...the first time I saw the Blair Witch Project. Didn't know it was not real.
This was an odd one for me.
First off....I've always liked "scary" movies, but not necessarily "horror". Most horror films are just shock and gore fests that honestly bore me, and I usually don't find them "scary" at all. Sometimes, I really like them but for the wrong reasons....in that I find them funny and campy (which is one of the reasons I absolutely love "Shaun of the Dead" which is downright brilliant). But every once in a while, a film will come along that is much more psychologically scary, without all the reliance on gore and crap. And those I really like. When all the advance hype about Blair Witch came out, I was like, "YES, this is what I like, can't wait to see it".
So, I watched it the first chance I got..................................and I pretty much hated it. NOT scary at all, except for a few seconds at the very end. I found it boring and disappointing. But I got to wondering why it missed so much with me, while it seemed like it should be exactly what I wanted in a scary film.
After some time, I realized what it was. Some background...I grew up in rural New England, and (unlike most people), my favourite time of the year as a kid was late fall, when all the leaves had fallen, the woods were bare and raw, the air was getting chilly, and the light in the sky was sharp (even when it's cloudy). I don't know why but something about being out in those woods then was comforting to me, and I always loved it. Back to "now" and Blair Witch....I came to realize that the feeling of dread, uncertainty, isolation, etc. that made the movie so scary for most people was due in large part to the setting - that being alone in the woods that were very much like what I describe above. So, one of the key elements of the film that made most folks uneasy and scared, was actually comforting, nostalgic, and kinda nice to me. Also, I realized that most people simply never spend any time at all in woods, forests, and away from "civilization", and that in itself is discomforting, while for me it's very much natural and familiar (and not scary in and of itself).
So, I do get now why Blair Witch worked so well for most folks, and I think it does deserve some of the praise...it just didn't work for me.
s6
