Overall Rating
  Awesome: 35.25%
Worth A Look: 14.5%
Average: 11.22%
Pretty Bad: 11.92%
Total Crap: 27.11%
30 reviews, 827 user ratings
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| Blair Witch Project, The |
by Scott Weinberg
"Feeling brave?"

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A shining (albeit inexpensive) light in the blackness that is The Dark Craphole of Hollywood glimmers. Real fans of movies have reason to rejoice: There's something on the horizon, and it's actually orginal and demands your attention. We can now all be broken up into 2 classes of human: Those who have seen it, and those who are wimps.An earlier reviewer who stated (and I'm paraphrasing here, call off the lawyers): "Pretend you're there with the characters and you'll love it." Boom. Suck on that, Gene Shalit. That one sentence sums it up and also makes you curious to see it.
I've noticed that there's already some bizarre backlash currently gestating. Forget all these critics, as this is one where you have to just decide for yourself. When the public slurps up the latest Batman Droppings, we are referred to as mindless sheep who wouldn't know a good movie if it peed on their bare feet. Then comes a quality independent movie that is rapidly gaining staggering word-of-mouth, and what's the beef now? "Awww, these people will buy anything, it doesn't even seem real, it's too well edited, it's ripped off from some online movie that nobody's ever even seen, etc." There's just no pleasing some people.
This film may reignite your love for movies. You might want to shake the hands of the filmmakers for treating you like a sentient life form, instead of a wallet that likes popcorn. It's a horror movie for people who don't mind using their imaginations. Simply put, this movie will hit you like lightning. I'm a (somewhat) well-adjusted man and guess what? I will NEVER sleep in a tent again. Seriously.
When I was a kid who loved scary movies, I was always able to distance myself through some strange twist of logic. Here's an example: The Exorcist is a damn scary movie, right? Well, after I saw it at 11 years old, I used to retain certain visions from the movie in my mental recycling bin. 35 seconds after I layed down to bed, that recycling bin emptied all over my unhappy conscious. The solution? Well, since the source of the horror in The Exorcist originated from a small girl, of course I was safe, as I was a boy! (I also incorporated the small hope that Satan would never possess a boy studying for his Bar Mitzvah, anyway.) I used this technique to prevent me from ever retaining residual fear from a horror movie. Worried about Dad chopping me up in my sleep? No problem, as I was nowhere near any hotels. Creepy noises outside? Well, I was nowhere near a summer camp and Halloween was 7 months away. I think you get the picture.
The point to the above story? I had no logical way to distance myself from The Blair Witch Project, and I'm 27 now!!! I'm only grateful I didn't see it when I was younger. I'd probably run screaming from every tree I ever saw. See it in a packed theater, and after the lights go up, observe.Like scary movies? Well, wipe that smirk off your face and ask your girlfriend to cut her nails, because if this one doesn't scare you, you're alllll outta scared. Don't listen to the commercialism crap or the bandwagon Witch-bashers. It's simply an original and effective horror movie, all other bullshit aside.
link directly to this review at http://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=1713&reviewer=128 originally posted: 07/17/99 10:39:34
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USA 16-Jul-1999 (R) DVD: 13-Mar-2001
UK 22-Oct-1999 (15)
Australia 09-Dec-1999 (M)
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