"Barf" Witch Project

Well, after a couple of attempts, I finally saw "The Blair Witch Project" this Saturday with my roommate and another friend. We got there right before it started, so we ended up sitting in the second row, which was waaay too close, especially for that film. All the shaky hand-held whirly pans had me seriously nauseated by the middle third of the film. It got so I couldn't look at the screen unless the camera was still, because my head was spinning so badly. I really thought I was going to have to get up and go to the back of the theatre, but I needed to be in a seat, so I decided against it. So, it was hard to focus on the content of the film, since I was concentrating on keeping the contents of my stomach where they were.

Still, I thought that it was very cleverly done, especially having the characters be so pretentious, juvenile and generally irritating that you kinda wanted something bad to happen to them. There's nothing like having a whiny, bossy bitch be reduced to a terrified, blubbering mess. I think it helped implicate the audience, and added to our unease. I thought it was common sense to know that when you're lost in the woods, if you happen upon a creek or a stream, and you know you're in Maryland, you follow the creek bed, since it will be heading east towards Chesapeake Bay. Sooner or later, you're bound to hit a bigger river or a highway. At least that way you won't be going in circles. It may sound cold, but the movie was a good example of a "Darwin Award": three people who were too stupid to live and reproduce.