Overrated.
Yes, I'm truly tempted to end my review there
but out of respect for those who actually read
my reviews I suppose I should offer at least a
semblance of an explanation for why I consider
1999's "The Blair Witch Project," the low-budget
wonder film from Daniel Myrick and Eduardo
Sanchez which was originally budgeted at $35,000
and ended up grossing over $140 million in the
US alone sparking a series of spoofs and one
pathetic sequel.
I was looking forward to seeing "The Blair Witch
Project." I'd heard enough about its uniqueness,
and I've always admired the low-budget
independent filmmaker so I thought..."Wow, a
perfect combination. This will be great."
Then, I immediately became distracted by glaring
technical mistakes. Sure, well, there was only a
$35,000 budget...well below, way way way below
the budget for many small, independent films. I
could forgive a few technical mistakes. It's
hard to reshoot mistakes when you simply don't
have the budget to do so.
Then, however, I began to notice myself yawning.
Hmmm. A suspenseful, horror type film and I'm
yawning...I'm noticeably bored and cringing at
the screams of one of the leads, Heather
Donahue. Joshua Leonard and Michael Williams
didn't help matters, and, ultimately, I found
myself feeling restless and waiting for that
moment of suspense...that glimpse into the
horror I'd been promised.
It never happened.
"The Blair Witch Project" is not a horrible
film. I've seen many worse horror films over the
years, and the vast majority have been worse
than this one. It isn't so much that I find
"Blair Witch" a bad film...it's that I find it
so remarkably bland and lifeless when everything
I'd read from box-office reports to reviews to
audience response offered me fear and anxiety
and horror. I felt none of these things while
watching the film.
Truthfully, I found myself much more entertained
by the spoof, "The Bare Wench Project," a sexy,
silly romp that made me laugh and made me smile.
This film offered laughs only when the horror
was truly disappointing and never actually made
me smile.
"The Blair Witch Project" is, more than
anything, a testimony to the power of marketing
a film. The filmmakers took a random, festival
type approach to marketing the film including a
massive internet onslaught that put the film
directly into the faces of the young adult crowd
it was targeting.
The end result became history's most successful
independent film and continues to set the
benchmark for independent films in terms of
box-office and marketing. I'm sure you've
experienced the same feeling I have here...those
moments when you look up at a screen or you read
the weekend box-office receipts and you find
yourself completely floored that a film has
defied expectations and become a hit almost
despite itself. "The Blair Witch Project" can
lay claim to being the most successful
independent film in terms of box-office
percentages. When you think about it and all the
incredible indie films available, isn't that
just kind of sad?
©
Written by Richard Propes
TC Candler's Comment
Considering
everything involved in this film's success... I
think it is one of the most important films in
history... If only on the financial aspect of
getting films funded and produced. The
film itself is gripping and boasts one of the
bravest endings I have even seen. I loved
it.
Jacob
Hall's Comment
N/A
