I thought about not putting this up today... on account of the fact that Stanley Kubrick died... But I feel the need to be distracted, I need to peel my mind off the depressing and think about the cool. And THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT is very very cool indeed. Well... now I turn you over to the dear Professor Moriarty... A rather evil man... talking about a rather evil movie. Enjoy..
Hey, Head Geek...
"Moriarty" here.
Right now, I'm seated downstairs, in the lowest level of the Moriarty
Labs, in what I like to think of as my private place, my inner
sanctum. It's quiet, the first real quiet I've had in a week. The
ghosts are gone despite the continued construction upstairs. My
henchmen are all asleep, exhausted from the last minute preparations
for my trip. The Moriarty Travel Wagon has been fully stocked with
disguises, makeup, explosives, surveillance equipment, survival gear,
magazines, scripts, flammatory inducement units, and many other top
secret items I'll be using on my trip. All that's left now is for me
to conclude my look at the sudden wealth of horror films we have been
blessed with by trying to sum up my feelings on an extraordinary new
film that I haven't been able to shake, even in the two weeks since
I've seen it. I'm talking, of course, about the Sundance sensation
THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT.
I have always loved horror films, ever since I was a young child. I
used to sneak into them. I had an older relative (who shall go
unnamed to protect them and thank them) who used to take me to see the
ones my parents wouldn't let me see. I loved being scared beyond the
capacity for rational thought. I spent four years scared out of my
head by Michael Myers. Growing up in Florida, always at the beach,
JAWS was a film that really got inside my head, something that haunted
me regularly. That fear was exhilarating, though, and really taught
me how much a film can affect you as a viewer.
Part of the reason the great fear films work is because they tap into
something that's more than just scary... they tap into the very primal
things that define us. The best horror films reach down into the
center of us and terrify us in a place that's beyond logic, beyond
reason. They don't bother to engage us intellectually because they
don't have to. They get to that little mammal brain inside us and
remind us of when the dark was all it took to send us into tiny
clusters, shivering, huddled near fires, praying for daylight to
return. JAWS and the best moments of JURASSIC PARK tap into one of
the most basic fears there is, the fear of being eaten, the fear of
being nothing more than a snack for something powerful, unstoppable.
PSYCHO kept a generation of women out of the shower by tapping that
sense of vulnerability, that fear of having no defenses. And now,
having seen BLAIR WITCH, I can confidently predict that my days of
camping are finished. Forever. No question.
By now, the premise for Artisan's upcoming release THE BLAIR WITCH
PROJECT has been mentioned in numerous places, and described here on
the site several times. In short, three young filmmakers decide to
make a documentary about the Blair Witch legend. They take a 16mm
camera and a Hi8 camera into the woods with them, and vanish. A year
later, their footage is recovered, and it's cut together to make up
the film. Simple. Concise. A waking nightmare.
Even before the really heavy fear sets in, there's the basic terror of
being lost and low on food. I spent an entire day lost one time with
my father while hunting in the woods of Lookout Mountain outside
Chattanooga, Tennessee. We were really lost, too, due to a couple of
dumb mistakes on our part. I was scared, but there was also a
frustration involved. How can you get lost in America in the 20th
Century? Aren't we supposed to be overcrowded? Aren't we supposed to
have paved America over? How lost can you really be? The answer, of
course, is really lost, and there were sequences in this film that
brought that sensation back to me with such vividness that I broke a
sweat, got nervous.
But nervous is nothing compared to the way I felt at moments during
this film. The first person technique of the movie is clever on a
film geek level, and it sure helps with the budget of the movie, but
there's something much more subliminally important about it. After a
while, you begin to experience this film more than watch it. You
really forget about where you are, about the people around you. You
are drawn past the edges of that frame so that you're out there with
Josh, Michael, and Heather. You're the fourth person on the trip, and
their fear gets right inside you. The sequences at night are
claustrophobic, confusing, disorienting, and a complete assault. The
days are maddening in a whole different way, full of quiet creepiness.
As they begin to blend into each other, as each little piece of the
film falls into place, the feeling of dread that builds is unreal.
I remember when I first saw JURASSIC PARK, it was about a week before
it opened. I was working as a tour guide at Universal Studios
Hollywood (yes, even the Professor has gone undercover as a regular
worker from time to time -- research only, I assure you), and they
were showing us the film so we could rave about it to the people on
our tram. We saw it at the Alfred Hitchcock Theater on the Universal
lot... it's an incredible room, a place where they do sound mixing,
and it was absolutely packed, every seat full. During the classic
first T-Rex scene, the temperature in the theater went up a full 10
degrees. Everyone was actually leaned forward, breathing heavy, in
that primal place. The rest of the film never quite matched the
intensity of that moment, and if it had, the film probably would have
gotten an R. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT hits a certain level of
intensity early on that seems like it can't possibly last, but somehow
it does. Then it gets worse. Then that sustains, then gets worse
again. The film never gives you an out. It never backs off. It
never stops scaring you. When I saw it, everyone in the room looked
like they had been beaten up when it ended. They were physically
exhausted from the experience, drained, and everyone looked sweaty,
disoriented. It has that strong an impact on an audience. And the
eight of us didn't say a word or make a noise for the entire running
time. Not a peep. There was no kidding around, no wisecracks.
Everyone was too wrapped up in their own personal experience to pay
attention to anything around them.
The story of how this film was made is just as incredible as what
you'll see onscreen, and I want to send my most sincere
congratulations out to Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick. These guys
are what independent film is all about. They set out to prove that
they could scare us without using some franchise character spouting
one-liners and without the full technical support of a CG team and the
finest soundmix six weeks at Skywalker Ranch can produce. They set
out to make one film, accidentally made another, and were smart enough
to realize what they had. Every choice they made in getting this
thing onscreen was right, and the result is a genuine classic. I pray
they write a book to discuss the entire development from start to
finish. Until then, their website at http://www.haxan.com will have
to do, along with an outstanding article in this month's FILMMAKER
magazine. Do yourself a favor, though... wait until after you see it
to peek behind the curtain. You'll be glad you did.
I'd like to go out on a limb here. I am going to predict that this
film will have an effect on future filmmakers that will be as profound
as the effect that STAR WARS had on my generation. The impact will
not be felt in a wave of horror films (although there will be copious
numbers of BLAIR WITCH ripoffs, mark my words), but in a sudden rush
of films shot on video finally getting theatrical play. Audiences are
going to be so absorbed in this film that the video won't bother them
at all. The next step is for someone to make a film where the video
camera's not explained away... just a narrative film that happens to
be on video. This film is the bridge to get there, and it levels the
playing field for everyone in a lot of ways.
I worried about raising people's hopes too high for this film, but
there's no real way to do that. I feel like telling total strangers
about it. I feel like showing it to everyone I know, one at a time,
late at night with the lights off, and just watching them as it
unfolds. I feel like telling everyone in the world at once, just
shouting it as loud as I can... THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT is among the
most frightening films ever made, and one of the greatest debut movies
imaginable. This film deserves to be seen by everyone who loves film
at all. This is what revolution looks like.
So... to sum up, I liked it.
And now I'm off. I'm going to hit send, let this wing its way to
Harry as I walk down the hall to the Transport Hangar. The drive
ahead of me is nothing, not with the knowledge of what's ahead.
ShoWest promises to be outrageous. If there's any year to go, it's
this one, and I want to thank everyone who's made AICN's coverage of
the event possible. You readers are in for the straight dope on all
of it. You'll hear about the first public demonstration of digital
cinema. You'll hear about Fox's STAR WARS party on Wednesday night
with 1/2 hour of footage and the stars of the film and... oh, Lord...
George Lucas himself. You'll hear about Warner's presentation, with
the debut of the first EYES WIDE SHUT footage anywhere, as well as
material from Oliver Stone's NFL film, THE GREEN MILE, IRON GIANT
(let's see that trailer, guys!), and WILD WILD WEST. You'll hear
about my adventures backstage at the awards show where Will Smith,
Heather Graham (the future Mrs. Moriarty), Giovanni Ribisi, Tom Hanks,
Meg Ryan, John Madden, Sean Connery, Peter and Bobby Farrelly, and
Jerry Bruckheimer are all being honored. I'll take you inside the
trade room, I'll take you to New Line's presentation, and I will share
with you each and every scrap, morsel and tidbit I find out about
anything and everything else.
The road calls. I must be off. Until Monday night...
"Moriarty" out.
CONTACT ME:
MoriartyAICN@yahoo.com
or Moriarty c/o getworms.com
3435 Ocean Park Blvd. Ste. 112
Santa Monica, CA 90405
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