(This article originally appeared in print in Commander Times on 17 Nov 99.)

Which is more frightening: knowing that you will die, or death itself? The Blair Witch Project, which was released on video and DVD October 22, poses this question. Directed, written, and edited by Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sanchez, this low-budget thriller has gained a large fan following, and has been compared to other low-budget horror classics such as Night of the Living Dead, Halloween, and The Evil Dead. The Blair Witch Project casts an aura of eerie realism, which can be contributed to the fact that the three main characters used their real names, and filmed the entire movie with a camcorder and 16-millimeter camera.

The basic plot of The Blair Witch Project is that three student filmmakers decide to shoot a documentary on a local witch legend. Heather Donahue is the director of the documentary, with Josh Leonard as cameraman and Mike Williams as soumd man. They interview townspeople, then head into the Black Hills of Maryland, never to be seen again. A year later, the footage of the missing students was discovered. What it contains is the final days in the lives of the vanished filmmakers, a chilling descent into insanity. It is a documentation of the increasing arguments and intolerance of the three, the many conflicts and losses they have, as well as the near-suicidal depression that sets in as they make the realization that they will never make it out of the woods.

Many of the film's critics disliked the film because there was no way it could live up to the hype. Other, more casual viewers were turned off by the fact that there was no visible villain, and no big stars. It has also been compared to an earlier film called The Last Broadcast, in which a New Jersey TV crew disappear while embarking on "the Jersey Devil project." However, The Blair Witch Project has become one of the best, most successful horror movies of all time. As well, it is quite possibly the best film of 1999.

The tense "bump-in-the-night" atmosphere is taken to a new level. The film builds over time, through one intense moment after another. Everything is seen through the eyes of the characters, taking the realism feeling to unprecedented heights. The realism is pushed to the limit by the fact that the actors ad-libbed the majority of the dialogue, and filmed the entire movie by themselves (the first time in motion picture history).

It is hard to imagine that an independent film with a budget of $35,000 could become a hit with such a love-hate relationship. Though excessive on profanity, it is worth a watch. The Blair Witch Project takes the viewer on a psychological roller-coaster ride that throws caution to the wind and jolts the senses in a way never before seen.