A few years ago I built a cabin at the end of my garden with the intention of it being a fun hangout for the family. This was a kit from a company here in the UK called Dunster House. I naturally proceeded to give it that homely pub/cabin feel and put in a few second-hand items including a pool table, a couple of circular pub tables with Captain's chairs, a oak barrel drinks cabinet and a well-used dart board. This is was a dream come true for me, I kept all of its contents cheap too, buying everything I needed from eBay. But what makes it for me, only a fraction mind above the Pool table, is my projector 📽. I bought this cheap little Poynak projector from Amazon, and a 90inch screen all for around £120. Placing it centrally on the wooden mantlepiece of the 2kw electric fire, I hooked it up to a £30 speaker and an old 3rd generation, 1080p Apple TV. That's it. My own little rustic cinema setup. This is where I will eventually rewatch The Blair Witch Project! My poor wife is really not a fan of horror at all. But this was Halloween 🎃 soooo, she reluctantly agreed. I can't deny that broadly upon my face a happy grin did shine!
So, once ready with my non-alcoholic beers, popcorn and BBQ Pringles we began watching, and the rustic nature of the film, coupled with the projector and the cabin combined, took us both back to the end of the nineties perfectly. To a time before the term, "Found Footage," was mainstream.
At first, we were gleefully whispering about how we remembered the build-up to this movie and its impact on cinema and horror. How the rumours of it being real were spread far and wide and that the kids in it were never found, adding to the whole edgy experience. Although people had tried to make found footage movies before, this is the one that really made it. It's delivered in such a way that even when I know it's just a film, there is so much real emotion and fear in the film that I once again found myself captivated and silent when the situation they're in escalates far beyond their reality to coupe.
I was an art student back in the nineties when this film came out and the way the kids behave in this film reminded me instantly of how I used to behave; hanging out in a friend's room "shooting the shit" whilst drinking some beers and smoking cigarettes. We were all a little pretentious back then, like most late teenagers before and since, and naturally with our whole lives ahead of us, we felt the world was our oyster. And this mindset in the film was not lost on me, or the filmmakers apparently. It felt real again, as though the 90's vibe now adds to its authenticity as potentially genuine found footage video.
So, we're now watching the Blair Witch in the darkness of my cabin, and after a while I realise we're hooked. I found myself listening intently to the interviewees myths and legends surrounding the Black Hills, near Burkittsvile, Maryland. Like, the guys fishing by the river, the old man who comes across as honest as any decent Grandpa, the crazy gaunt lady living in a mobile home, and even the mother who's baby tries to cover her mouth while she talked. That slow burn of drip-fed, take-it-or-leave-it information really makes it for me, building up the tension and the heavy feeling that going into the woods is a really, really bad idea. I liken this to ghost stories around a campfire when you're a kid that get you too nervous to go to the bathroom on your own.
Rewatching it I found that the acting is some of the best I'd ever seen; the cast really buy into their situation. Their apparent terror and exhaustion really shows and gradually, I find myself feeling their anxiety as the sun begins to set and the prospect of another night in the woods elevates their stress levels. Without the casts committed performances I really don't think this film would have got off the ground.
I could tell my wife was scared, she very rarely needs a hug during any movie, so I knew this was special. I could feel her chest raising and lowering faster and faster during the more stressful scenes. I was also getting anxious. Not as much as my wife as I'd seen it a few times. But somehow, in my wooden cabin, in the dark and on a large screen, I'd managed to give the film a good chunk of its psychological power back. When it was over, I realised it had got to me again. Later, after the film had ended, my wife pointed out I'd left the speaker on and so very reluctantly, I had to go back to turn it off. It's surprising how when you're spooked, every little noise, no matter how insignificant, becomes creepy after an experience like that. I love being that susceptible to a horror film after so many years. It's a thrill ride!
The build-up and ending of the film has lost a little bit of its bite on me, however. But I will never forget as long as I live, that at the time when it was all new, back in 1999, I was completely and utterly petrified.
I highly recommend people to rewatch this film with an open mind and in the dark, with no distractions. alone if necessary! Allow it to do its job and creep into your soul and consume you from start to finish. Don't try to be macho and tough it out. Give into it and get scared. I did, and to get that feeling back after so many years, we'll, I was a real treat!
Thanks for reading and I'll see ya later!
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