There are lots of people who argue that Scream was one of the most significant horror films to come out of the 1990s. Tosh. When it comes to picking the most significant, most original and most refreshing film to emerge from that decade The Blair Witch Project must be the leading contender for the crown. Perhaps I’m being a little biased here; Blair Witch was the first horror film that I’m conscious of being more than just a film and more a cultural phenomenon even BEFORE it was released in Britain. It seems to be on the wane now but it still happens that a horror film which tries to big itself up before its release styles itself as ‘Blair Witch meets…..’ in the way that Psyhco was used in the 1970s and The Ring is now (in this vein one can only marvel at a film which claimed to be ‘Psycho meets Blair Witch meets The Ring). Perhaps because of the voyeur element of the camcorder it has also spawned more soft-porn tributes than any other film I aware of– horror or not – with titles such as The Bare Wench Project (and the unforgettable Bare Wench 2: Book of Babes), The Erotic Witch Project and Witchbabe: The Erotic Witch Project 3.
When you get behind the hype though you’re left with a film of stunning simplicity and astonishing impact. Milking every last drop of potential out of the art of amateur film-making Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez use their meagre resources with a finesse and ease that puts some of recent efforts of the big studios to shame. They aren’t many people around who don’t know the basic story of Blair Witch; a group of friends head out into the woods to investigate a local myth, expedition goes wrong, noises at night etc. The film looks cheap and that’s the secret of its success. By making us think that we’re watching the recovered tapes of the lost expedition Myrick and Sanchez completely erode the barrier between the film and the viewer. By the end of the tale we’re completely taken into the world of Heather, Josh and Michael.
Much of the parodying of Blair Witch comes from the fact that, at times, the acting appears to be melodramatic (think of the scene where Heather is crying into the torch and again how many times you’ve seen it sent up); this misses the point though, and the fact that we view the ‘actors’ as real people adds a real sincerity to their plight. It’s impossible not to recognise in their spiral from cheerful optimism through to an elemental terror something very raw and very human. That our only contact with them is through a shaky camcorder adds to this sense of intimacy and again adds an all too real dimension to their doomed journey. Myrick and Sanchez’s decision to base their story entirely on the ‘amateur footage’ recovered from the woods of Burkittsville also allows them to be quite daring in their direction and pacing, with the need to slot every scene nicely after the preceding one dispensed with. This works very well, with short, snappy shots which at first seem innocuous belaying a hidden depth that dawns on the viewer later in the movie. Blair Witch, more than any other film, proves the effectiveness of the technique and it was to be hoped that more directors would have taken up the challenge of incorporating it into their movies, especially horrors.
It also means that the end, when it inevitably comes, is still something of a shock when viewed for the first time. I cannot speak highly enough of The Blair Witch Project. It’s the kind of movie that you’ll get most from the first time you watch it, lacking the depth and complexity to sustain long-term viewing. This is not to belittle the movie in any way, for in saying that it is one of the finest ‘shocker’ movies out there. It’s wonderfully refreshing when talented filmmakers turn out a product on their own backs which – however temporarily – completely crowds out other efforts and deservedly marks itself out as a unique experience.