I am becoming increasingly angry at the advance hype films receive which simply negate any impact they might have. Going into this film knowing anything about it will simply ruin it for you. Any knowledge of how the film was made, even the most basic, will render every frame lifeless, boring, false and forced. It's a unmitigated shame. I sure wish I knew nothing about the film, or else, like many of those who waited in line 1 hour with me to get tickets, was completely misinformed about the film.

The idea for "The Blair Witch Project" is brilliant and, given the massive hype it has received, it will not spoil anything for those who have not seen it, to say it is a movie about 3 filmmakers who go into the woods of Maryland to film a documentary about a local legend, the Blair Witch. During this process, many strange and frightening things happen. Whether or not what is presented here will frighten you is, as usual with horror, purely subjective. Personally, I was not frightened for one single moment. Most times I found myself trying to stifle my laughter at the manic overacting being done by Heather Donahue, the main character in the film. What is interesting about the film is it's humor and also the way it is shot. The film unfolds much like a friend's home video. There is much jovial banter and interesting character development going on. At first, it's like watching your friends vacation footage if, say, they were going on a hiking expedition. It's amusing and interesting. When the group begin to film documentary footage, with Donahue playing an on screen narrator, much delight can be found in watching her changes in persona, from director, to leader of an expedition, to pretentious personality. One hopes that, like many good horror films, the humor at the beginning will evolve into absolute terror. For me, this was not to be. Although there are many amusing moments throughout the film, the horror never came. At best, a creepy feeling was apparent sometime after viewing the film. Meanwhile, the presentation flips between home video footage in color and black and white film stock. Many times the screen is eerily black, with white fuzzy dots of exposed film stock giving the picture a dizzying effect. But oft times the film, during it's most frantic moments, become like bad, shaky, home video where nothing can be seen. At one moment when the film reaches a fever-pitch and the participants venture into the darkness of the woods, one on screen voice can be heard to ask, "What the hell was that?" as if they saw something strange. Unfortunately, we can not even see what they are talking about. Things like this happen much too often in the film.

"The Blair Witch Project" was ruined for me because I knew too much about it before I saw it. Even this simple written discussion about it, which you are reading now, will probably ruin much of it for you. Whose fault is that? Mine for writing it or your's for reading it? Ah, to have seen this movie with virginal eyes, with no Hollywood hype to prepare me for what I might see. That just might have been the most awesome film-going experience I ever had! Instead it was like craving an ice cold Coke all day and then finally getting one, hours later, that is lukewarm. I was already spent when I walked in the door to see the film."The Blair Witch Project" turned out to be a waste of my time and my money.

Note: Spoilers!!!! - The directors gave the three actors notes each day. These were left for the actors to find and then they improvised the days events and filmed them themselves. At no time were the filmmakers in direct contact with the actors during filming. The Blair Witch legend in the film is convoluted at best. This is because the filmmakers used explanations of several legends and local myths.

Only two scenes were re-shot due to technical difficulties. John Pierson of Independent film Channel's program "Split Screen" help spark interest in the film by airing a 8 minute documentary segment made by the filmmakers. This helped finance the production. After it's release, there was a 1 hour special on the Sci-Fi channel and a book planned based on the film.

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