The Blair Witch Project Thread
 

I enjoyed it a lot after being very skeptical before seeing it. Thought it was well done and very creepy in parts. Haven't had a chance to watch it for a while because it actually scares the Mrs too much. She hates the woods anyway let alone after seeing that!

I though it was awful, I was bored and restless the whole time and just when it looked like it was going to be alright for a couple of minutes it suddenly ended.

I fell for the hype and wasted my time and money watching this shit.

:lol:

One for the 'no's'!

I don't think there's any in betweens with this.
It's the Marmite scenario.Love it,or hate it!

I remember going to see it at the cinema the night after watching a documentary revealing what a big hoax it all was. That kinda ruined it for me.

However, a few months later I watched it on video at a friend's sleepover. She lived in a cottage in the middle of nowhere. In that environment it was super-scary. It's kind of an "experience" film, I suppose. You have to be completely immersed in it in the right surroundings to truly enjoy it.

I actually do prefer the sequel... :blush:

I first saw it on video, on my own after avoiding it for a while because I wasn't that interested before and it worked well then. I think it would have been a different story at the cinema. It's definitely an environment movie.

It did start an unfortunate trend though. I'm totally sick of cam films.

Oh yeah, I can't even think how many time I've been off the beaten track since and seen piled-up stones too.

It's funny how some films depend so much on the environment in which you see them. Saw Buried at the weekend and, while I think it's one of the best films I've seen all year, I think it only works in a darkened cinema.

Unless of course you have the capacity to completely black out your living room!

I bought 'The Blair Witch Project' on DVD when it was first released in the US. It arrived the day it hit our cinemas so all the hype about it being genuine was still in full swing. I followed all the supposed events on it's official site. So I watched the documentary on the DVD first, 'Curse of the Blair Witch' which goes into the 'history' of the Blair Witch case and mythology and again, tries to convince everything is true. Although I didn't fall for any of it, I couldn't help but be drawn in. So, with the lights off and curtains closed, I sat down and watched it. In parts it was very creepy. But I am ashamed to say, especially as few films ever bother me, the final five minutes almost gave me a damn heart attack. I think once it was common knowledge it was fake and everybody knew about the ending, it lost it's magic. Though I still like it and think it was an extremely clever film built on marketing and hype. Although 'Cannibal Holocaust' did the "genuine footage" angle first and better, it still has a lot to answer for with all the 'cam-corder footage' films that have followed.

I agree Sarah. The first time I was aware of the movie was in the US. I was excited at being able to see The Phantom Menace a month before the UK, while I was in Everett, Washington. (My good mood would deteriorate after watching TPM). Just before TPM started, an odd teaser trailer came on for a film I hadn’t heard of, suggesting it was based on real events.
Eventually, I attended a special screening at the Barbican. Everyone that was there, wanted to be there, so the atmosphere was quite reverential and respectful, instead of taco chomping, crisp packet rustlers that you get in the average cinema.
For the most part I felt like I was watching a loud American girl whinging for 90 minutes and I asked myself why I was there watching this. It was the punchline ending that got me and the feeling afterwards, reflecting on what I had seen. I last saw it, on DVD, a year ago. That will be the last time I watch it, it doesn’t work at all after a number of repeated viewings.
What I liked most about the series, was the mythology behind it. I’ve seen all the “documentaries” focusing on the Blair Witch and the whole thing’s quite clever.
Is the Blu-Ray going to include the extended version that was touted a couple of years back?

I managed to ignore pretty much all the hype surrounding it at the time of release- Not that hard really as I was moving from Germany to Finland in '99 and had other things on my mind:p- so "Blair Witch" hit me unprepared and has become one of the genuinely scariest movies I know- then again the mere notion of having to spent a night in a forest in the middle of nowhere wuold be enough to turn me into a nervous wreck:nod:
It's a testament to the power of sound and suggestion and has only recently been rivaled by "Paranormal Activity" as far as the "reality"-angle's effectivity is concerned:)
And no, I don't think the "similarities" to "Cannibal Holocaust" are that striking in the end.;)

I will keep schtum on my opinions of the Paranormal Activity franchise.* :lol:

* or not;)

The BLAIR WITHC PROJECT in HD? Now that has got to be the greatest oxymoron in the history of cinema.

I think it’s vastly overrated. While I wouldn’t go as far as to write it off as “shit” like Inspector Tanzi, I’d agree that it failed to live up to the hype. If you overlook the gimmicky publicity all you’re really left with is a sub-par CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST wannabe, albeit it one without the gore and animal cruelty. It’s the hype and back story that’s of great significance and a reason why the film will continue to endure (for a while at least).
I’ve not seen the sequel and have still not seen PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, but fear that the latter will probably leave me as cold as BWP.

I don't think anybody is missing anything by not watching 'The Blair Witch Project 2: Book of Shadows.' It completely foregoes the cam-corder footage route but continues with the premise that the original was genuine footage. It is an absolutely awful film though, never heard about anybody liking it.
As for you not seeing 'Paranormal Activity,' if you didn't like 'Blair Witch' then you're probably better off staying away from it as I doubt whether you would like it. It's basically 'Blair Witch' but set in a house and with an opening/closing door and lights that turn on and off. Plus the same kind of "everything kicks in all in the last five minutes" kind of ending.

PA is slightly different to Blair Witch in that it reminds of those viral emails that went around that prompted the receiver to stare at some innocuous footage for a couple of minutes before a big screaming scary face popped up. What BW shares with PA is irritating, annoying characters. The only redeeming feature in PA is the lead actresses breasts which act more convincingly than she does and are far more obvious than anything the male lead can come up with.
In PA there's some rumbling that indicates "demonic" activity. Then a cup might move on a table. It scared many sensitive Americans judging from the trailer. There's a lot of footage that shows the woman standing watching her partner. Shocking stuff indeed.
The sequel to PA at least weaves the original into it, becoming a prequel/sequel.
In the biggest shock announcement so far this year, PA3 will be out next October:doh:

I saw the BWP on it's cinema release, it certainly had a special atmosphere, loads of kids sitting in front of me were smoking skunk!

I've enjoyed it more on repeat viewings whenever it is on telly. In parts it is very effective, the scene with all the fetishes hanging from the trees was great, as were the final 15 minutes or so. One grip, in the final scene when you see magic symbols painted on a wall, it's just a magical alphabet copied from a book and basically reads in translation, a b c d e f...z, pretty lazy stuff.

The squeal had me standing in the corner praying the witch would get me.

I think The Blair Witch Project is an extremely effective horror film that even now and after numerous viewings still leaves me slightly unnerved and unsettled when it suddenly finishes. The sequel is just dreadful and one of the very worst films I've ever paid to see at the cinema.

I thought BWP was woeful. If I'd realised that running around the woods at night with a camcorder could've netted me millions, I'd have done it first. :)

Seriously, though, for me the film fails in every way. They characters act stupidly (they throw away the map FFS - and then don't think to review the camcorder where they'd the filmed the bloody thing! D'oh!). It's a non-starter. It's not frightening, it's not scary. What are they actually afraid of? A witch we never see and patently doesn't exist except in their imaginations? No, couldn't get worked up over this one. It just bored me (and made me feel dizzy).

Just my opinion. Paranormal Activity is rubbish too. So there. :p

You pretty much summed up my own feelings on The Blair Witch Project there, Daemonia.An absolutely awful film imo, a load of overhyped nonsense that didn't even feature a witch.

It's not a great movie but you've clearly been watching a different version from some of us.

If I recall correctly, the idea of the movie was that we see an edited version of their tapes (could be wrong there). So, they might not have remembered recording the map. It's not like they were thinking straight; they were supposed to be cold, tired and hungry.
We don't see the thing but there's definitely a threat, that mimics one of them and then dispatches the rest. Of course it could have been the missing guy that carries that out.

The film begins with this piece of text:

http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/...5/PDVD_000.jpg

The film then goes straight into footage of Heather filming herself and talking about the project. I have no problems with how they lose the map and interact with each other as that is what would happen if you were tired and cold, lost in the woods and being spooked by some strange noises and effigies.

I thought it was extremely effective the first couple times I saw it in the theater. I remember my friends and I walking out afterward, in the dead heat of summer, and we all had goosebumps on our arms.

That said, it's not a film with a whole lot of "rewatch value". While I still like it, it loses more and more of its power each time I see it.

. . . although I did watch it on a portable DVD player with my nieces and nephews a few years ago, at 1:00 in the morning in the middle of the woods on a family camping trip.

That worked. :)

A ad for the mobile phone operator Three and the LG G4 handset

The LG G4 Phone Review (FULL MOVIE) - Three

Needless to say, the Advertising Standards Authority took a dim view of it

ASA Ruling on Hutchison 3G UK Ltd

Fascinating. It basically absolves parents of responsibility for what their young children watch on the Internet when unsupervised.

Watched again last week for the first time since it came out and it's still one of the creepiest films ever. It sadly paved the way for the whole found footage/camcorder type film though

Still remember a mate breathlessly asking if it "was real" after cycling down to mine after he had watched it :laugh:.
For me, The Last Broadcast was the better film. Until they ruined it with the ending that is. Whatever. I grew to like the sequel.

It is only a movie ..... ;)

Agree with D, the sequel is good. Nothing like the original and deeply flawed but still good.

Blair Witch from last year is horrible though.

I wasn't going to mention that one. :lol:

Agree with demoncrat on the last broadcast. As to Blair Witch, disappointing show from Wingard. Just seems like a cynical cash grab.

Sent from my PRA-LX1 using Tapatalk

Another fan of the first sequel, saw it at the cinema and apart from Marilyn Manson being on the soundtrack (never been a fan), I really enjoyed it and bought it on DVD straight away. As for Blair Witch, I lasted 30 minutes before switching it off, I’m just glad I watched it on Netflix instead of blind buying it!

In the film some of their expressions where real and not faked , due to the fact there was people following them and playing tricks on them which they didn't know that.
Eg at night time throwing stones at their tents or moving things about when they where asleep.