Blairwitch Project

Growing really does influence your perspective of the world. The first time I saw the Blairwitch Project, I was utterly terrified. Being 12 doesn't help, and watching in the dark late at time neither. Today, having thankfully grown up, I had the opportunity of watching it again. The dissapointment was to the height of my expectations. I remember when I started to re-watch the Disney classics, and being so thrilled at seeing them again with a different eye, one trained to see animation, story and plot. Even though some parts where different from what I remembered, new ones opened up for my own pleasure.

This did not happen with the Blairwitch Project. A constant strain on the eye, some annoying acting (even if it was meant to be that way) and the most disappointing story line has not helped this film really born out of an impressive ad campaign and the thrilling peer pressure found in the school yards. The incredible buzz is what helped this film more than anything. Though I was thoroughly disappointed, one must look at this film objectively. The film itself might not please anyone, but its design, added to the ad campaign was extremely effective. It was the perfect way for a film like this to succeed.

When you learn that some people actually thought this to be true, the shock is quit important. An hyper-realistic documentary justifying the whole thing truly set some minds on a weird path to witchcraft and more esoteric rituals. Turning a folk story into a real story required some important thinking, something masterfully hidden in the film. From the beginning you get the feeling that you are actually following something that really happened.

This impression is sadly lost in some moments when you really get the impression that the actors are reading a script. Their constant want to keep filming is also a bit odd, yet it is in the end essential to the success of the film.

Time Out London affirm that it stays with you: the film issues a kind of shadow horror that only comes into play later, at night, when you want to forget it.”(Time Out London: 2009). This might be true for some teenagers in search of interesting sensations, but one always reaches a point when you are simply not affected by it.

The use of a portable camera was a first. This is the main reason for the success of the film. Its indomitable will to keep to this format gets in the way of the story at some points, yet the whole illusion would be lost if we had had some aerials view, or simply some more classic cinema shots. In the end it is a successful film in the box office and in its originality. It is a pioneer and that's it. Had it been made after another of the same type, I can assure everyone it would have been a flop.

Bibliography:

- London Time Out: http://www.timeout.comPublish Post/film/reviews/67979/the_blair_witch_project.html