Saw The Blair Witch Project. The movie which inspired endless found-footage shakey-cam horror-stravaganzas. Largely it holds up. Having picked up a lot information about the film by osmosis, I can sort of see where the enforced method acting breaks down (they never really explain why they're constantly filming) and where a bit of direction would have come in handy, but this film is very, very committed to the concept which results in some warts-n-all realism. It sounds funny to be complaining about naturalism in a film about a witch, but there it is.
I was impressed by the lack of explanation about the witch. Possibly inhuman, possibly just a lunatic, we don't know. And we don't have jump-shot glances into the witch's face or any silly nonsense like that. I felt oddly comforted because, without music and mostly without direction, this film is necessarily jump-shot free. I'm glad about this because I really can't stand jump-shots. It requires no skill to make me jump at a loud noise. Far better is to inspire creeping dread, as this movie does. I also knew, unfortunately, that no real special effects were available to the filmmakers and that they were smart enough not to rely on creatures, so I knew this would be largely a psychological thriller, which sucks some of the danger out of it.
So not a terrifying film, even to a wimp like me, but well done, smart, and not cheap. The climax is sufficiently frightening and only feels anticlimactic, rather than insulting.
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