Running time: 80 minutes
Starring: Heather Donahue, Michael Williams, Joshua Leonard
Rating 9 out of 10
Chances are you already know more than is good for you about The Blair Witch Project, the pseudo-camcorder scare-monger made on a budget of tuppence ha'penny that's currently riding a greenback wave of notoriety for being so frightening that people throw up.
And the facts are, indeed, fascinating: a heavily-prepped but astonishing, eight day, real-time shoot; an original budget of less than 50,000 dollars; a film never really intended for theatrical release; a groundswell of Internet popularity; a wild-fire success that has left directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez so rich they wouldn't ever actually need to work again.
All of which rightly makes this project remarkable, whatever the quality of the finished article.
But, taken purely as an example of cinematic entertainment - which, divested of all hype and hoopla, it simply is, after all - what exactly is the quality of the finished article?
Well, at first, not great. Filmed entirely by the two cameras you actually see on film, the jerky, hand-held footage is rather disorientating, actually causing motion sickness in some viewers: the documented vomit incidents provoked by this more than terror.
But you gradually get used to it and the natural (mostly improvised) dialogue, as film student director Heather (Heather Donahue) drags laid-back camera-operator Josh (Joshua Leonard) and fussy sound-man Mike (Michael Williams) into the Maryland woods to mock the myth of supernatural evil caught amongst the trees.
Bad move. As darkness falls, the trio begin to suspect they're being followed. And then they wonder if they're letting their imaginations run away with them.
But as the first day turns into the second, they become convinced that someone is out there, deliberately trying to put the wind up them.
As the second day turns into the third, events become weirder still. And then as they attempt to head for home, they come to the horrifying realisation that they are truly, hopelessly lost.
Without such evident commitment from Donahue, Leonard and Williams, this picture may never have rung true; may never have worked.
But between them they create a palpable sense of despair and abandonment, and though their speech is sometimes numbingly ordinary, this only adds to the sense of awful reality. You can actually see them gradually giving in to raw, unadulterated fear.
And for their part, in the editing room Myrick and Sanchez have ensured that there is a exacting pace to this movie - that you are drawn in despite yourself as our hapless trio feel panic steadily approaching.
You'll probably have been more scared in an auditorium before. You'll have jumped with sudden shock and spilled your popcorn more before. You'll probably consider, among the warm glow of post-viewing discussion with friends, that you weren't ever that scared.
But the film offers two or three sequences of creeping, exhausting and escalating tension. And you may recognise the power of those.
And the next time you're alone. In the dark. And your brain begins to provide movement just beyond the edge of your vision, or sounds you're not sure you really heard, then you'll probably appreciate how scary The Blair Witch Project is.
Then you'll realise just how effective a piece of film-making this incredible little movie is.
And the facts are, indeed, fascinating: a heavily-prepped but astonishing, eight day, real-time shoot; an original budget of less than 50,000 dollars; a film never really intended for theatrical release; a groundswell of Internet popularity; a wild-fire success that has left directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez so rich they wouldn't ever actually need to work again.
All of which rightly makes this project remarkable, whatever the quality of the finished article.
But, taken purely as an example of cinematic entertainment - which, divested of all hype and hoopla, it simply is, after all - what exactly is the quality of the finished article?
Well, at first, not great. Filmed entirely by the two cameras you actually see on film, the jerky, hand-held footage is rather disorientating, actually causing motion sickness in some viewers: the documented vomit incidents provoked by this more than terror.
But you gradually get used to it and the natural (mostly improvised) dialogue, as film student director Heather (Heather Donahue) drags laid-back camera-operator Josh (Joshua Leonard) and fussy sound-man Mike (Michael Williams) into the Maryland woods to mock the myth of supernatural evil caught amongst the trees.
Bad move. As darkness falls, the trio begin to suspect they're being followed. And then they wonder if they're letting their imaginations run away with them.
But as the first day turns into the second, they become convinced that someone is out there, deliberately trying to put the wind up them.
As the second day turns into the third, events become weirder still. And then as they attempt to head for home, they come to the horrifying realisation that they are truly, hopelessly lost.
Without such evident commitment from Donahue, Leonard and Williams, this picture may never have rung true; may never have worked.
But between them they create a palpable sense of despair and abandonment, and though their speech is sometimes numbingly ordinary, this only adds to the sense of awful reality. You can actually see them gradually giving in to raw, unadulterated fear.
And for their part, in the editing room Myrick and Sanchez have ensured that there is a exacting pace to this movie - that you are drawn in despite yourself as our hapless trio feel panic steadily approaching.
You'll probably have been more scared in an auditorium before. You'll have jumped with sudden shock and spilled your popcorn more before. You'll probably consider, among the warm glow of post-viewing discussion with friends, that you weren't ever that scared.
But the film offers two or three sequences of creeping, exhausting and escalating tension. And you may recognise the power of those.
And the next time you're alone. In the dark. And your brain begins to provide movement just beyond the edge of your vision, or sounds you're not sure you really heard, then you'll probably appreciate how scary The Blair Witch Project is.
Then you'll realise just how effective a piece of film-making this incredible little movie is.
