Film
Horror in the Caves: The Blair Witch Project
- Director
- Eduardo Sanchez, Daniel Myrick
- Certificate
- 15
- Running Time
- 78 mins
The much-hyped no-budget horror hit of 1999 returns to celebrate its 20th anniversary. The opening caption reveals that on October 21, 1994, students Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard and Michael Williams hiked off into Maryland’s Black Hills forest to shoot a documentary about the local legend of the Blair Witch. They were never heard of again. But one year later, their footage was found and reassembled to make a film of their five-day journey. From the outset, this wonky ‘mockumentary’ comprises video diary-style footage as the trio prepare for their journey and interview various grizzled locals about the legend, cleverly disclosing just enough gruesome information to set the scene for what happens out in the woods.
Alas, all too often you find yourself applauding what the film represents – the triumph of imaginative, low-budget film-making over committee-style corporate trash – rather than what it actually achieves. The characters are thin, their disintegrating relationship predictable, and pushy Heather in particular is hugely annoying. Also somewhat hard to swallow is the central conceit that they’d keep the cameras rolling even while going to their doom. That said, the ending is terrific and there are some remarkably unsettling moments for a cheapo production that shows you absolutely nothing apart from a few sticks and piles of stones – plus a teeny splodge of gore – relying on spookiness in semi-darkness and creepy noises in the distance for its effect.
It’s back on screen in spooky old Redcliffe Caves as part of Bristol Film Festival‘s ever-popular Halloween week Horror in the Caves season. Go here for ticket information.
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