Xiibaro Reviews: The Blair Witch Project, The Curse of the Blair Witch, The Blair Witch Project (screener version)

The Blair Witch Project

(Dir: Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, Starring Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard)

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BY: DAVID PERRY

After waiting very patiently for months now, I have finally seen the second most anticipated film of the Summer for me. I've gone beyond temptation of watching my screener before getting the theatrical experience, I've stood the test of muting and turning my head at every TV commercial (they can't help but give something away when the film is only 85 minutes long), I've even listened to the incessant talk about the film from my friends that have seen the film. All that for The Blair Witch Project. Was it worth it? Probably not, but hey, it was still a good film. But, alas, it was not great.

The film is the fake footage found after the fictional (yes, fictional) disappearance of three documentarians in the deep forests of Maryland for a documentary on the Blair Witch that has haunted the area for two hundred years. The film is more or less the beginning of what seems to be a nice school project for the students leading to the terrifying ordeal of being lost in the woods, all being seen from the lenses of the two cameras they brought to record the film. The project is the brain child of Heather (all actors use their real names in the film) who wants desperately to make the film. Along the way are cameraman Josh and sound guy Mike. Early on in the film we learn the story of the Blair Witch from locals of Burkittsville (formerly Blair), Maryland interviewed by Heather including two that are rather spooky that serve quite important to the rest of their trek through the wilderness.

The Blair Witch Project is not a perfect film in any way. The film seems repetitive and the performances seem pushed (more so Mike and Josh than Heather). Still I quite liked the film. Sure it was not really scary until the last ten minutes, but the whole film did hold a spooky demeanor. This is no The Exorcist or Psycho. It really goes more into my category of horror films that are so well directed that you really cannot get scared like The Shining. The film is exciting at times and somewhat exhilarating in the outset, but still leaves a bit of a bad taste in the mouth. The directors fill the film with exposition that is clearly mixed in with red herrings to where the film is going.

Maybe I would have loved the film if I had seen it before I had a chance to get hyped and it was unknown to me. All the same, the ending is easily the best ending of the year so far (yes I'm saying that the ending here is better than Eyes Wide Shut, though it is a little close).

The Curse of the Blair Witch

(Dir: Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, Starring Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard)

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BY: DAVID PERRY

Well I saw The Blair Witch Project almost completely clean of prior knowledge. All I had seen of the film was the opening shot and the snippet shown as the theatrical trailer, nothing more. I had not seen a single television trailer thanks to the invention of the mute button on a TV remote control and I had not read a single review ahead of time in fear of spoilers (don't worry, my review is spoiler free). All I knew was that it was getting good reviews and the rest of my hype relied on psychological thoughts of how great and scary it might be (plus a few visits to the ultra-frightening Deliverance Land helped).

So when the a little fake documentary on the whole Blair Witch myth was made by The Blair Witch Project's directors, I wanted dearly to see it, but I had promised myself to steer far away from anything that might give anything in the least away. That little documentary was titled The Curse of the Blair Witch and aired on the US's Sci-Fi Channel and Canada's The Space Channel. An hour long, it features many people that were involved in the whole myth and the disappearance of the three filmmakers. Ranging from one of the people on the search party to a somewhat cynical professor to the teacher that okayed the project. They all have something to say and most of what they say is rather spooky.

I actually enjoyed this little film. It was smart and a great precursor to the film, though I would recommend waiting to see it after seeing the film. Some of it is rather hilarious like the scenes of memories of Mike as a child, and other parts are chilling like the artist recreations of some of the Blair Witch's history (I especially liked the drawing of the witch looking like DaVinci's sketch of the Human Figure). I think that I was more enthralled with the film afterwards thanks to this documentary that out many of the stories told in the film into a larger light. I've seen many behind the scenes and making of... specials over the years, but The Curse of the Blair Witch is the best yet.

The Blair Witch Project (Screener Version)

(Dir: Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, Starring Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard)

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BY: DAVID PERRY

The thing that I find interesting is that even though I thought that The Blair Witch Project could have been a little better, I'm sure that my opinion would be even more so on the Haxan screener copy that was sent to me. This is the copy of the film that Artisan sent out to theatres and critics to get a hype generated before the general release. It is also the version that was seen at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. At the festival, Blair Witch lost to Three Seasons for the three top prizes (the fact that Three Seasons won the top three was a big suprise), an occurrence I think would not have happened had they seen the version that was shown in theatres.

Of course one must keep in mind that this opinion is completely from someone that first saw the film in its theatrical version, people have a tendency of liking what they see first over other versions of things. For example, I would much rather watch the original cut of Wolfgang Petersen's Das Boot, then the recent director's cut. My feelings are that there is a lack of a dramatic structure in the second cut and makes the film seem to lag on, a feeling I also found in the screener version of The Blair Witch Project.

This version has more differences than one would imagine. Though little is changed in the over all length of the film, the things that are cut out from this version are understandable, while the things present in the theatrical but not in the original are unbelievable. While I shall do my best to keep from giving anything away, there are many places in the screener version that are different from what I saw in the theatre. One difference is in the fact that there is a different pacing of scenes. When one scene would take five minutes in the theatre, that same scene in the screener would be shoddily cut down to three. This gave the characters less feeling and believability as they seemed one dimensional (I'm guessing that those critics that bombasted the film over really bad performances saw this cut). The two biggest and most annoying differences are found in the ending, or at least important for the ending. The actual last shot is tinkered with slightly, making the finale less enthralling and much more boring. Also there is a story early in the theatrical version that is very important to the ending, in the screener, that part of the story is cut out. This leaves the audience with a feeling of "what was that?" and "that was stupid", doubtfully the effect the directors were going for (in comparing it to 2001: A Space Odyssey's weird ending, it's like getting to the end without the film ever mentioning or showing the monolith).

The screener version lacks any workable narrative structure as it shows a nice novice attempt at filmmaking. On the other hand, the theatrical version is more believable and better crafted. While it still does deliver a good film and a nice ending, the Haxan screener version is only half as successful.