****
Cast: Heather Donohue, Josh Leonard, Michael Williams
Directors: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sanchez
Opens: From Thursday December 9, Village and Hoyts cinemas
Review: Russell Baillie
If the mark of a good horror film is its ability to frighten you with what you can't see, then The Blair Witch Project is a modern classic
of the genre.
Because you can't see a lot throughout its unnerving 80s minutes. No gore, no special-effects, just three unhappy campers with handheld cameras, lots of forest and a few stick figures is the sum total of its no-budget box of tricks.
That doesn't stop it being electrifying. And if you think the tailwind of hype about its guerrilla production methods and Net-generated buzz may somehow set it up for a fall, consider this: the preview I attended was a Hallowe'en night lets-spook-the-critics affair involving a bus with blacked-out windows, a night walk in the woods, and someone from the ad agency trying to spin the tired line that it's - whooo - a true story.
After that tedious opening act, the movie itself would have to be really something to impress those already driven cynical.
It is. Spine-tinglingly so. And that's as much to do with watching the frisson of the relationships between the trio on a mission to make a documentary about the legend of the Blair Witch as its what-the-hell-was-that? factor.
Having had a preliminary encounter with the good folk of Burkittsville, Maryland, the threesome of brittle director Heather, gruff soundman Michael and slacker cameraman Josh get themselves lost in the woods, harassed by unseen forces at night and driven to psychological breakdown.
Adding to the film's unsettling rhythms is the DIY camerawork, which, of course, you have to believe captured even the bitterest arguments between the trio (and had the battery power and film/video stock to do so).
The improvised dialogue isn't the tightest at times (would you just forget about the damn map already?), but it does have its brilliantly black moments : "Are you going to write us a happy ending?" snarls Mike at Heather as their panic rises.
It's not giving a lot away to say that no, she doesn't.
But it's a stunning one all the same, all part of The Blair Witch Project's great mind game - it drops a few hints, your brain does the rest.
So yes, finally a horror film that is as intelligent as you are.
