The Blair Witch Project (1999) – A Movie A Day 2021 #37
The Blair Witch Project (1999) – A Movie A Day 2021 #37
It was kind of a rough day, so I decided to pick a movie to watch that I knew I’d love. Something of a comfort movie. I have a lot of standbys that I go to depending on my mood, but I decided to pick an older favorite I hadn’t seen in a long time but had randomly been on my mind recently. Today’s movie of the day is The Blair Witch Project, a movie that I consider to be one of the best of its breed.
Most of you reading this probably already know what The Blair Witch Project is about, but I’ll go ahead and recap it just in case. The movie is framed as actual film and video footage found deep in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland. The footage was supposedly shot by three film students, Heather, Josh, and Mike, as they were gathering footage for a documentary about a local legend, the Blair Witch. The trio went missing during their trip into the woods and were never found, and the footage we see in the movie is supposed to show us their final days before becoming a part of the legend they were there to investigate.
One of the reasons The Blair Witch gives me such good feelings undoubtedly has to with with the fact that I experienced the amazing marketing buildup to the movie as it was happening. I discovered the existence of the movie not by seeing a traditional movie poster, but by coming across a “missing” flyer hanging up at a small independent theater. I was intrigued. There was also a web site created for the movie (which is still online!) that has images from the movie plus tons of “evidence” and extra videos portrayed as real-life interviews and news footage about the missing students. Even though I knew it was just a movie, the length the filmmakers went to allow viewers to suspend their disbelief is admirable. So before I even saw the movie, I was already invested in the characters and the story in a big way.
The other big reason The Blair Witch Project gives me such good feelings is because I remember what it felt like seeing it in a theater for the first time. It was such a unique experience in a lot of ways. For one thing, it had to be the first time I’d seen a movie in the 4:3 aspect ratio in a theater, and that helped add to the realness of the experience. Also, the quality of the footage was all over the place which, again, adds to the realness and the uniqueness of the theatrical experience. Shots were out of focus and fuzzy, big moments often happened off screen, and the ever-present “shaky cam” that I know so many people dislike all worked wonders on me. I was enthralled from beginning to end. I was so excited after leaving the theater because it was such a new and fun experience.
I know a lot of people look down on found footage for various reasons, and I get it (mostly), but when its done right, it can be fantastic. For my tastes, The Blair Witch Project is done right, and that starts with how it was made. Now, I’m not trying to write an essay on The Blair Witch Project or found footage movies in general, but here’s a brief explanation of why the movie works so well for me. As I understand it, all of the footage was shot by the three main actors as they spent a few days and nights effectively isolated in the woods. They were given drop boxes with clues on where to go next and secret guidelines for how their characters should react in certain situations, but otherwise they were left on their own to shoot footage and improvise the scenes. Crew members were kept hidden from the actors during the day, and the crew would increasingly harass the actors at night as the Blair Witch got closer and closer. It sounds like an excruciating ordeal, but it made for a movie that feels more realistic than most other found footage films.
One of my biggest pet peeves about found footage is when the action is too perfect on screen. Like when the camera pans over at just the right moment to perfectly frame some big action or line of dialogue. Or when it seems clear that scenes were done repeatedly because of cuts between shots that are supposed to be in the same moment, yet the footage feels disconnected within the space of where the characters are. I get why most movies do that, filmmakers want important moments to feel important, but it makes it feel less real to me. Important moments are missed all the time in real life, and people panicking are going to miss more than they see. Stuff is missed all the time in The Blair Witch Project, and not seeing what’s in the woods yet hearing the panic in the voices of the actors as they flail around with their cameras is far scarier in my opinion. That said, if you get motion sickness from shaky cam, maybe skip this movie.
I could go on about why I love The Blair Witch Project so much, but in the end it really all comes down to the fact that I think it’s a well-made movie that does exactly what it sets out to do. It feels real for the most part, and I love the gradual buildup to the final few scenes. I’ve seen a bunch of found footage movies over the years, many I enjoyed and many not so much, but The Blair Witch Project will always be in the upper echelon of the format.