Day 8: The Blair Witch Project (1999)

A Month of Horror

I have always wanted to do a marathon of "HORROR" throughout the month of October, one where I would revisit a new horror movie every day from the first to the thirty-first.  I will revisit the classics as well as new entries into the canon.  There are many movies that define this time of year, and I hope to showcase 31 of them this month...

October 8: The Blair Witch Project (1999)

When I first saw "The Blair Witch Project" it was in a small theatre in Burnham-On-Sea, Somerset, England.  Many of my English friends did not find it scary...

The beauty of "The Blair Witch Project" (aside from the extremely successful viral marketing campaign that helped make it the most successful independent movie of all-time) is the fact that things are never really clear as to what is actually happening.  The majority of the film focusses on a group of sometimes annoying characters trying to shoot a student film.

Once they become lost in the wilds around Burkittsville, things become considerably creepier, and it constantly escalates from small piles of stones, to eerie stick figures hanging in the trees, to things that literally go bump in the night, to packages delivered to the front of their tent during the night.

Where "The Blair Witch" succeeds best is in creating a sense of dread based almost solely around the unseen, and not a perceivable monster or creature.

What always creeped me out the most about this movie is the fact that I knew what the characters were feeling.  Not with the witch obviously, but being lost in the woods is one of the worst feelings you can have.  Being in the depths of a forest at night can be a scary experience by default:  the unfamiliar noises, the creaks, the snapping sounds in the distance...

It is easy to convince yourself that there is something out there with you, maybe even a twisted bitch of a witch tracking you through the darkness, but almost every time, you can pretty much guarantee that it was nothing more savage than a squirrel or chickadee.

The psychological breakdown of the characters, and eventual denouement in the cabin seals the deal, but to me, the true horror of this film is the uncertainty that comes from being turned around in the wilderness.  The characters might not be the most sympathetic, but you can easily place yourself in their shoes and start to feel the terror they go through (unless you are from England and have never been in a situation such as Heather, Mike, and Josh experience in the wooded wilds of Burkitsville, Maryland.

Spend some time in the woods at night, but before you do, make sure you check out this innovative take on urban legends...

Tomorrow, I plan to take a peak behind the scenes of what it takes to become a legendary serial killer.