Sunday, October 4, 2009

Spooky movies! The Blair Witch Project


Since it's the month of Halloween, I thought I might add a little spooky action to the ganza by featuring a few of my favorite scary movies. First off, The Blair Witch Project, released in 1999. It's the story of three collegiate documentarians who go into the woods of Burkettsville, Maryland to pursue the local myth of the Blair Witch. The three vanish, but a year later the film they shot is recovered in the woods. This found footage makes up the movie.
Now, this is one of those movies that people either love or find absolutely ineffectual. I fall into the love camp for several reasons. First of all, it was made for about a hundred grand, and ended up grossing over $250 million dollars at the box office alone. Not a bad return on an initial investment, eh? Talk about your profit margin. It was one of the movies, along with Pulp Fiction, to bring independent films back into the forefront.
It was also one of the first films to exploit internet advertisement and buzz. A mockumentary of the mockumentary (?) was posted on The Blair Witch website, presenting the film as an actual documentary, not a fictional film, and creating an entire background legend about the witch. I had a friend who refused to believe that the film was fictional until he finally saw the three principal actors on a television awards show, stating that they were not dead. My friend would just repeat, "Dude, no, it's on the internet. It's a real story." Now, that's great marketing.
But the real reason why I love this movie is this--the first time I saw it, this movie creeped the bejesus out of me. No big special effects, no big name actors, nothing but three people in the woods with handheld cameras. I've seen it countless times, and there are still scenes that spook me. I am not easily spooked, but this movie has that eerieness of ghost stories, that eerieness that is almost more mental or imagined than visual.
Yes, it's not a perfect movie, but it is spooky, and I do recommend it. If you get the DVD, it has all of the backstory as well, with the mockumentary (of the mockumentary), and the information about the faux legend. All together, it's a pretty entertaining little package of witchiness.
I think I'll throw the DVD in tonight while I'm making jewelry.
Boo. . .

7 comments:

  1. I love this movie, too! I have no friends who will watch horror movies with me, they have no guts...come to my house????

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  2. Man, I go through phases where I watch only horror movies. I love them. We should plan a movie night!

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  3. i love horror movies, one of my favourites is the changeling with George C Scott,

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  4. Eek! I saw it and it scared the heck out of me. Once was enough, but I do appreciate it for some of the same reasons. There is some new flick out that is similar. Oh I can't think of the name. Paranormal Activity, thank you google. I won't be watching it but maybe you will. I'll happily be gutless on this one. Eek!

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  5. oh god, that part at the end with the corner...!

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  6. Ok this movie got me,I thought it was freaking real ! Silly me.Very clever movie and scary.I never felt the same way about camping after this movie.

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