Quint here was sent out tonight on a mission to watch the audience here in Austin as they watched THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. Why didn't I go? Well, because at the Paramount theater they were showing a print of Elizabeth Taylor's CLEOPATRA, what a sumptuous film that is. No CGI... What a gorgeous film. Deserving of a restoration job. Meanwhile, Quint was witnessing the exact opposite end of the spectrum of filmmaking. The little low budget film that could. Well, I might as well turn things over to his Quint-ness...

Quint here with a little write up on Blair Witch Project.

I finally saw the film on the big screen with an audience tonight, after having seen it as a private screening aboard the Orca. It was a trip. I loved the film just as much as I did the first time I saw it.

But I'm not going to focus on the film in this write up. Undoubtedly, most of you guys know what the film is about and have heard many geeks drooling over it, so you don't need more of the same for me. I'd like to mention the audience.

To start off, I got to the screening an hour early and there were already more than 250 people in line. Most people got turned away due to the roughly 60 press and guests that showed up. That astounded me. I've been to my fair share of early screenings, press screenings, etc., but I've never seen such a big turn out so early. Luckily a jedi mind trick or two and I got in.

Anyway, the audience was pulled in and was silent from beginning to end... except during the funny scenes where they laughed and the scary scenes where murmurs of "Oh, my God," and sharp gasps. Except for the guy behind me. He was one of those guys that feels he has to prove to not only himself, but the rest of the audience that he is above the film that he is watching. He mostly got sharp looks and thankfully shut up fairly quickly.

This was also the guy that after the movie was saying stuff like, "I liked it, but I wanted to see the monster.... and the camera was too jumpy." I remember a guy in talkback a while back that said he saw The Blair Witch and stated that the filmmakers "should learn to use a Steady Cam." These kind of people who obviously miss the point of the movie just kind of irritate me. Especially those that let everybody know they are above the film WHILE it's playing. The reason these people get on my nerves is that they are impeding the viewing of people who are actually liking the movie.

After the film everybody was talking about it. That's a very good sign. Like it or hate it, you're going to talk about it. Good or bad, it's better than forgetting the movie the second you leave the theater. Overall, it's the kind of movie you want to see with the audience. It's terrific when you're experiencing moments of thick, atmospheric tension and you look around to see you're not the only one fascinated with what's unfolding before you.

Other than not keeping the mystery of the film during the advertising stage, I'd have to say that I have no bones to pick with this film. It just keeps getting better every time I see it. Although, I realize that some of you out there won't share that opinion. Just keep in mind that this isn't Scream 8 or even a Halloween movie. It's great because it's filmmaking that hasn't been seen a lot or exploited yet by the big studios. Although, I bet we'll see strings of films coming from the bigger studios that very closely resemble Blair Witch. So is the nature of the beast. So, go see it and see it with your friends. This movie kicked my ass many times over. I hope you'll let it do the same to you.

-Quint

aicnquint@aol.com

FOLKS, WHAT IS BELOW IS SPOILERISH! HUGE SPOILERS! AVOID IF YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE FILM. IF YOU HAVE COMPLETELY RESEARCHED THIS FILM, READ BELOW...

Hey folks, Harry here. This next review is from someone that expected the SCARIEST movie ever made. Personally, I would call this the CREEPIEST MOVIE EVER MADE... they are totally different things. But... he was disappointed, as many of you are setting yourselves up for. This is not a traditional film. It was never really meant to be a GIGANTIC BUZZ FILM. The Blair Witch Project is a film that most needed a good friend of yours to set it up for ya, get you just a little primed, then it needed no END CREDITS and you walk away unsure of what you just saw. Your faith shook a bit. All these articles about how the movie was made, they should all be ashamed of themselves. Those needed to be written AFTER the movie. Knowing all the background details will fuck with the way you are supposed to accept this film. There are many better NARRATIVE HORROR FILMS, but this is not a traditional narrative film. It's an experimental ART house Horror film. But now... it's bigger than that. Don't compare this film to THE EXORCIST... THE EXORCIST had a friggin budget. This movie was made for nothing. People like you and me... except a bit more motivated, gathered up people and did this. Look how big this is, all the articles... all the buzz.... Go do it. Go make your movie. Don't tear this one down. This is a dream movie of a buncha guys that didn't know what they were getting themselves into.

Harry,

I just got back from seeing the Blair Witch Project a while ago and felt kind of unsure about it. So I thought I'd write about it to get it clear in my head, and share it with you at the same time as you seem to be interested in different opinions on movies and I've only seen glowing reviews for BWP on your site. Maybe I should have taken them with a grain of salt. I'd maybe gotten myself too excited about the movie.

My very first problem with BWP came about five minutes in when I realized the movie could only end two ways, 1. the movie just cuts to black after a scene or 2. it ends the way it does. I thought the ending was great, and the only truly scary thing in the movie but knowing basically what it would HAVE to be took away some of it's luster.

I guess I'll give you my day and frame of mind the same way you do in your reviews. I knew it was opening on Wednesday in NYC so I called up moviefone to see where it was playing and was very annoyed to find out that it was only playing at the Angelica. Now, the Angelica is a very cool place for independent film and I saw many of my favorite Independent movies (Chungking Express, Smoke, Cold Fever) there. With that in it's favor the truth is: as a movie theater it's just terrible with lousy sound, small screens, long rectangular theaters with seats extremely far from the screen, you can feel subway cars pass by as the theater is underground, bad seats, it's very far out-of-the-way (at least my way) and sells popcorn that has done things to people that, well, that I just don't wanna talk about. I found out that there were going to be screenings at 11:45, 12, and 12:15 on Tuesday night and I remained undecided as whether or not to go on Tuesday or wait for it to reach a decent theater. I saw in the paper then that the filmmakers would be at the late-night showings and the showings on Wednesday. That pushed me over the edge and I decided to go to one of the late-night Tuesday showings. Forget that moviefone was saying "technical difficulties" so I couldn't find out if there were tickets available and the theater is 80 blocks downtown from me for a midnight movie, I decided to go.

So I watched the Sci-Fi channel "Curse of the Blair Witch" (I'd taped it), went out, bought a box of Junior Mints, a book, put some money on my metrocard (NYC transit fare cards), and hopped on the downtown Lex. Got on the train, started the new book, getting excited for the movie, all was going well. An announcement over the intercom says that there will be no local service between Union Square and Brooklyn Bridge due to trackwork. Okay so I'll have to walk from Union Square (about a mile or a little more) to the Angelica, not a big problem, I still had time, I just hoped they had tickets left.

I get to the Angelica. Huge Lines. Tons of people in Blair Witch T-shirts, with posters, standing in line eager to get in. I instantly just know I've come eighty blocks to find out the movie's sold out. I get to the box office. Sometimes I hate being right. Three white sheets of paper each saying the 11:45, 12, or 12:15 are sold out. Then I notice a guy who just walked away from the box office with 2 friends but 4 four tickets when he says to me (almost in slow-mo) "you wanna ticket?" I take a look at it for a second. Looks real. Sure I want it. Give him 10 bucks and take the ticket. Ticket has moviefone written on it, with the extra charge it must have cost him eleven. I ask somebody where the 12 o'clock line is and get on.

All in all at that point I'm pretty pleased with myself, having faced the challenges of the subway and the sold out theater I've come away with a ticket and 15 minutes to spare. I'm at the very end of the line and I just know I'll get a lousy seat but I don't care because I look at the people in front of me and I know this is the perfect audience to see the film with. People arrive and ask me if I'm on the ticket holders or ticket buyers line, I look at my feet and tell them the movie is sold out. A man walks up and down the line with a handmade sign saying "I'm looking 4 a miracle." I think that this guy wants to see the movie much more than I do and I should probably give him my ticket but I really want to see the movie at this point and don't. I justify the selfishness by thinking the ticket might not even be real. I was glad to see it when he got into the movie anyway.

I start talking Kubrick with a British guy named Matthew on-line in front of me. I realize that he thinks the movie is real. He has no idea it's a fake-documentary. He starts talking about his theories on the BWP (thought the filmmakers made the footage, left it, went deep into the woods and killed each other in ritualistic ways, or maybe the witch did get them). I refuse to comment, politely, by saying that I know more about the film than him and don't want to spoil it for him. I also advise that he doesn't read the blown-up review sitting in the lobby. I accomplished getting him and his girlfriend into the movie without their knowing it was bogus. I wish I could have seen the film like that, without knowing.

The line moves into the theater, I get in, the ticket is real! I actually get a nice seat. Up close. No motion sickness, sorry. The lights dim, people clap and the trailers start. First the English comedy with Malcolm McDowell, I forget the name, having seen the review on Siskel and Ebert last week the trailer looks shallow. Then the trailer for Stir of Echoes, I'm glad you liked the movie but the trailer sucks. Not Wild Wild West or Arlington Road bad but still just generated no interest for the crowd.

The movie (finally): I think I was just too pre-hyped for it. Phantom Menace syndrome. I was expecting a very scary horror film without any real gore ala the original Haunting. Then a couple of days ago I read that it was more suspense than horror, that's good too. I didn't think it was either. To me Horror is Halloween or Alien or The Exorcist. Suspense is the roulette sequence in the Deer Hunter or the last hour of Aliens, or The Silence of the Lambs. The Blair Witch Project isn't, to me, horror or suspense. The Blair Witch Project is fucking creepy. I can't think of anything else to put in the "creepy" genre right now, but I'm sure there are movies that qualify.

For some reason I found several of the high-stress interactions between the three filmmakers to be very funny. I think this was because I didn't care about the characters enough, I just didn't buy them as real people (except for Mike and Heather in the last 10-15 minutes) which is very important for a fake documentary. The action of one filmmaker regarding a valuable piece of equipment/gear seemed to me completely wrong, out of character, unreal, and lacking in any sense. The real problem for me though is how Heather is constantly filming (so that the audience can see the movie) even after things get seriously rough feels fake. A lame explanation of why she keeps taping is given but I just felt it was an excuse. So really most of what she tapes feels out of place, she's filming not because her character would film (when the stuff at night starts happening I felt that her character would have stopped taping and concentrated on surviving), she's filming so we can see the movie. It sounds like a minor detail but it really took center stage for me whenever she was taping.

The movie divides itself into three types of scary. The first is human interrelations scary, although this doesn't really start until scary number two begins. Scary number two is lost-in-the-woods scary. The third is supernatural scary. I think the way the characters start to blow up at each other is, while uneven very good at times while they are lost in the woods especially the part where Heather feels attacked because she has gotten her boots soaked and Josh and Mike just laugh at the situation, while she feels they are laughing at her. However the thing that Mike does immediately after is the weakest thing in the entire film. I'm a city guy, I've never been camping so I found the lost in the woods stuff to be extremely scary. Although I don't know why they didn't just follow the creek, it would have to have led them somewhere. The supernatural scary stuff I feel is ineffective except in three parts, the first being the great ending, Heather and Mike hearing what they want to believe at night, and one morning when they open their tent to find three rock piles circling it. The collection of stick-witch figures in the middle of the woods was not scary to me at all. I felt that the dialogue between the three concerning whether it could be a bunch of locals causing problems for them in the woods were forced. Seemingly something to delay springing the heavy duty supernatural scary stuff for the last third of the film when it would be scary not from the actual events but from them being stacked one atop the other in order to build to it's conclusion. This doesn't bother me as I feel it helps the film at it's end, what bothers me is how easy it would be to miss, I think the whole is-it-rednecks-doing-this dialogue thread runs maybe 6 sentences.

After not buying the characters I was surprised how much I believed the dynamics between Heather (while I liked the actress was the character I bought least, from the camera thing) and Mike after you know what happens and I was very much affected by the ending.

Leaving the theater (never seeing any of the filmmakers before or after the film) I felt lukewarm about the movie after seeing it with the perfect audience and realized the last time that had happened was with the 3:30 am showing of the Phantom Menace. I hope I don't really dislike this movie in a few days. I hope other people like it more than I did.

I saw the British guy on the way out who had by then realized it was fake and was disappointed. He said he wouldn't have gone to see it had he known.

So I went home, e-mailed my brother in Boston that if he sees Blair Witch instead of Eyes Wide Shut this weekend that I'd kick his ass, and got started on this review. Where I am now.

BWP was a sleeper at Sundance, it was a sleeper at Cannes, it was, I understand, adored at both places. It was not a sleeper last night, maybe that took some of the fun away. I can imagine the joy at discovering how good a movie this was without being told, and told, and told. I can imagine the fun of telling people that they have to see this movie without them replying "Yeah, I know." I'm not saying that movies shouldn't be hyped or talked about, I love that they are, it's just that some movies don't live up to there hype. For me Blair Witch Project and Phantom Menace were two that didn't. Many lived up to their hype for me Matrix, Contact, L.A. Confidential, Titanic, etc.

If over hype disturbs a second of Eyes Wide Shut for me I'm gonna put my hand through a wall. I don't think it will though, I've avoided reading about the film, and have only seen the trailer on ET with the Chris Isaac song. Plus, Kubrick created his own advertisements so maybe that means something.

I've got to learn to stay on topic, I started out to review BWP and I've ended up writing about how I think advertising affects films.

Finally (Finally! about time) I don't think this was a bad movie. I actually think it's a must-see. I think it's a movie that is simply very far from being great. It certainly, to me, doesn't live up to what's going on around it.

If you decide to put this tome on the site call me:

Walker Easterling