Michelle, take 2 non-drowsy Drammamine about an hour before the movie. Be sure to drink plenty of water, too–I find that I am more prone to nausea if I am even the slightest bit dehydrated. As a fellow motion-sickie, I find that works pretty well. (Does Drammamine help you at all, anyway?)
Or, if you want the super-potent stuff, ask your doc for the scopolomine patch. You have to put it on 24 hours prior to whatever you anticipate might make you sick, and you have to be careful not to actually touch the patch. If you do, wash your hands thoroughly 'cause if you touch your eyes after touching the patch, you’ll get double-vision. Probably a lot to go through just to see a movie, but you’ll have extra patches for other fun–I still have some patches I’m gonna use at Magic Mountain later this month. I’m gonna ride all the rides I was afraid of before…thoroughly test it out!
“Me fail English? That’s unpossible!”
“English? Who needs that? I’m never going to England.”
Yup. As an experienced wilderness hiker and camper I walked out of that movie thinking, “Never go camping with morons!”.
What I also found a little odd was that if I heard the weird sounds that they heard that second night I would have gotten busy fashioning some crude weapons. I may be a pacifist, but I’m not a fool.
Motion sickness? I was pretty nauseated during a lot of the movie, but I’m getting over a bladder infection, and I’d just eaten in a restaurant I’d never been to before, so I chalked it up to that. I really want to see it again-- I’ll try the Dramimine, and some Pepto-Bismal, plus a Coke. Did Pepto-Bismal and Coke when I got home, and felt fine-- well, not nauseated, anyway.
I found their lack of survival skills pretty believable, but I’m from Manhattan. I know people who stand under trees to take shelter during a storm. Hell, I’d probably be like that myself if I hadn’t gone to college in Indiana. I saw the movie with my friend Ben, who’s from Northern Indiana, and at one point he leans over and hisses “Follow the creek DOWNSTREAM. Morons.” Then he said he always takes a gun camping.
I was thinking I would have dumped the equipment too, but after I got to thinking more, and talking with some people at work, we thought about the psychological effect: as long as they maintain the pretense of their original purpose, they haven’t admitted defeat. In other words, they’re thinking, “If we were really in trouble, we’d leave the camera; therefore, if we don’t leave the camera, we’re not really in trouble.”
–Rowan
Shopping is still cheaper than therapy. --my Aunt Franny
Like Exorcist, The (1973) a generation ago, the opening of Blair Witch Project, The (1999) has been accompanied by reports of audience members rushing out of theaters, deathly sick. But today’s (Friday) Washington Post says that the primary cause of nausea may not be any on-screen horror, but the hand-held camera work. John Risey, a clinical audiologist at Tulane University Hospital in New Orleans, told the newspaper, “What happens is the camera and the brain mismatch message. … Because you are seated and you are still, your brain gets wrong information that you are in motion.” He indicated that the sensation would not be induced if the same film was viewed on a TV monitor.
The Compass: there’re different kinds of compasses, and given the kids lack of woods-savvy, chances are the only kind of compass they’d used before was the cheap kind with the arrow painted on the glass, and the dial or ball that floats in oil. You use it by turning it until the arrow points toward the direction you want to go.
What they bought, however, looked like one of the more expensive kind with the moving rim. These kind should always point North.
So there’s a good chance they used the compass incorrectly.
Also, if the person with the videocamera held the compass, the magnetic properties of the camera could have screwed up the compass.
–Rowan
Shopping is still cheaper than therapy. --my Aunt Franny
Speaking for those of us who are thoroughly unskilled in wilderness survival, I found their plight quite beleivable. Foolish and arrogant, but believable.
And when you factor in hunger, exhaustion, and overall terror, it seems plausible that they would wander ineffectively. Remember, those folks were not in a good state of mind towards the end of the movie.
– Greg
If they were being hunted and tormeted by a witch (altho it COULD have been psychopaths but I’m sticking with the witch theory), why is it so hard to believe that they were using the compass and/or following the stream and ended up back at the same place anyway? I don’t care how wilderness savvy you are, if there are witches after you, they’re probably going to win.
Of course, if you absolutely can’t buy the witch theory and you think it was some psychopaths after them, I could see how you would think they were such idiots. Of course, if supernatural powers weren’t involved, the psychos would have had to abduct Josh without disturbing the other two and knock Mike out and hang him in the corner before Heather ran down.
Damn, I’m starting to know what it feels like to be a hardcore Star Wars or Star Trek fan ;). Just call me a Blairian.
Just saw the movie today and thought it was a bit overhyped. I hate movies like The Haunting that try to scare us with fancy computer special effects, but this movie is way to the other extreme: it’s something I could have made. Maybe that’s it’s appeal.
It was a bit creepy, especially the scene where the protaganists are running away from their tents, and it is different.
I agree with the nausea thing. My poor fiancee had to struggle throughout the movie to keep from getting sick. I ate too much popcorn and SweetTarts, and my stomach was acting up. The constant camera motion was not helping.
I agree with the theory that we are not supposed to know what was in the bundle of sticks and what Mike was doing standing in the corner at the end. For once, the fictional director is not in control of his/her subjects. The movie is supposed to have the look that whoever discovered the footage edited it the best they could, but could not figure out the sequence as shown on the cameras at the end of the two character’s lives.
I do have some stupid questions though:
How can anyone be so stupid as to go South for 15 hours only to go in a circle?
Wouldn’t the FBI (in a real world) grab the film footage, figure out the area where these murders took place, and then comb the area with thousands of agents to find the bodies and gather evidence before these “fiimmakers” made this movie? Well, as the old saying goes, “It’s a movie!”
OK, apparently, I, like the witch, am invisible ;). So for the third time…it is true we don’t know if we’re dealing with a witch or psychopaths. I doubt the idea of the film was that it was psychopaths (please see my previous postings) stalking them. The other alternative is that they were in fact killed by a witch. A witch is supernatural. If there were such things as witches, wouldn’t it also be possible that a witch could a)mess with your compass/magnetic fields (they did have one and they were walking south) and send you in a circle or b)just pick you up and put you back at the place you started without you knowing it until you got there. When you’re up against a witch, the witch will probably win. There weren’t going to get out of the woods no matter what they did. The witch was just tormenting them and letting them spin their wheels, so to speak.
Well, yeah, if there was evidence. Supposedly, there was none to be found. Remember the story about Coffin Rock? The first search party who went to look for the missing little girl were found on Coffin Rock, disemboweled (sp?), by the second search party. The second search party left to get more help. When the second search party and the extra help came back, there wasn’t a trace of the slaughtered first party. Only the scent of death was in the air.
Laura, Drammamine does absolutely nothing for me. I might have to check out some prescription alternatives, but it seems a bit far to go just to be able to see a movie. Bermuda mentioned that the movie might not have the same effect on me if viewed on a TV monitor, but I don’t think that would be the case for me either. My father sent me a home video once and I couldn’t watch that either, it made me sick within minutes. I am surprised the earth’s rotation doesn’t make me ill.
Im deaf so I wont be able to watch it till it comes out on video captioned.
However, did any of you read about how they made it? It was mostly an improvised script, very very low budget [if anything], no big stars, etc. Very successful, though. Actors having to make up script as it comes along, dirctor [if you can call them that] playing jokes on the actors to get them to act special scenes, etc.
Not only that, but I’ve heard that almost all of the camera work was done by the actors. Does anybody know if its true that the cost of this film was recuped in its very first paid screening?
The directors said they made the movie for about the cost of a Ford Taurus. Other places, I’ve heard “$25,000”, “$100,000”, and anywhere in between. I’m thinking the movie itself cost about $25,000 to make and with publicity and marketing, it eventually hit about $100,000 for everything but I could be wrong about this. They sold it for $1 million to Artisan Entertainment. As of this weekend, it’s done about $33 million at the box office. It’s per screen intake has surpirsed the record which was previously set by “Star Wars-The Phantom Menace.”
>>They sold it for $1 million to Artisan Entertainment. As of this weekend, it’s done about $33 million at the box office.>>topolino
Just an update – and what’s $3 million between friends – but Exhibitor Relations has it at over $36 million through Sunday. And this is all before its truly wide release – on 2,000 more screens this coming weekend
>>Phantom Menace’s per screen intake was about $21,000 while Blair Witch’s was about $25,000. >>
Once again, the figures in for this past weekend put it at an amazing $26,528 per screen, which is a record
Me? Yes, but it’s been a week or so since I’ve been there. Why, is there something there you want me to look at in particular or are you just asking me/everyone?
More recently, I’ve been to Artisan’s website. They’re selling a plethora of Blair Witch stuff.
