The Blair Witch Project remains the only film I have seen three times in the theater. Opening night, the next night and about a week later.
Carl was (and still is thank you very much) on top of things. You see, this was a time when we had discovered something called the internet. Carl showed me pictures of the stick people figures and told me the story of how some kids had disappeared while doing a documentary on something called The Blair Witch.
"Is it real? These kids disappearing?"- Me
"I don't know. It seems like it, yes?"- Carl
This was weeks before the film opened and likely the first instance of a film having a viral marketing campaign. What I knew of the internet at the time was basically message boards and dial up connections. My dad would let me use the computer for an hour every so often and you had to have a clearly defined plan of what you were going to look up. Otherwise your time would run out while you were waiting for three(!) pages to load in that hour. So the internet was as mysterious to me as this film that we were talking about.
Several of us (When you see Matthew, ask him about Book Of Shadows) went all the way to Nashville on opening night. The place was packed and the film was sold out. We didn't let this deter us. We just bought tickets to something else and went into The Blair Witch Project theater anyway. There was not enough seating and folks were sitting on the floor. Management came in and announced that they knew there were several people in there that weren't supposed to be. They checked a few tickets. I was sweating. But no one (at least in my group) was kicked out.
Man, this film was scary. It's quite a testament to a film's scariness when I can say that, 1.) The film was scary, and 2.) The scariest part of the film to me was a guy standing in a corner.
Often the hype around a film can obscure just how good it is in hindsight. When I first got into gialli I was blown away by Deep Red. Then I started digging into more and more obscure gialli and even though I KNOW how awesome the film is I forget until I watch it again. "Wow. Deep Red is amazing." I mean, I know that but I kind of take it for granted until I see it. (The Blue Underground bluray really helps hammer that point home by the way.)
I bought the bluray last year. It was cheap and an impulse buy. Does it hold up? That is the question that I've been leading up to. I think it does. You never see anything. Not really. And that fact means more to me now than it did in 1999. (God, I am old.) You never see The Blair Witch herself. Just a lot of sounds, tension and atmosphere building that finally crescendos as the film...ends. It reaches it's highest point and it's over. Bam.
 |
There. I've ruined it for you.
|
Sometime last year there was a big brouhaha because a bunch of teenagers watched Halloween and thought it wasn't scary or good or said it was dull or something stupid. I don't remember exactly other than it squarely thrusts me into the 'old man shakes fist at cloud' crowd. But inversely I also think, "Who gives a shit?" Because I can't help it if kids have no imagination these days.
And imagination is indeed something you need to appreciate The Blair Witch Project. And the first Paranormal Activity for that matter, but that's another blog entry/rant. I don't have to be shown everything. I don't have to be spoonfed. I don't have to see The Blair Witch.
