The Blair Witch Project (1999) Film Review.

 Film Review: The Blair Witch Project (1999) 

Cast: Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, Michael C Williams.

Director: Eduardo Sanchez, Daniel Myrick 

Review 

The directors Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick bring a suspense-filled, horror film to the television for people all over the country to see. It uses real footage with no special effects. Its an extraordinary and effective film that gives off the naturalistic vibe for the audience. The main story line is about three students that get lost in the woods while filming a documentary. They hear and discover disturbing things along the way. Once days go by and they have realised that they have run out of food and cigarettes they all start to slowly lose their minds in the forest. The suspense in the film makes the audience believe that not knowing what is hunting them is scarier than them knowing that someone is chasing them, it makes the film unpredictable so it'll definitely draw more attention. 

We all learn from the title that the three students went into the forest to search for a legendary witch that they were researching for a project, A year later their footage was found. The way that it is filmed and structured helps the audience believe that its a real documentary. Throughout their time in the forest they are left unsettling objects, like rocks positioned in circles and handing stick mans made out of sticks. These objects create a more scarier and unsettling effect than just using special effects. It makes the audience think that it was created by the being that is haunting them in the woods.

The movie was filmed in the most realistic way possible. Every shot looks like its been taken hand in hand by a video camera recording in the forest, the film was shot during a cold season and this creates a dampening and unfriendly setting for the movie. The forest is seen as a dark and gloomy place to be surrounded by. With the three students harmlessly filming their projects while a lifeless being watches them from the darkness within. Each of the characters begin to struggle to keep it together, they fight verbally and physically with each other over how they are able to find their way back to the car and when they find out that Mike threw the map into the creek somewhere. They are lost and hungry with no way out. They decide to keep going south throughout their travels. But soon discover that they have been walking in circles the entire time. 

The Blair Witch Project is definitely worth a watch. It gives us all a reminder that we can't see really scares us the most. Any child would be able to tell you that the noise under their bed is scarier than what makes the noise under their bed. 

Sophie Durrant.