The Blair Witch Project (1999)
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87% of critics liked it
(136 reviews) -
47% of users liked it
(367,860 ratings)
Combining Hi-8 video with black-and-white 16 mm film, this film presents a raw look at what can happen when college students forego common sense and enter the world of voodoo and witchcraft. Presented as a straightforward documentary, the film opens with a title card explaining that in 1994, three… More Combining Hi-8 video with black-and-white 16 mm film, this film presents a raw look at what can happen when college students forego common sense and enter the world of voodoo and witchcraft. Presented as a straightforward documentary, the film opens with a title card explaining that in 1994, three students went into the Maryland back woods to do a film project on the Blair Witch incidents. These kids were never seen again, and the film you are about to see is from their recovered equipment, found in the woods a year later. The entire movie documents their adventures leading up to their final minutes. The Blair Witch incident, as we initially learn from the local town elders, is an old legend about a group of witches who tortured and killed several children many years ago. Everyone in town knows the story and they're all sketchy on the details. Out in the woods and away from their parked car (and civilization), what starts as a school exercise turns into a nightmare when the three kids lose their map. Forced to spend extra days finding their way out, the kids then start to hear horrific sounds outside their tents in the pitch-black middle of night. They also find strange artifacts from (what can only be) the Blair Witch, still living in the woods. Frightened, they desperately try to find their way out of the woods, with no luck. Slowly these students start to unravel, knowing they have no way of getting out, no food, and it's getting cold. Each night they are confronted with shrieking and sounds so haunting that they are convinced someone is following them, and they quickly begin to fear for their lives. The film premiered in the midnight movie section at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Chris Gore, Rovi
- Directed By
- Daniel Myrick, Bob Griffin
- Written By
- Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sanchez
- Genres
- Horror
- In Theaters
- Jul 30, 1999 Wide
- Studio
- Artisan Pictures
Critic Reviews
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Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
I have seen the new face of movie horror and its name is The Blair Witch Project, a groundbreaker in fright that reinvents scary for the new millennium.
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David Denby, New Yorker
A cunningly conceived and crafted exercise in suggestibility and terror.
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Bob Longino, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
[A] creepy tale of witchcraft, murders and ghost sightings.
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Jeff Giles, Newsweek
Heather's shaky video work can induce motion sickness -- it looks like combat footage as she bolts through the woods -- but just try turning away.
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David Edelstein, Slate
I could tell you the story -- give away every detail -- and The Blair Witch Project would still freeze your blood.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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