Film Students' Search for Blair Witch
Raises More Questions than Answers

With all the buzz on the Internet surrounding the folklore of the Blair Witch and the story of three missing film students, The Blair Witch Project has become one of the most anticipated movies of the summer. Because no one knows for certain what happened, controversy surrounds the film uncovered a year after the disappearances. Is it a hoax, or a frightening account of the supernatural?

Montgomery College students Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Michael Williams joined forces on a film class project in October 1994. Their intent was to travel to the small town of Burkittsville, MD, and interview the local populace regarding the Blair Witch, a folk story passed down in the area for generations.

While filming their project, the students disappeared. A ten-day search for the students revealed nothing. A year later, backpacks containing their film and cameras were found. The story contained in the footage is terrifying.

What Donahue and the others expected to accomplish was a simple documentary of local folklore. Early shots include an introduction at the local cemetery and some interviews with locals regarding folk stories of the Blair Witch. Some people in the town believe the legends, others are skeptical. Still, watching the footage is like viewing an old episode of "In Search Of...." The legend is compelling, and it becomes apparent what attracted Donahue to the project.

After one day in town, the trio set out for a hike in the woods to get footage of several markers important to the legend. On the second night of camping, they begin to hear noises in the darkness, and they soon believe they are being followed. Tension heightens when they lose their map and must rely solely on their compass and intuition to get out of the woods.

One would expect that when things started going wrong that the cameras would have stopped rolling. "Turn it off!" became a chorus from Leonard and Williams, but Donahue was compelled to document every moment. Her view of the world through a camera lens apparently allowed her to detach herself from her surroundings.

The jerky camera shots are disorienting at times, and the lack of light in the night shots is frustrating - although understandable. No soundtrack has been added, and no effects spoil the raw emotion of the students' documentation. This film is fascinating to watch, but also brutal and scary.

Watching the events unfold is creepy at first, then disturbing, and finally frightening. The terror these students felt in the final days before their disappearance is genuine. Although the final fate of the trio is still a controversy, the footage does offer some clues.

The Blair Witch Project is not a horror movie filled with spectral images or things that go bump in the night. It is a documentary of the fear that Donahue and the others feel. It is increasingly terrifying until ultimately we feel their horror. Not recommended for the easily disturbed.

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MY RATING: 9 out of 10.

RATED:
RUN TIME: 82 min.

Film Students' Search for Blair Witch Raises More Questions than Answers

Film Students' Search for Blair Witch
Raises More Questions than Answers