discuss The Blair Witch Project

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
41

I liked it. It was different enough to keep my attention.

It didn’t frighten me, but it was kinda creepy in parts. (3 of them running from tent) (coming back to same log) (house scene)

I see where some of you have slammed the acting, but I thought the acting was rather realistic. If Heather was supposed to be an annoying bitch then she absolutely NAILED her part. I wanted to slap her. I thought the dialogue was realistic.

I didn’t get caught up in any of the hype, so I wasn’t disapointed by heightened expectations.

I watched it at a fairly deserted drive-in at 1:00 a.m., which added to the creepiness.

Contestant #3

42

I thought it sucked; possibly it’s because I’ve been hearing/reading about it on the internet for months and the movie has become a victim of its own hype.

To me, it just seemed like 90 minutes of three 20-something ignoramuses getting themselves lost in the woods and then spending the next 3-4 days getting more lost and screaming & cursing at each other for being lost in the woods. By the time Mike admitted to having thrown away the map (someone hand me an axe!), they all seemed like the characters in movies like “Halloween” who are there primarily to be stupid and get themselves killed for really dumb reasons (DON’T OPEN THAT DOOR!!!).

I’ve heard figures from $25000 to $60000 for what went into the film, and all I can wonder is, where did the money go? They wore their street clothes,& used Josh’s car; and aside from a couple of video cams, a 16 mm film camera, and a few hundred bucks in camping equipment, where was it?

And, what’s with the reluctance to light a fire? They’re lost in the woods, it’s freezing cold, at least two of them are smokers, and they don’t light a freaking fire? HINT: if you’re ever lost overnight in the woods, light a fire. The chances are excellent a forest ranger will see it from his/her watchtower and send a party to investigate. You also don’t go camping without letting someone know when to expect to hear from you again. And you damn sure don’t go camping without some sort of firearm for defense; feral dog packs are one of the ‘dirty little secrets’ of a lot of woodlands.

When the lights came up in the theater, the entire audience walked out in complete silence. Nuff said.

43

It wasn’t silent when we walked out of the theater. It was a collective piss and moan session about how stupid the movie was and how we all got ripped off. One guy hollared to the usher as the group walked past “Where is the line for refunds!”

Aside from some people on this board and ONE friend of my daughter, everyone I know who has seen this movie agrees with me that it was a total waste of 90 minutes and the price of a ticket.

As far as anti-hype, naw. I am the first to admit I loved Star Wars Episode One, including the hype and commercialization. Hype or no hype (actually, I hadn’t heard a lot about BWP before I saw it) it just basically sucked.

Speaking of rip offs, anyone read the story about the movie “The Last Documentary”? Seems TBWP wasn’t as unique as they made us believe. They ripped off the concept and storyline from the makers of the indie film “The Last Documentary”.

>^,^<
KITTEN

Coarse and violent nudity. Occasional language.

44

OpalCat:
You nailed it. I admit to being a horrible movie snob, didn’t see the Star Wars thing and have no desire to, am actively repelled by Hollywood blockbusterdom.

I went to BLAIR WITH in mid-July, on the second day of limited release here in NYC without realizing how much hype there’d been…bought a ticket over the phone with no problem, showed up at the Angelika and ran into hundreds of cranky people who couldn’t get tickets.

I just wanted to see it because I heard it was an independent horror film that actually went for subtlety, for heavens sake.

Very creepy. Loved it. Got motion sickness, though.

Uke

45

DIF:
It had rained. The kindling was wet, the deadwood was wet, and they probably didn’t bring any matches except the paper ones that the newsstand guy handed over with their smokes. No, these three were not mighty outdoorsmen.

That covers the first night. The next nights they DID build fires, then they decided not to because the spooky sounds came round only when they had had fires.

46

Some people just aren’t going to get it. What can ya do?

The talk in the lobby afterward seemed positive but I won’t presume to know what the entire theater thought from the opinions of a few loudmouths. We did walk out of the theater in silence. My friends and I were too stunned to speak for a few minutes.

It helps to know the basics of the story before you go in from visiting the websites. This isn’t just an isolated movie. The more you brush up on the story before you go in, the more you understand. I respect that.

47

I ask simply out of curiosity ONLY and not for debate purposes because, well basically, the movie doesn’t mean a whole lot to me.

But. . .

I am the queen of the B, the indies, and the bizarre-nobody-gets-it movies. You should see my huge, strange video collection. Most people don’t GET the movies I like, but as far as the BWP - GET WHAT? What is there to get? This isn’t a deep, thought provoking, weird-twist, hidden meanings, subplot, movie.

I can only speak of my experience at the theater where I saw the movie. It wasn’t a few loud mouths but more like a collective agreement between the group of about 30 people walking out of the theater.

[quote}It helps to know the basics of the story before you go in from visiting the websites. This isn’t just an isolated movie. The more you brush up on the story before you go in, the more you understand. I respect that.[/quote]

Since seeing the movie, I have read a lot about the plot, the town, the story, the making of the movie. I understand the premise behind the sticks and rocks, the slime, standing in the corner, etc., as well as real life trivia such as how the Welcome to Burkettsville sign was stollen a few days after the release of the movie.

Still. . .

The movie was not scary, it was not interesting, and it basically sucked.

I don’t pretend to be a professional film critic and I understand that everyone has their own taste, but my own personal opinion is that this movie could not have been any dumber. It wasn’t scary, it wasn’t creepy, and the frights were nothing more than lame cliches of stories we used to tell in girlscout camp (yawn) “Shhhhhhhhhhhhh, did you hear that?”

As I mentioned earlier - don’t take my word for it because we all obviously have different tastes, but if you want to see a quality spooker with an awesome ending, see The Sixth Sign. It puts the BWP to shame.

>^,^<
KITTEN

Coarse and violent nudity. Occasional language.

48

You guys never get me. I wasn’t offended by the language itself. I just found it repetitive and irritating. I mean when you see some movie where the dialogue is “What the fuck? Hey fuck you, you fuck!” that’s just obnoxious. Nobody really talks that way except maybe Quentin Tarentino. I loved South Park, BTW, because it makes fun of people who talk that way for the shock value or because they’re too dumb to know any better. If I was lost in the woods I wouldn’t be wasting my time showing off my cussing skills, I’d be trying to figure out how to get myself un-lost. For the record, what does someone’s age have to do with it? And how old are these people supposed to be? You keep referring to them as kids, but they look like adults to me. I seriously don’t think I’m much older than they are and don’t remember ever talking like Heather did. It just made me think she was stupid and wish she would’ve gotten killed first.

49

You didn’t think it was scary. I did (well, more creepy than scary). Apparently, I got it. Besides, I didn’t say you apparently don’t understand any movie ever made. You don’t understand this one. You said it yourself. I’m sure there are plenty of movies that you like that I think are pure trash because I don’t understand them.

IIRC, Heather is 24. Josh is 25. Mike is 26.

I stand by my statement. When you think you’re going to die in the woods, it would be a fine time to pull out those curse words. I’m no psychologist but I think a group of people in their situation would go through a phase of fighting and blaming each other. They eventually got over it and tried to, with somewhat defeated attitudes, work together.

50

I rarely swear. I find it silly.

But I do recall a couple of years back when I was putting up some &*^% blinds that seemed to defy my every &%^*&@ effort to get them &%^ installed! It was very %@!#* frustrating and I swore like &%@% crazy. A friend of mine that came in about 45 *%%#% minutes into the %@#-*&^@#*& operation actually fell to the floor and was laughing I was so #@&@# mad and he had never seen me like that before.

So … if I were in the woods and lost, hungry, cold and with a supernatural entity possibly chasing me (at best some local rednecks chasing me) with two people who were either giving me grief OR insisted on continuing to film their %^&#% documentary OR threw out the &$#%%&@ map I am sure I would find time to string together a few choice words for them.

I have to say though, I actually found a lot of the movie to be very funny. Actually the scene where Mike admits to kicking the map into the creek was hilarious and most of the people in the theatre were laughing including myself.

51

I thought that was hilarious too, Mike was my favorite. The rest of the theater was gasping in horror, though, leaving me to feel like the “bad guy” for finding humor in their fake predicament. Maybe if they all were cursing it wouldn’t have been so annoying, but it just seemed like Heather was being way over the top about it. Or maybe she just wasn’t good at it or something. I think I just didn’t like her and that’s the easiest thing to criticize.

52

We are in total agreement! I don’t get it! But please, tell me what I am not getting.

I thought the movie was crap. Not scary, not spooky, not creapy, nuthin. What did I miss?

Just to be fair, these are a few of my favorite movies. Feel free to bash away. :slight_smile:

Natural Born Killers
Boxing Helena
The Crying Game
Fargo
Pulp Fiction
Frankenhooker
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
Edward Scissorhands
Shallow Grave
Trainspotting
Deathrace 2000
Heavenly Creatures

I’ll spare you and end my list there.

>^,^<
KITTEN

Coarse and violent nudity. Occasional language.

53

Well, I don’t think I can explain it so that you appreciate it. I don’t think you can explain NBK and Fargo in a way that would make me appreciate them. Those, incidentally, are the only films on your list that I would classify as “utter garbage” but that’s just because there was something about them that just didn’t click with me.

I, however, very much enjoyed Crying Game, Pulp Fiction, Edward Scissorhands, Shallow Grave & Trainspotting (Ewan McGregor, awwww yeah!), and Heavenly Creatures. The other movies I either haven’t seen or saw so long ago that I was too young to understand (I saw “Frankenhooker” when I was about 10 and just remember being repulsed but unable to stop watching but, I also saw “Evil Dead 2” when I was about 10 and thought it was the dumbest thing I’d ever seen in my life. I didn’t understand the humor in it. I do now.)

The only other movies that I remember creeping me out as much as BWP would be “The Exorcist” (again, tho, I was about 12 when I saw it) and the original “The Vanishing” which I saw more recently.

Maybe you could try explaining what was so great about “The Thin Red Line” if you liked that one too :wink:

54

I will take a rough stab at explaining the movie, but explaining a movie is kind of like explaining a joke. If you don’t get it any kind of explanation is futile.

  1. By filming the movie from the character’s point-of-view (i.e. their very cameras) it helps sort of pull you in. It seems more real (see #2 below).

  2. Since the story is fictional but done in a manner which highly suggests that it is real it relies heavily on the audience to suspend its disbelief and make the assumption that you are watching documentary footage that ultimately leads to the death of three college kids. From #1 above, if this had of been filmed from an external viewer (3rd person) as opposed to the 1st person it would have hurt the feel of the movie.

  3. So, if you watch the movie as something real then you it is enjoyable to watch the character’s evolve as their doom becomes more obvious. Perhaps it is this that causes the feeling of scariness in some people.

  4. The movie generates a bit of introspectiveness. What would it be like to be lost in the woods with or without a witch chasing you?

  5. The character IMO are interesting and real (again IMO).

Keep in mind my first paragraph. An explanation of a movie is like an explanation of a joke.

55

Thanks Bernard -

Considering everything you said, I still think the movie was a boring, piece of crap. :slight_smile:

:::shrug:::

>^,^<
KITTEN

Coarse and violent nudity. Occasional language.

56

I think in order to truly like this movie, you have to be able to identify with the characters, hence why the college crowd really digs it.

I saw The Sixth Sense this week, and it’s also very spooky, just in a completely different way. I recommend it to anyone who likes to be freaked out.

57

Now you’re talking, girl :slight_smile: That was a spooky movie, not too scary, but spooky.

“Wanna see where my dad keeps his gun?”

eeeeek. . . .

I thought The Sixth Sense was great and the ending just blew me away.

>^,^<
KITTEN

Coarse and violent nudity. Occasional language.

58

I am with you Diane, I loved The Sixth Sense. Lots of spooky scenes. The kid was amazing, I thought he did a terrific job conveying pure terror and confusion. His latin was great, haha.

On the other hand, I was terribly dissapointed by Blair Witch - The Real World goes camping. I was excited about the idea of the movie, I just didn’t like the execution of it, not much terror as far as I was concerned. My strongest feeling was one of annoyance. “Do you have the map” “you had the map last” “No I fucking gave it back to you”
ugh…
I think what took away from the terror aspects, for me, was everytime anything scary was happening, they would be talking about and babbling the whole time, I never got a good chance to hear those “scary” noises, beacause they are talking about them so much.
Oh well, it was a really neat idea. I am a big fan of fake documentaries… mockumentaries, I suppose.
“Man with a Plan” is probably my favorite of recent years…

pat

59

There you go! The definition that I have been trying to put my finger on.

I too love mockumentaries, especially Spinal Tap. Blair Witch Project was a good thought, too bad they couldn’t pull it off.

Oh well. . . .

I agree with the acting skills of the boy in The Sixth Sense, he was amazing. Did you see him in Ally McBeal as the leukemia boy?

>^,^<
KITTEN

Coarse and violent nudity. Occasional language.

60

Saw it again today with another group of friends. There was no puking that I know of but a few chairs were covered with plastic bags so either a) someone puked on them previously or b) the theater, being both crappy and little, just puts bags over broken chairs instead of fixing them. The crowd reaction was much like it was the first time I saw it. At the very end of the movie, several people voiced a horrified, “Jesus!” and we all walked out in silence.

Now, since I went in there after seeing all the questions on this forum, I was able to look for the answers.

They agreed not to light a fire because they hadn’t the first night, due to the rain, and nothing happened. For the two following nights, the lit fires and heard all the noises in the forest. They figured that, if they didn’t light a fire, nothing would happen because whatever was following them wouldn’t be able to find them.

They did follow the creek for awhile. Heather says to Josh,“We’re following the creek and Mike seems happy with that.” Then they decide to just walk south and they used the compass to do that. Personally (and keep in mind that I know about as much about the woods as they did…not much. I ain’t gonna sleep with the snakes, rats, mosquitoes and ticks), that’s what I’d do. Creeks wind all over the place but south is south.

When, I was about 10 or 11, my friend and I got lost in the forest by my house. We followed a creek a few miles to a neighborhooding subdivision. We figured we’d follow the creek back home. When we went to find the creek, we ended up on a different fork of the creek because, unbeknownst to us, the creek split into several smaller creeks. We followed the creek until it started getting dark. Susan began shreiking and crying that she needed to get home and what were we going to do. I, on the other hand, began yelling at her,“Shut up! I can’t think with you screaming like that!” (being 10, I didn’t use the “f” word. I’m sure it would be sprinkled in there now) So we began the panicky fighting. I decided to switch directions and we walked away from the creek. Soon, we came across a house in the middle of nowhere. It looked abandoned but I went to the door. There was no doorbell but, in the middle of the yard, was an old school bell. I rang it in hopes that it would bring someone to the door. Fortunately, a friendly grandmotherly lady lived there. She let us call our parents and gave us 7Up. Both my friend and I had been told to stay out of the woods. I think she got grounded but my parents figured being lost was punishment enough for me. They were right. I didn’t go back there anymore. When I was old enough to go back there somewhat knowledgably, it was too late as the forest was eventually destoryed to make more subdivisions.