Three
students decide to shoot a documentary
close to Halloween in 1994 in the woods
of Burkittesville, Maryland which was
once a burial ground for witchcraft
called the Blair Witch.
They never came back and a year later the
students films and video were found in
the woods then was compiled into a movie.
What they found was truly shocking as
they find the students encountering
sounds and other terrifying events while
these three were stranded there.
They all ended up lost in the woods and
all go insanely paranoid especially when
they see strange events happening and
then one of them ends up missing and
knows that they will not survive there
either.
An excellent film
and truly creative. Of course it starts off with the three people meeting and greeting one another and starting to travel on their journey acting full of life and asking locals if they have heard of the Blair Witch which seems like that this is real and not fiction boggling many viewers who watched this flick.
While on their journey they leave their vehicle behind to start to walk into the woods to film their documentary which is impressive to the viewers thinking that this is a bad idea in which we all know that they will end up being lost and hungry later on. Still before that incident happens they are having fun videotaping everything which we all know that moment will change during the next day or two. Plus they are camping out in the cold overnight in the rain during close to Hallows Eve which totally gives you an uncomfortable feel.
Then at night there's noises that they film and try to call out while one of them is too scared to come out of their tent which really brings on some good horror in which you don't see this but hear it.
There's many great psychological feels to the story too when they go around in circles and not finding their way back with them fighting and getting vulgar which is really scary just thinking about yourself being stranded somewhere and slowly possibly dying with no food or anything. It blows your mind totally.
Then suddenly more sounds happening and they run through the woods trying to find what is causing that which is even more creepy cause yet you don't see what is going on and you can totally use your imagination.
But there's more as one of them ends up missing from their tent the next day as well as something left at their tent which is a terrifying surprise too. They also hear their missing partner with their project calling out at night but still can't find him which really gives you the chills big time and can give lots of people who are scared of horror movies nightmares too.
Bottom line is it's a perfect imaginative horror mocumentary which also
inspired many indie filmmakers to create
other flicks like this one. One of them is named FUBAR.
Half the viewers hated it as of course it
was all about the students with their
camera's filming the events but that's
what made it truly frightening too and it
seemed very real as well.
I loved the creepy noises in the woods as
it made the film extremely effective and
spine chilling.
Although some critics bombed this one the
film became an instant cult classic!
The acting is
believeable as you would think this film
was real but of course this was all acted
out.
Not only that it was improvised but these
three do a bloody good job at it.
Heather Donahue was by the the most
outrageous performer and is terrifically
intense. She also brings a nice liveliness to her part along with changing it to being temperamental and aggressive too. She was perfect crying on set too also making that believeable. Plus was great when she gets scared freaking out on the surroundings of what she's encountering.
Joshua Leonard brought out alot of great temperamental attitude as well as great sarcastic moments into his part showing a different personality to the rest in which he came across as someone you don't want to mess with when there's a problem. All in all he stands out greatly in his role showing off a ton of energy too.
Michael C. Williams shows a different type of attitude comapred to the first two which is a nice change in which he really brought on his fear incredibly well with everything that's surrounding him. He also knew on how to act incredibly insecure along with showing upsetting expressions which was nice too. He also showed a different type of anger which wasn't as intimidating but really showing a fearful aggression. All in all he was great like the others.
There is a one
extremely gory scene as Heather opens up
something that is dropped by her tent and
sees a piece of Josh's jaw but it isn't
very noticeable.
The directing is
terrific by both Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sanchez especially
with the scenes where the students hear
the noises but don't see anything which
makes it scarier.
There's some nice natural moments with Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard and Michael C. Williams shopping and videotaping another at their hotel as it looked fun to watch.
There's a good moment with the three of them having fun at a bonfire talking about Gilligans Island as their discussions looked very natural using their imagination.
There were nice shots of all three cast
members running in the woods at night to
find out where the sounds were coming
from as it was totally spooky as well as nice scared reactions on Williams not coming out of his tent as well as Donahue getting aggressive towards him which also looked quite energetic.
They do nice camera shots on the objects
being hung in the woods and reacting to them which seemed not too badly directed but a bit silly since reacting to objects shouldn't be overly reacted.
Heather Donahue did great at
tripping out when she realises what has
happened to their map as well as Williams laughing out loud telling them what he did to it which looked very good. Plus a great camera shot running in to him as well as a great aggressive moment on Leonard pushing him and really losing it.
Another effective moment was when
Leonard was videotaping Donahue and
pushing her buttons as she showed great
provoked expressions and was also great
crying on set too which looked very real.
Williams does well trying to act forceful towards Donahue by trying to snatch the camera away from her which was intense and intimidating.
There's many terrific fast camera shots with Donahue and Leonard running through the forest after hearing sounds which shows great adrenalline between the two of them while taping what's going on.
Both Michael C. Williams and Donahue do well crying out for Josh's name
when they try looking for him as well as
their panicking too.
I don't want to spoil the work but it was
mavellous direction and very
psychological with their actions at being
lost in the woods.
Tony Cora composed
the music for the opening and ending
credits as his music sounds similar to
the original Texas Chainsaw
Massacre as his is just as
creepy and effective.
Michael
Williams: What are some of your
favorite things to do?
Heather Donahue: Well, on Sundays
I used to like to go hiking, but now...
Heather
Donahue: How would we have, like,
just... made a campsite in the middle of
three piles of rocks, just by
coincidence?
Heather
Donahue: Mmmm. Marshmallows. Soft.
Michael
Williams: I could help you, but I'd
rather stand here and record.
Joshua
Leonard: Are you happy?
Heather Donahue: I'm not happy,
no. But the car's not far -- we're just
not going to be able to find it in the
dark.
Heather
Donahue: I tell you guys, two more
hours max.
Michael
Williams: I agreed to a scouted-out
project!
Joshua
Leonard: I gave you BACK the map,
Heather.
Heather Donahue: I gave you the
map.
Joshua Leonard: I gave you BACK...
THE MAP.
Heather
Donahue: How's east?
Michael Williams: East?
Heather Donahue: Yeah, we've been
going south all this time. How's east?
Michael Williams: Wicked Witch of
the West, Wicked Witch of the East. Which
one was bad?
Heather Donahue: Wicked Witch of
the West was the bad one.
Michael Williams: Then we should
go east.
[On
"Gilligan's Island."]
Joshua Leonard: There was no beer
on the island, man. If they had beer they
would have had, like, big-ass orgies.
Michael
Williams: What's with that slime on
your backpack?
Joshua Leonard: That's not slime,
it's just water. No wait, it is slime,
what the fuck?
Joshua
Leonard: I heard two noises coming
from two sperate areas of space over
there. One of them could have been a
deer, but the other one sounded like a
cackling.
Heather Donahue: No way!
Joshua Leonard: Yeah, it was like
a serious cackling.
Heather Donahue: See, my problem
is that I sleep like a fucking rock.
Michael Williams: If I heard a
cackling, I would have shit in my pants!
Joshua
Leonard: [Looking through
Heather's camera] It's not the same
on film is it? I mean, you know it's
real, but it's like looking through the
lens gives you some sort of protection
from what's on the other side.
[Why
the woods aren't big enough to get lost
in]
Heather Donahue: Because this is
America! We've exhausted all of our
natural resources!
Heather
Donahue: I want to avoid being
cheesy, here. I want to avoid any cheese.
Heather
Donahue: We have enough battery power
to run a small third world country here.
Heather
Donahue: Witches in days gone by were
roasted just like my Vienna sausage.
Josh
Leonard: I see why you like this
video camera so much.
Heather Donahue: You do?
Josh Leonard: It's not quite
reality. It's like a totally filtered
reality. It's like you can pretend
everything's not quite the way it is.
Josh
Leonard: OK, here's your motivation.
You're lost, you're angry in the woods,
and no one is here to help you. There's a
witch and she keeps leaving shit outside
your door. There's no one here to help
you! She left little trinkets, you took
one of them, she ran after us. There's no
one here to help you! We walked for 15
hours today, we ended up in the same
place! There's no one here to help you,
THAT'S your motivation! THAT'S YOUR
MOTIVATION!
Josh
Leonard: You gonna write us a happy
ending, Heather?
Michael
Williams: I found some cigarettes. I
found them all the way in the bottom of
my pack. We're still alive 'cause we're
smoking.
Heather
Donahue: I'm not allowed to smoke,
but Mike's allowed to fart as much as he
wants?
Josh Leonard: I gave Mike no fart
allowance.
[Josh
and Heather are talking about
"Gilligan's Island."]
Michael Williams: Let's not call
him "the Captain," you
illiterate TV people. It's "the
Skipper."
[On
the sounds in the night]
Michael Williams: They're people
fucking with our heads.
Heather Donahue: But no one knows
we're out here.
Michael Williams: Yeah, but have
you ever seen 'Deliverance'?
[Looking
at Mike's chest]
Heather Donahue: This is the first
time we've seen Mike's chest. It's like
blank, hairy, blank, hairy.
Michael Williams: You should see
my ass.
Heather
Donahue: Flames are licking you like
the devil there, Josh.
Heather
Donahue: How the HELL are ya this
morning?
Josh Leonard: Tired.
Michael
Williams: There's people out here
messing with us, and I'm not going to
play with that.
Heather Donahue: How do you know
it was people?
Michael Williams: Well, even if it
isn't, I'm not going to play with that,
either!
Josh
Leonard: What the hell is this blue
jelly shit all over my shit?
Heather
Donahue: I just want to apologize to
Josh's mom, and Mike's mom, and my mom. I
am so sorry! Because it was my fault. I
was the one who brought them here. I was
the one that said "keep going
south." I was the one who said that
we were not lost. It was my fault,
because it was my project. I am so
scared! I don't know what's out there. We
are going to die out here! I am so
scared!
Heather
Donahue: I'm scared to close my eyes.
I'm scared to open them. |
