The Blair Witch Project (1999)

I’ve never felt more ripped off by hype about a movie than I did over that one.

It was original at the time and kicked off a new genre of horror film.

I thought it was more interesting than scary upon the first viewing, it holds up over time & proves you can make a good movie without overblown special effects. I've watched young YouTubers react to it, they seem to love it or hate it.

I hated this film and the others in a similar style which it encouraged.

I thought very highly of it at the time of its release, and saw it many times more once it came to VHS. Though I still appreciate it, it's probably been more than fifteen years since I last watched it. Shaky handheld camera movements and Heather Donohue's histrionics, which I overlooked in the beginning, began to wear thin during repeated viewings. Mind you, I wouldn't change a thing; I don't mean to criticize it, and still think it's excellent.

The movie poster for the film has adorned the inside of my bedroom door since late 1999.

Stupid, did not live up to the hype

When I saw it in its original release, I really liked the concept and thought the movie was very well done and quite terrifying. But intellectually I could never fully accept the idea that one or another member of the group kept filming even when really horrifying things were happening, even at the very end. In my opinion, another "found footage" movie that handles this much more believably is CLOVERFIELD.

I'm just chuckled out loud. I went to a three-screen place near where I lived then to see The Sixth Sense again. It had already been out a few weeks and I saw it its first weekend of wide release. Unbeknownst to me, it was no longer at the cinema I went to. There was a stupid Julia Roberts movie playing along with something else I do not remember, so I bought a matinee ticket to The Blair Witch Project.

I had not heard anything about it before. There were "MISSING PERSON" flyers on the light pole outside the theater, and another few in the lobby. The theater was mostly empty. When the movie started, I put together the faces on screen with the missing person flyers outside. I was hooked. I sat rapt for the entirety of the film and left the theater agitated.

The film's story became entertainment news. And I felt stupid. Duped. And stupid.

It didn't live up to the hype, but the final scene with the guy in the corner still creeps me out and gives me nightmares.

I liked the Blair Bitch Project.

Loved it then and now. It's unsettling like 1963s The Haunting where you never actually see the source of terror.

Hated it then, hate it now. I think it's the worst film of the 1990s, and it's no surprise that no one associated with it has gone on to have any semblance of a career. Maybe Joshua Leonard in that he still acts, but usually in microbudget films.

It was one of the worst movies I ever sat through. It was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud throughout the movie.

I grew up a hundred miles or so away from where that film was supposed to be set, but PA/MD in that neck of the woods all looks the same. I did LOTS of hiking on trails in the back woods in south central PA (and some places where there weren't trails and I just wandered) and I had a mountain bike I dearly loved back when they were a big new thing in the early 90s, that I rode that around those areas as well. [Damn, I sure wish I still had my 30-something year-old body! But I digress.]

My point is, anyone who goes out in the woods -- day OR night -- should know that if you have no idea where you are and you find a creek, you [bold]follow[/bold] it! Sooner or later, you will come to a bridge, or a road, or a field full of cows, something! Maybe even a cabin or a house. You have something to follow now; you don't just wander aimlessly.

I did that exact same thing myself once when I was lost, and I eventually did find a road and a bridge (and a field full of cows). So it was all I could do to keep from screaming at the screen, "How dumb are you people? Follow the creek!"

Of course, I'm a lesbian -- and I was a Girl Scout. So your mileage may vary.

I’d have drowned that fat stupid chick in the river.

[quote]R13: Sooner or later, you will come to a bridge, or a road, or a field full of cows, something! Maybe even a cabin or a house.

The two then-survivors did just that, and came to a house, which is where the film ended.

I saw it in DC in a packed little movie theater (I don’t remember if we had megaplexes yet, so this was a theater with only 2 screens). After, we had to ride the metro back and then grab our bikes and ride back to my boyfriend’s. He lived in a run down old 2 story apartment where every room had two entrances and there was no real hallway, you just walked though rooms to get to other rooms.

Well as soon as we were inside, I bolted up the stairs and started racing through rooms until I got to the back of the apartment. Boyfriend was chasing behind me asking WTF I was doing. When I got to the last room, I stood in the corner facing the wall and when he finally caught up he just started yelling “Don’t do that! Don’t do that! That’s not funny! Stop doing that! STOP DOING THAT!!”

He was freaked out. I thought it was funny.

I found it harrowing in some way, like trying to drive while your two best friends had a vicious fight in the back seat. I knew it was all a spoof and was actually worn out and sick of it by the ending. Throwing the story of the serial killer/child murderer into the myth or legend sent it over the top with things I don't like to think about when I'm tired. And I was tired of this fucker long before it ended.

I loved it and it scared the shit out of me. I loved the immersive online "history" on the movie's website even more -- that sort of thing had not been done before, and was really successful in creating an entire believable mythology out of nothing.

I watched it again last year and it still freaked me out.

I used to go camping near Harper's Ferry WV and would drive through the Blairstown area in Western MD. Seeing the signs always made camping in the woods extra creepy.

Heather Donahue changed her name to Rei Hance a few years ago.

I loved it. I saw it opening weekend in NYC. Haven't seen it since but I could/should. The internet was still in early days. Even still, the idea was 'real' didn't really take. It was a novel concept with the rise of camcorders. It was scary because it was so raw compared to normal movies of the time. Again, we're years before YouTube and cell phones were only just becoming common. I liked that it relied on sounds, what a flashlight can capture. It honestly has a subtly to it. Very new for the time. There was an idea in this time period that film could be democratized.. it sounded more exciting then. The actual end game is more like...TikTok. It was so heavily made fun of and joked about but the original film was a bit of a revelation.

It got a lot of negative response because, I guess quite a few people found it unsatisfying? "nothing happens" or something? The end is so scary. For every person who liked it there was someone else saying... 'it's a horror movie, right. so where's the bad guy, where's the violence, where's the blood?'

Saw it at the Nuart in LA maybe about a week after it opened (or it could have been opening week when it was just playing in a couple cities). We went on a weekday to a matinee and it was totally sold out (and the Nuart is a big theater), so these were people who were film lovers who were excited to see "the next big thing" early on.

When it ended, there were scattered boos, and people just got up and left like they were trying to avoid a fart that had just been blown.

In the theater, R22, once the last scene played out and the credits abruptly rolled, a number of people within earshot said, "That's it?" "That can't be all!" and "What the fuck just happened?"

I brought a couple of friends to the viewing. One of them was so terrified she was in tears at the end, and when I asked why she was reacting that way, I was astonished to find that she thought it was real found footage, that it had really happened. Both I and her brother (the other friend) reassured her that it wasn't, in the hopes that it would relieve her emotional state, but she became even more upset, this time enraged, because she was embarrassed to have been caught believing it was real. She subsequently became dedicated to denouncing the film, because she felt 'betrayed' by it.

I think as a horror movie it was relatable. The unknown of getting lost in the woods resonates with some people and is scary even without the whole witch myth layered on. I get why some people may have been let down, but for me, it worked.

I had the same reaction as R13. I don’t remember the story (if there was one) that well, but I remember being baffled by the characters’ stupidity. I couldn’t figure out if it was part of the plot or what was going on. They weren’t deep in the woods. It made no sense.

I saw it the opening weekend with a bunch of friends and we were all freaked the fuck out. I got pissed hearing people say it was stupid and not scary. Not sure what they were expecting. After I saw it, I had to go to my dad’s house where I had to drive through about 10 miles of woods. I’d made that drive a million times before, but I was about shitting my pants the whole drive that night.

If I saw it for the first time now, I’d probably not be as scared. Well, other than THE FUCKING DUDE IN THE CORNER.

R27, I think a lot of the people who made fun of the movie or called it stupid and not scary were actually terrified by it but weren't able to admit it. I remember when I saw THE EXORCIST during its first run, there were some people in the audience very vocally making fun of it. Same situation, I'm sure.

[quote] [R27], I think a lot of the people who made fun of the movie or called it stupid and not scary were actually terrified by it but weren't able to admit it.

Yeah, no.

I remember this came out at about the same time as "Stir of Echoes". I saw them both, but was actually a little scared at this. The end scene, man. The end scene is fucking terrifying! This, however, started the shitty genre of "found footage" so I hated it for that.

[quote] I think as a horror movie it was relatable. The unknown of getting lost in the woods resonates with some people and is scary even without the whole witch myth layered on. I get why some people may have been let down, but for me, it worked.

I relate to this too. The characters were dealing with an environment that they didn't know that well and the witch myth added to it. I didn't see the Blair Witch Project in theaters. I saw a couple of times on cable in the early 2000s. Around 2012 or 2013, I went with my cousin to our aunt's cabin in the woods for a few days. Back then, they had a VCR hooked up to the TV and a collection of VHS movies that my aunt's kids and grandkids had left there. We came across a copy of The Blair Witch Project we decided to watch it the first night. Somehow watching out in a cabin in the woods was a bit creepy.

R28? I hope you weren't a psych major!

[quote]I remember this came out at about the same time as "Stir of Echoes". I saw them both, but was actually a little scared at this. The end scene, man. The end scene is fucking terrifying! This, however, started the shitty genre of "found footage" so I hated it for that.

If you thought the concept was so effective in BLAIR WITCH, then why do you label the whole genre of "found footage" movies as "shitty?" Have you seen CLOVERFIELD? I think it's excellent and, as I mentioned in another post, I think it's more believable than BLAIR WITCH as to why someone keeps filming even in the worst moments.

Amazing how some people here are ABSOLUTELY SURE that NONE of the people who saw BLAIR WITCH and labeled it "stupid" and "not scary" were actually terrified by it but embarrassed to admit it.

Also, I should have mentioned that I'm sure some people went into the movie determined to find it stupid and not scary, and of course, that would be a self-fulfilling prophecy. I remember that, at the screening I attended, some asshole was shining a laser pointer at the screen right from the beginning, until a few other people started yelling at him to stop. It's a good thing he did stop, because otherwise, I think they would have ripped his head off, which he would have deserved. Maybe that asshole was R29 or R32.

I think people who say they were "too stupid" because they couldn't find their way out of the woods are missing the fact that there was either a spell or some other supernatural element that ensured that they could not find their way out of the woods even if they followed the map, the stream, or whatever...

I don't remember all the details of the movie, but someone above said they DID follow a stream, and it led them to the house at the end of the movie. Can anyone confirm this?

Sure there was, R35.

One of the single most boring films I’ve ever seen—it was like being in Hell with Ithaca College film majors for two hours.

R38, if you honestly thought it was boring, I'm surprised you didn't relate to the terror those people would feel. As others have said, it's a very relatable horror film, because I would think most people can relate to the fear of being lost in the woods -- especially after very strange things start happening, and of course, considering the reason they're in the woods in the first place.

They had a $60k budget and each actor got paid $500. The shoot was epically grueling.

Children are scared by monsters, adults are scared by the unknown. This movie captures the fear of the unknown like few others. It’s also interesting to see how tensions in the team make things so much worse. Heather is kind of a bossy asshole and both guys are pretty touchy and immature, so they’re not getting along even before things go to shit.

On first viewing it really is quite scary.

R33 aka Cloverfield PR guy, no, I haven't seen it. Wait, is that the John Goodman one? I've heard good things. And yes, the genre is shit now, just like the paranormal bullshit. There really are no good scary movies anymore. I think "Frailty" was the last good one.

R35 Yes. I can't believe that somehow people completely miss that. Plus the bonus info on the website (or the fake documentary) implied that they traveled BACK IN TIME -- the archaeology students found their equipment under the foundation of the house.

R41, how ridiculous of you to call me a "Cloverfield PR guy" just because I really like the movie. And I really hate huge, sweeping generalizations like "the genre is shit now."

I grew up in the woods, NWCT was VERY underdeveloped when it came out, and honestly, trips to Dudleytown on Halloween made me much more scared about what other people were doing out in the woods, I couldn't appreciate the movie.

I remember watching it on HBO or one of the premium channels years after its release, and I really enjoyed it. I'd seem a doc about how the producers would manic the three actors and was intrigued, seemed better with that context.

Not the supernatural element but what sick idiots did out in the woods in the middle of the night, was relatable.

R44 - here, apologies for my mess of a reply seem=seen, manic= manipulate

I went and saw the movie without reading any of the hype around it, I just went in blind, and I really thought it was a real documentary. LOL.

It scared the shit out of me, at 28 years old. After it was over, the guy I was dating turned to me and laughed, telling me "You really believed all that shit?"

I used to love going for long walks in the woods, alone, until I saw Blair Witch. Even though I would stay on trails/paths, after Blair Witch, I decided that shit could go sideways pretty fast. So I stopped walking in the woods alone. That may sound silly to some of you, but I'm not taking any chances.

One of the best Halloween costumes I’ve ever seen was a guy who went as the guy in the corner from the movie. He even had a section of “the corner” strapped to himself. People were really freaked out. I’m probably not explaining it well..but it was cool. I guess it was the first Halloween after the movie came out.

R48 We decorated the trees in front of our first house with the Blair Witch stick figure things for Halloween 2001.

Hyped to the balls but delivered nothing. It was one of THE worst movies I’ve ever been forced to sit through.

R50, what the hell "forced" you to sit through it?

I though it was scary as fuck personally.

This still holds up. Best watched at midnight.

20 some years later and I have NEVER gotten over that dumbass kid that threw away their topo map. I'm with R13, just follow the creek downstream, eventually you'll cross a road or farmhouse.

I also NEVER got over that kid in Into the Wild that cashed out his savings and then set fire to the cash and his vehicle out in the desert. Stupid mother fucker, just leave the vehicle unlocked with cash inside on the streets of LA somewhere, at least someone would've made good use of it.

Dumb movie mother fuckers--it pisses me off. (And I hold a grudge and never forget)

Yeah that kid was real R54. Chris McCandless, I hated him too. What a shitty book idea for Krakauer, "Into thin Air" was so much better.

It was snot lovers paradise. The kid who eats his boogers in the beginning and the girls nose dripping like a faucet. Yuck.

Saw it over 20 years ago and it scared the fuck out of me. I should rewatch to see how it holds up.

A cultural milestone. Why is it the film makers and the actors were unable to translate the success of this project into Hollywood careers

My fucking Dad got up and walked out and sat in the car for the rest of the movie, leaving me alone in a dark basically empty theater during a horror movie. I was 12.

I liked it but the trailer actually scared me more than the movie. I remember seeing the trailer which was just a closeup of the girls face crying and hyperventilating and saying how sorry she was and I had NO idea what the movie was going to be about or anything, but it was disturbing.

I think I probably spent too much time reading about it in the days leading up to the release and found the fake website that was really just a promotional piece. I probably did a Whois lookup and saw it had been registered in the last month and the website confirmed that it was really just fiction. So I went in knowing it wasn’t real and that they had spent a lot of time trying to convince people it was, and I just wasn’t that scared. But like I said, I did like it. Just didn’t think it was that scary. And that was probably my own fault for reading too much about it in advance.

[quote] Why is it the film makers and the actors were unable to translate the success of this project into Hollywood careers

Because they weren't talented and the whole success of the movie was built on internet hype, the first of its kind to do so, and the boneheads who fell for it.

[quote] It was original at the time and kicked off a new genre of horror film.

Was it though?

I found the awful sequel, Blair Witch II: Book of Shadows, to be trashy fun.

I never saw how the guy in the corner was supposed to be scary. Was he possessed or what. I did enjoy the sequel with Jeffrey Donovan.

The Blair Warner Project

R64 I like the sequel too. People hated it because it wasn't found footage, but to be honest, how could they really do another found footage sequel? I thought the angle of that movie was interesting and it had a good twist ending. Plus, Jeffrey Donovan's bare ass, which was a snack and a half:

R24 You're about 50?

The fact that the main characters were clueless and unprepared didn't make it any less scary to me.

I thought it was totally over-hyped shit as none of the characters were that sympathetic to me. The sniveling girl wouldn’t shut the fuck up. Yes, non stop hysteria. I get it that they can’t actually see the danger, and it’s supposed to be so unsettling and creepy, but I just hoped they’d all die already. Good riddance.

Re “Cloverfield,” maybe my living in NYC helps me appreciate it more, but I loved all the destruction effects in downtown Manhattan, Brooklyn Bridge, subway journey, Central Park shots, collapsing buildings etc. —very suspenseful and I hoped one of them would survive, unscathed. Monster was a bit tacky though but truly a badass.

[quote]I think I probably spent too much time reading about it in the days leading up to the release and found the fake website that was really just a promotional piece. I probably did a Whois lookup and saw it had been registered in the last month and the website confirmed that it was really just fiction. So I went in knowing it wasn’t real and that they had spent a lot of time trying to convince people it was, and I just wasn’t that scared. But like I said, I did like it. Just didn’t think it was that scary. And that was probably my own fault for reading too much about it in advance.

I don't think they were actually trying to convince people it was real. That would have been impossible. But the website and all that was all part of pretending that it was real, sort of in the same way that the Christopher Guest mockumentaries pretend to be real.

[quote] I don't think they were actually trying to convince people it was real.

I dunno. My recollection (and it’s been a long time) was that they were trying very hard to make people think it was real. And a lot of folks were disappointed to find out it wasn’t.

They were trying to convince people it was real by hiding the cast out and putting out missing posters. There was a big campaign.

The film is a total rip-off of the superior “The Last Broadcast”.

R67 I saw it at the theater too, I'm 50. And?

And didn't "Cannibal Holocaust" start all the found footage movies?

By the time I saw it I already knew it wasn’t real. That became pretty well known early on after it started showing in theaters from what I remember.

I first read about it in Premier magazine at least 6 months (maybe even a year) before it came out, when it was presented as genuine found footage. I don’t think I’d ever been so excited for a horror movie. I was so disappointed to learn it wasn’t real, but people were raving about it regardless. I was disappointed as well that I just didn’t get into it at all. Not even the corner scene scared me.

Agreed with the comments about Heather's hysterics - she gets really annoying really fast. Granted she was the leader of the whole thing, but once she proved (very early on) what an idiot she was, it was hard to believe the guys would continue to listen to her for as long as they did. Put the scene after the camera guy disappears & they wake up in the dark to hear him screaming in pain was genuinely scary.

Even though the whole lost footage thing has been done to death at this point, you have to give the filmmakers credit for their ingenuity, including how they hyped the film via the internet, unlike the traditional promotional methods used at the time.

[quote]R73: The film is a total rip-off of the superior “The Last Broadcast”.

It's not superior. Have you actually seen 'The Last Broadcast'?

[quote]R67: You're about 50?

I'm 59. I was 34 when I saw BWP at the theater (it was released in January, months before my birthday in 1999). What does that have to do with anything?

[quote]R77: Agreed with the comments about Heather's hysterics - she gets really annoying really fast.

For me, it didn't; she seemed genuine, at least at the first viewing. Later, once I was rewatching it on VHS, it began to wear on me.

The best found footage horror is a Japanese film called Noroi

[quote] (it was released in January, months before my birthday in 1999).

It was released in July. It played Sundance in January.

Mmm, that better matches my memory of it, R80. While composing R78, I gave Wikipedia a quick glance (didn't notice the Sundance, or the July release) and thought it odd, I didn't recall seeing it in winter, but okay, whatever. My birthday is in July, so that would have been right when I turned 35.

Yeah I think it was a summer release, I just remember it was playing and "Stir of Echoes" was too, and I loved "Paint it Black" which was like the theme song for stir, so I was happy to see them both.

R1 nailed it.

Blair Witch is the sort of movie that has to be seen in a theater. All that dizzying camera work really gives you motion sickness and almost makes you as out of it as the participants. The effect is never the same watching it safely at home and it certainly heightens the tension and terror.

Fortunately someone woke me when it was over.

[quote]My recollection (and it’s been a long time) was that they were trying very hard to make people think it was real. And a lot of folks were disappointed to find out it wasn’t.

But how long could they have hoped to keep that up? Certainly, the truth must have come out as soon as the reviews by professional critics began to appear, which of course would have been right before or right after the film opened in theaters.

It grossed $250 million on a budget of less than a million.

I always need to slap someone's face after viewing it

"Blair Witch" from 2016 was a direct sequel and it wasn't bad at all.

R74 simply remarking the time goes so fast. I miss 1999

R90 Me too...sigh. I'm rewatching Blair Witch now, it's on paramount +.

Heather Donahue changed her name to Rei Hance and is a pot grower. She seems like a kooky gal.

R84 Cloverfield which is a shitty movie made people nauseous. I got bored with it.

[quote]Heather Donahue changed her name to Rei Hance and is a pot grower.

What the hell kind of a first name is that, and how are we supposed to pronounce it? Not that I would ever have any need to refer to this person....

R94, it's Japanese and pronounced "ray" and means.......beautiful. Since she's a Buddhist, that's the explanation.

They needed Aunt Clara

I thought it was scary and the acting realistic (except for the up-lit crying scene). The very ending while she’s chasing the guy into the basement was especially frightening me. I once got hopelessly lost in a gigantic maze, and when I finally saw a glimpse of a piece of clothing around a corner after being lost forever, I ran like hell and screamed at the person to wait for me.

I just finished my rewatch. Still scary! The acting is great, the two guys at least. Heather is incredibly annoying and I was rooting for her to die first. I just realized though, the final scene is a little confusing. They come to the house and Mike is running around looking for Josh, and Heather is screaming from off camera, so who is filming it? If it were Heather, the screams would be a lot closer.

R98 I believe they had multiple recording devices going...Mike was holding the camera with audio, Heather a 16mm camera without sound.

Thank you R99!

One moment really stuck out for me and it's not for horror reasons. It's towards the end where Heather gets a branch caught in her hair. Her strength, her ego, her confidence all stripped away. Suddenly, she was just a little girl again. Her reaction was something you might have seen on a grade school playground but it was totally realistic here.

Yes R101, for the most part they really did a great job in the anger, then sadness, then absolute defeat of the situation.

Oh another thing I never knew, what were the weird like giblet looking things she found? The bloody pieces of something that was on her pack, I think? That scene was great too, she's crying and trying to sound calm while she tells Mike she just needs to wash her hands really quick.

[quote]Oh another thing I never knew, what were the weird like giblet looking things she found?

R102, it was Josh's bloody teeth, parts of his gums, and his tongue.

Poorly made. We made better films in high school with a super 8 and a splicer.

R103 Damn! I didn't realize that! I knew it had to be something he could live without since we know he was still alive. Oh wow, that makes her acting in that scene even better. She was just barely hanging on.

I was reading an old Blair witch thread and someone summed up what was so scary about the end. The fact that a grown man would be put in the corner, and that he woud go along with it...that was the gut punch moment.

I know Heather grates on a lot of people's nerves in this film, but I honestly liked her even though she was not necessarily a likable character—her self-assuredness being slowly whittled down by degrees made for a good character arc, and I think she played it realistically. Honestly, all three performances struck me as very real and raw. You basically observe three people get psychologically stripped down to their cores, which, even irrespective of the supernatural elements, makes for a riveting watch.

R107 I thought the same of Josh, when he flips the camera on Heather, then starts pelting her with 'inspiration ' for the scene. The emotions felt genuine which is really where the movie excels.

[quote]R64: I never saw how the guy in the corner was supposed to be scary. Was he possessed or what.

During the interviews at the beginning of the film, there's important expository information having a later bearing. It's from the Rustin Parr story, starting about five minutes into the film.

"Finally, one day, old Mr. Parr come down into the market and said, "l'm finally finished.""

"And what did he mean by that?"

"I guess nobody knew at first, but the police finally went up on the mountain, and they searched his house, and they found the bodies of seven kids from the area. What he did is, he took the kids down into the basement by twos and he made one face into the corner."

"Really?"

"And then he would kill the other one. And then when he was done with that, he'd grab the one out of the corner and kill that one, too. And those were the seven kids that were missing.

And then they brought them out of the woods one at a time, and it just was a terrible thing. Just tore the whole community up.

Said in court that he couldn't take the eyes on him. He could... He could feel the eyes watching him. That's why he made them face into the corner like that."

If one had paid attention to that, then one would grasp what was going on at the end, with Mike standing in the corner, and Heather being clubbed from behind.

[quote]R105: Damn! I didn't realize that! I knew it had to be something he could live without since we know he was still alive.

What makes you think he was still alive? Heather and Mike seem to have held out hope, continuing to call his name even at the house, but it didn't seem reasonable to me - especially as we all went into this film knowing its tagline, that none of the three were ever found.

Do you think that Josh was the one who clubbed Heather?

Oh R109 I thought he was still alive because we can hear his "agonized shouts" (as my captions labeled it) We hear him as they are going back to the house to find him. I never thought he was the one who killed Heather but I'm sure some people do. I'm not saying he didn't, he may have. If so, then he screamed like that to lure them back, I guess.

It sounds like Heather Donahue has had a rough go in the last couple of decades—she was a suicidal alcoholic living out of motels and her car not too long ago. No doubt being the lead in a film like this would be forever life changing, and probably not in the greatest ways, especially if you weren't prepared for it. I remember she had a supporting role in the Harvey Weinstein vehicle "Boys and Girls" (co-starring with Claire Forlani and Freddie Prinze Jr.—oy vey) shortly after "The Blair Witch Project" came out. Her career never took off, and it seems she didn't want it enough anyway. These days she is a new age Buddhist hippie living in Maine, and I'm guessing she's probably happier for it.

[quote]R110: I thought he was still alive because we can hear his "agonized shouts" (as my captions labeled it)

I distrusted the sounds (i.e. children laughing, indistinct voices, Josh screaming) because it seemed to me that these were simply being parroted at them by whatever was in the woods. I did not believe that Josh could have survived being maimed in that manner; he would have bled out. Directionally, the woods also seemed to be messing with them (I agree with R35), since they kept coming to the stream, crossing it, then coming to it again, seemingly from the same direction, and crossing again. I initially flipped my lid when it was disclosed that Mike had thrown away the map (at the time, I thought I wanted to kill him and throw him in the stream), but later it didn't seem to much matter; the map would have been useless. Ultimately, when Heather and Mike come across the house, it's as if it had finished toying with them, and presented itself to them for the denouement.

Oh okay R112. I guess that's true, I knew the children laughing sounds were made by the witch, I didn't even think of the fact it could mimic Josh too. The map scene annoyed me because Heather was being so self righteous, "I knew exactly where we were!" No, no you didn't, it's easy to say that now that the map is lost, I thought they had gotten lost already with the map. But of course it was the witch messing with them. I know some people think that Josh and Mike were the killers and got her out there to murder her. I guess that's a valid scenario but I never bought into it.

[Quote] Poorly made. We made better films in high school with a super 8 and a splicer.

Yet they didn't make a dime I bet

I don't remember the details of the movie, since I haven't seen it since its initial release, but what possible difference could a map make to people who are lost in a woods? How can a woods be mapped? Probably would have made more sense for them to try to find their way out based on the position of the sun in the sky.

R115 They had a compass too so I guess at least they could use the map and compass together to get out of the woods or to the stream. But yeah, with no compass a map is useless in the woods.

But I still don't understand how one can "map" a woods. Are there actually maps of woods? Anyway, as I mentioned, they should have been able to tell from the position of the sun in the sky which ways were east, west, north and south, and I would think they should have been able to walk back in the direction from which they came just based on that knowledge alone. No?

Maybe the legend on the map would at least let them know how much further they had to go? Yeah, good question, I don't know how maps in the woods would work either, so I'll stay out of the woods.

I guess I’m one of the few that enjoy this movie. It actually really creeped me out. I like horror movies that let you use your imagination. You don’t have to show a bunch of blood and gore to terrify people.

Part of the problem for the characters was how ill-prepared. they were. That they were not experienced enough was one of the reasons they came to grief. It happens.

I don't know R120, they still had food and battery power. What did they not have that they should have? Remember, they were bewitched and fooled into walking in circles so really nothing could have helped them. Julian though? Yeah, that's another story.

[quote]R117: But I still don't understand how one can "map" a woods. Are there actually maps of woods?

What they brought with them was a topographical map, which showed elevations, dips, and ostensible landmarks (the road, the stream, Coffin Rock, etc). Theoretically, it could have been used with the compass to get their bearings and be able to leave. (It didn't seem to be working. See R35.) Then, when Josh and Heather weren't looking, Mike discarded the map in the stream.

[quote]Anyway, as I mentioned, they should have been able to tell from the position of the sun in the sky which ways were east, west, north and south, and I would think they should have been able to walk back in the direction from which they came just based on that knowledge alone. No?

They did that, walking steadily south, but kept crossing the same landmarks. Then they decided to try east.

It wasn't working.

Basically, they were screwed, and had been ever since sunset of the first day, when they encountered the stick sculptures.

[

Quote] What did they not have that they should have?

common sense

They should have called Dr Bombay.

[quote]They did that, walking steadily south, but kept crossing the same landmarks. Then they decided to try east.

Thanks for that. So then, the only explanation is that, as others have said, they were all under a spell and could not have found their way out of the woods even if they did everything right.

R125, yes! It wasn't about them being stupid and inexperienced, there was no way they were getting out of there.

R126 that was always my interpretation as well. They may have been inexpeirenced and ill-prepared, but the subtext as far as I always understood it was that the witch was manipulating time and space to terrorize them. There was no escaping—they were basically fucked from the second they left their car behind.

Although, honestly, that interpretation requires a total suspension of disbelief. I'm not sure how even a being with supernatural powers could "manipulate time and space" in such a way that, if the kids kept walking in one direction, they would keep finding themselves back at the same location. Of course, it's a terrifying thought, but quite impossible according to basic laws of nature and physics.

R128 that's the point, at least as I see it. I know there are ways of viewing the film from a "rational" point of view (i.e. three college kids get lost in the woods, their fear and desperation gets the better of them), but it always seemed to me that the supernatural forces were implicit and built into the story. There are too many elements that suggest that something was actually amok (the stick figures, the looping travel patterns that make no sense, the piles rocks outside the tent, Josh going missing and Heather finding his bloody teeth)—I suppose you could theorize that they were being fucked with by some twisted hillbillies, or that Josh and Mike had constructed an elaborate plot to terrorize and kill Heather in the woods (which some people have suggested), but the most reasonable (if you will) explanation is that the supernatural being at the subject of their documentary was what was hunting them.

Understood, R129. But what I'm saying is that, to me, it's believable that witches could set up those stick figures, pile rocks outside of the tent, even attack that kid and pull out his teeth, but hard to believe they could overpower the laws of physics to make the kids keep coming back to the same place when they have only been walking in one direction. I guess there are just limits to my ability to suspend disbelief.

The part with all the sticks in the trees, creeped me out.

R130, apparently...

[quote]R130: hard to believe they could overpower the laws of physics to make the kids keep coming back to the same place when they have only been walking in one direction.

No need to "overpower the laws of physics" need be implied. Just their 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 of reality - where they were, the direction they were walking, etc..

But the fundamental nature of reality changing isn't difficult for horror authors. Have you ever read '𝓝' by Stephen King? It's one of the stories in his fifth short story collection, 𝐽𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝐴𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑆𝑢𝑛𝑠𝑒𝑡 (2008).

[quote]I guess there are just limits to my ability to suspend disbelief.

What determines those limits, R130? Discomfort with the implications of what it would mean if that were possible? I mean, surely you're not the kind to pan a Dracula movie on the grounds that there's no such things as vampires, right? (Some people seem to break into pieces over 𝐿𝑒𝑡'𝑠 𝑆𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑐𝑎 𝑇𝑜 𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ, and whether Emily is a vampire, or the whole thing is only in Jessica's mind.) Film narratives, either implicitly or explicitly, set the ground rules for what's 'reality' in the context of the film. A viewer who wrestles with whether 'in-story reality' is reasonable seems bound and determined not to have a good time.

Ah, I forgot to include the link to the article on the Stephen King story:

I knew I'd stay freaked out by it so I persuaded the friend who saw it with me to go see the South Park movie after as a palate cleanser. I still woke up in the middle of the night, not so much terrified as intrigued by the infantilization of the characters as a commentary on Gen X anxieties.

[quote]What determines those limits, [R130]? Discomfort with the implications of what it would mean if that were possible? I mean, surely you're not the kind to pan a Dracula movie on the grounds that there's no such things as vampires, right? (Some people seem to break into pieces over 𝐿𝑒𝑡'𝑠 𝑆𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑐𝑎 𝑇𝑜 𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ, and whether Emily is a vampire, or the whole thing is only in Jessica's mind.) Film narratives, either implicitly or explicitly, set the ground rules for what's 'reality' in the context of the film. A viewer who wrestles with whether 'in-story reality' is reasonable seems bound and determined not to have a good time.

I see your point, but I have a different perspective. To me, if the witches could suspend the laws of physics -- OR if they could alter the kids' perception of reality so that they thought they were walking steadily in one direction when they were actually walking in circles -- then that makes it too easy to write a horror story (or film a horror movie), and ultimately less scary, because it means the kids never had a chance of getting out of woods and surviving. I think it's FAR more horrifying if they really did have a chance of getting out but failed to do so because they made some mistakes, largely because they were so terrified by things like the stick figures..

Of course I don't have a problem with DRACULA because I know there's no such thing as vampires. To my mind, that's a completely different thing from what I'm talking about here.

And no, I was not "determined to not have a good time" at THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. I've said above that I found the movie very disturbing and terrifying overall, despite whatever flaws I may perceive in it.