A New Level of Horror
Blair Witch Blurs the Line Between Reality and Fiction

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When Ed Sanchez and Dan Myrick showed The Blair Witch Project to audiences at Sundance (the independent film festival), the reaction was so favorable that festival organizers had to schedule additional screenings to accommodate the number of people interested in seeing it.

The two men behind the mock documentary have done what many filmmakers have only dreamed. With a $800 camcorder and a budget "about as much as a brand new Ford Taurus," they have turned a modest idea for a horror film into a multi-million dollar franchise. After putting it up for sale after Sundance, they received the remarkable sum of $1M from Artisan Entertainment. Not bad for a small, independent feature.

Filmed in eight days, the producers taught the actors how to run the cameras and then sent them off without a script. The actors had check-in points where they would receive supplies, such as fresh batteries for the camera, but often had no idea what they would react to. As a result, the documentary feel is realistic, and the camera moves half a beat behind the action.

But the power behind The Blair Witch Project is in its blurred line between reality and fantasy. Taking a cue from documentaries of their youth, like "In Search Of..." and Chariots of the Gods, Sanchez and Myrick set out to recreate what freaked them out as kids. With the help of Artisan's publicity department and specials like the Sci-Fi network's "Curse of the Blair Witch," moviegoers are encouraged to believe that this is a true story.

I remember the first (and only) time I watched The Exorcist. What made it incredibly scary for me was knowing that it was based on a supposedly-true story. As an audience observing fiction, we are constantly asked to suspend our disbelief, but if we are told in advance that it is a true story, that suspension becomes easier. The story becomes more frightening.

Unfortunatley, I had done enough digging into The Blair Witch Project that I knew in advance it was not real. That knowledge did me no good by the end of the movie, however. The frightening storytelling and intense camera work forced me to see through the eyes of Heather Donahue and feel her terror.

This is a great movie that does exactly what the filmmakers intended. It freaks out audiences more than any movie in the past twenty years.

MY RATING: 9 out of 10.

RATED:
RUN TIME: 82 min.

A New Level of Horror Blair Witch Blurs the Line Between Reality and Fiction

A New Level of Horror
Blair Witch Blurs the Line Between Reality and Fiction