeople where in a cult that was chasing them!

[Blackjack]

When it first came out I had planned to get together with some friends and watch the late night screening on the 31st of October, which meant we would be watching Blair Witch at midnight on Halloween!!

Sadly, it never came to fruition BUT I saw it a couple of days later on November 5th, which is the day we have fireworks celebrations in Britain (Guy Fawkes night) and every year there was this display at the cricket ground near my house, which backs onto some woods.

So I tried sneaking in through the pitch black woods, alone, with just a torch for company. And what with seeing Blair Witch earlier that day - all about being alone in the woods....

Spooky.

[Skulhedface]

The thing that killed it for me is... what kind of retard actually kicks a map into a river? KICKS it, mind you.

[Jeanette X]

Speaking of rivers, why didn't they just follow the river? It would probably have led them out of the woods!

[Skulhedface]

If these are the type of kids that literally kick a map into a river, I doubt they'd have the necessary survival skills, not to mention cognitive skills, to do such a thing.