#The Blair Witch Project review

[hannahwatcheshorror]

THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999)

The classic that inspired countless films like Mr. Jones (the artwork) and Grave Encounters (the endless location). This see-no-evil film piece is a staple for all horror movie fans. This is The Blair Witch Project and the worst part is that it depicts a group project, so strap in and prepare yourselves for a C to B minus at best because participation COUNTS. 

⭐⭐⭐.5

Three college age kids go into the woods and never come back out. Why? The Blair Witch, of course. We are graced with the found footage from the documentary they were making. Heather is really bad at interviewing people, she keeps interrupting them and it is very distracting, let the townsfolk get a full sentence out. Josh and Mike are da boys and they are mostly there to carry stuff and be comic relief. Once they go out into the woods though, things start to get intense in the tents. 

They start hearing all sorts of noises outside while they try to sleep at night. “How do we know it was people?” ”Even if it wasn’t, I’m not going to play with that either.” A chilling question and a chilling response. After only a few days out, getting lost, losing the map, they lose Josh. All they find is a parcel of sticks tied with clippings of Josh's clothes (don’t you worry about what is inside). When the final night is upon them they are lured into a home where we find Mike in a corner and Heather befalls a fate similar to the children from the stories she interrupted in the beginning of their documentary.

You realize that this movie shows you nothing right? I called it the see-no-evil film piece because the scariest thing we see is our good pal Mike standing in the corner (the bundle of teeth in the sticks was scary too, but that couldn’t actively harm us) but he doesn't do anything. That is part of what makes this film in part so great and bad. It is tense, but nothing actually happens. Nothing that we see, anyway. It is implied that great bodily harm comes to Josh but since Heather doesn’t say anything to Mike you almost feel as though it isn’t real, as though she didn’t find a scrap of Josh’s shirt filled with teeth. 

Other than noises heard (which could be explained away as any number of animals or even human pranks) there is no other scenario in the movie but their group stress and inability to navigate the woods which seem unending. Get yourself a stoic enough person and they could tell you that what the three people experienced during the Blair Witch Project wasn’t supernatural, it was all madness. I believe that. I believe that as much as I want to believe that this could be a real thing. But I know it's all for show and for that I’m mainly just disappointed they couldn’t show at least one really spooky thing (more spooky than Corner Mike or teeth).

[saturnitepumpkinhead]

I've watched 270+ horror films. Here are my favorites of all time.

Hell video, proudly served, posted late. There are more than 30 films on this video, and if you count the Saw Franchise as 9 movies in one entry, there's actually 44. I couldn't tag all the movies though :(

[brain-rot-queen06]

The Blair Witch Project, 1999

Alright so this one is one that I could not stop talking about when I first watched it, it was like no horror movie I had seen (I was only fourteen) the raw footage, the lack of CGI, and the authenticity of the film felt new and cool. The way that this movie set off a domino effect in the horror genre and the entire film distribution marketing system as a whole. In fact, the movie went viral on the internet before it was even done, and convinced millions of people that they were watching actual found footage. And in a way it kinda was, the movie was almost all improvised, we weren't just watching Heather, Josh, and Mike spiral and be hunted down. We're watching Rei Hence, Joshua Leonard, and Michael C. Williams have no idea what was going on for the majority of the shoot and actually be afraid. The story is about three college students going on a trip to film a documentary about The Blair Witch. But as more time goes on and the deeper into the woods they get they realize things are worse than they first thought. The Blair Witch Project is already scary even though the title witch is never shown, nor are any of the dangers around Heather, Mike, and Josh. The only hints the audience has that they are being followed are strange noises outside their tents at night, the stick figures, and piles of rocks. All in all I give it a 9/10. The way that they are able to tell us a whole story while only using an outline and improvisation is awesome and makes it seem like anyone can make this kind of movie.

[dandelionjack]

you guys aren’t ready for my unexpected dissection of blair witch 2: book of shadows. it’s objectively not a very good movie at all but for some reason it has its hooks in me and will not let go. i’ve written 600 words already and don’t know where i’m stopping. writing about the concept of metafiction and spectacle and mirroring and hyperreality because of course a mid-tier spooky flick with a canon goth girl and a hot redhead wiccan is what prompts someone to get all their little first year humanities hoe gears grinding

[letterboxd-worth-a-damn]

[walkonpooh]

House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski Review

“This is not for you”

Okay.

Okay.

If you haven’t read it, House of Leaves is a post-modern book written by Mark Z. Danielewski in 2000 written in epistolary form. It’s a story within a story within a story within a story. What do I mean by that? Well at the heart of House of Leaves is The Navidson Record, a proposed documentary about a photographer, Will Navidson, who buys a house to reconnect with his family; his partner Karen Green and their children, Chad and Daisy.

Not missing any opportunity to work, Navidson sets up cameras around the house to capture little moments of their daily lives. Then one day, they notice that the inside of the house is a little bigger than the outside. Then a little bigger. And bigger. Then one day a doorway that wasn’t there before appears in the living room of the house. Opening the doorway they find a hallway. The bulk of The Navidson Record is the exploration of that hallway.

So I say bulk of The Navidson Record, isn’t this the book? Well, yes and no. Because taking a step back, we have Zampano. Zampano is a blind uh, I guess maybe former academic? Zampano is examining the truthfulness of The Navidson Record, touching on the filming style of it. Examining the lives of Navidson and Karen. Delving into critical discussions, photography, architecture, Biblical studies. Only House of Leaves doesn’t stop here.

Because Zampano recently died. So we’re introduced to Johnny Truant, who was introduced to the deceased Zampano through his friend Lude, who knows that Truant will love this guy’s apartment and the rabbit hole of The Navidson Record. So we’re also given through Truant’s footnotes of the story his life story; way more of his sexual encounters than I cared to know about, his lusting over a stripper who frequents the tattoo parlor he works for named Thumper, on account of her tattoo based on the Disney’s Bambi character.

Finally, we have the unnamed Editors of House of Leaves, who are adding footnotes to all of the above throughout the entirety of the story. Also keeping in mind is the author, Mark Z. Danielewski and the reader, all taking part in this story, published now twenty-three years ago.

So House of Leaves is a book I’ve *attempted* to read several times and failed to do so until this past week, when I devoured the book. As I sit here writing this, I’m sort of mixed on whether devouring House of Leaves is the proper way to read it, or if not reading it alongside another book, sort of ploddingly moving through it would not have been the better method.

House of Leaves is fairly infamous at this point, unlike when I first heard about it. It’s funny because it’s origins are similar to The Blair Witch Project. I remember people claiming that no, this book was based on true events, which of course plays right into the post-modernity style Danielewski was going for. Critiquing literature and literature critics. One of the reasons it’s infamous for the style the book is written in. So I described the layers of the onion, so to speak, but I’ve read and watched quite a few opinions of the book at this point and I agree that the book in and of itself is the labyrinth of The Navidson Record.

That is you’re meant to get lost in it and like a labyrinth, there are dead ends. Unlike a labyrinth, I can’t say that at this point, twenty-three years into the story that I enjoyed “solving” the labyrinth. And that’s primarily for the Johnny Truant sections of the book. Johnny is fairly certain that The Navidson Record is a fabrication, which to me, along with the story of Johnny’s mother, Pelefina, her notes, is actually a fairly big clue that Johnny is falsified.

Post modernism was a huge thing in the early aughts, where I don’t feel like its influences today are as far reaching, but pretty cliché by this point in time. But there was The Blair Witch Project, like I said that had the is this real-is this not real and all of the commentary that came with that. In video gaming you have Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, a post-modern video game, which critiques the very people playing the game, playing off their expectations of what a sequel to Metal Gear Solid should be. There’s Mulholland Dr., which came out the same year as House of Leaves and is playing with *very* similar themes and to me, is superior.

So because of Johnny’s mothers letters, it seemed pretty clear to me that Johnny, the Johnny we’re reading about, is a fabrication of Pelefina. Her letter about creating a son who could live the life she never had is written nine months before Johnny’s birth. I think Pelefina actually choked Johnny to death and everything else that happens in House of Leaves is her way of coping with having done this, ala Diane in Mulholland Dr. and the events of that movie being a fever dream of Diane’s.

Anyway, so like this is all just interpretation and there’s probably no “answer”. That’s one aspect of post-modernity that I do like, the chin stroking that happens from it is just part of the cycle of this stuff. So do I like House of Leaves? A day after finishing it. Sitting here thinking about it, I like it more today than I did yesterday. I bounced off Truant’s footnotes pretty hard while reading it. As I write this though, I like the idea of that story quite a bit (the slight comparing it to Mulholland Dr. is no slight, that’s a Top 10 movie for me). The Navidson Record parts were pretty great, especially the earlier parts. Some of the later parts didn’t hit as hard for me, especially as they escape the house, but I also didn’t read this in optimal conditions. Oh, but I did *love* The NeverEnding Story aspect of House of Leaves being a book within House of Leaves. And I sort of wonder if like being frustrated by the Truant parts is akin to being frustrated by the labyrinth. I would have liked to learn more about Zampano, I think some of what we learned about him is interesting and I think I’d prefer that over Truant, but then that’s kind of the point of my interpretation.

Would I recommend House of Leaves? That’s a hard sell for me. Because how do you succinctly sell House of Leaves to someone in a way that doesn’t ruin the surprises or put them off the book? I feel like *most* people who want to read this story will seek it out and I think the reader knows pretty early on whether or not this story is for them.

4/5

[rye-views]

The Blair Witch Project (1999) dir. Eduardo Sánchez, Daniel Myrick. 7.6/10

I wouldn't recommend this movie to my friends. I wouldn't rewatch this movie.

These guys are the worst travel partners.

It's like not a scary movie, but I get anxious. The buildup from darkness, creepy sounds, and tension from everyone fighting. But, the buildup for the characters is like literal fear from the unknown. I sometimes felt like the girl's screaming didn't match up to the fact that she was holding the camera. it felt so distant?

Dude, what happened to Josh though? Can you imagine making a whole myth like this? What a creative movie.

Great acting.

[blackcatfilmprod]

Hi Guys,

Tonight Boys 'n' Ghouls Film Review Podcast reviews The Blair Witch Project here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T43I2mNXDjQ via YouTube

[ever-towards-nihilism]

It's cummin relax

[scarevalue]

25 years ago, discussion centered around the marketing campaign and (seemingly) new format. 25 years later, we're obsessed with its impact and legacy.

There's never been a shortage of ways to look at one of the most influential movies in modern horror.

[horrorlamb]

25 Years ago today, The Blair Witch Project hit theatres in NYC.

[iratemoviessometimes]

The Blair Witch Project - 1999

general rating - 3/10

i think a lot of why i dislike this movie is purposeful and serves either the plot or style of the movie, i just am personally not a fan! no hate to the creators i think the idea is solid and the suspense is built up pretty okay.

scary-ness is a -5/10. unfortunately thinking about the horror bits of this movie only make me laugh. the first thing i want to say when i finish watching a movie is not "are you fucking kidding me? that was it?" but that's what happened.

again, i think this particular style is just not for me, because i've heard GREAT things about this movie, but i can't help but feel like i'm missing half of it. anyway. more details below.

my issues with this movie

-all of the characters are annoying, particularly heather, though i KNOW that's on purpose believe me. their arguing and insufferable attitudes are part of what makes their descent into insanity more reasonable. however, i kept wanting to yell at my screen instead of watching the movie. so.

-what was even hunting them!? like, there were several different stories told. the horse hair lady, the mysterious river fog, the coffin rock guys, the witch, the girl, like SHIT what the fuck i was expecting some kind of horror medley but nO. instead we never even SEE the fucker. goddamn.

-part of my love for found film movies, and what can make them so scary, is when you see something in the background of the video that the person doesn't see. did any of that happen? again no. didn't see shit.

-the boys personalitites and motivations were so fucking inconsistent there were only three characters and i kept getting them confused anyway.

-end ending. was so. fucking. underwhelming. what the hell.

-sigh.

i could go on but it's 1am and i was hoping to actually watch a horror movie but instead i watched this and now i'm too tired to keep my eyes open.

acting was solid. k goodnight.

[knitting-with-pinhead]

found footage protagonist : jhj uehjj uehhj iejjj hhhh hhhghh ughhhghuhuhu guuuuhhhhh!!

me, who has misophonia : oh my god can they PLEASE kill this bitch already

[scaredy-cat-cinema]

Found Footage Horror

what i love so much about found footage horror is the idea that the cameraman can die. in most other films, there is a certain comfort that comes with an omniscient pov - the story will end when it's supposed to.

you don't have that luxury in a found footage film. the cameraman can fucking die! the story can end without warning, with things left unexplained. both you and the characters feel out of control, with the shaky camera and frantic screams only adding to this.

i know found footage gets a bad rap, but i just find them inherently scarier than other horror genres! argue with the wall!!

[harpieisthecarpie]

hey, thanks for your addition to my post. i really loved what you wrote, and as an allo, it all rang true to me. the bit about romance vs erotica was also a new way to look at it that i’m still thinking about.

Oh Im so glad it resonated! Sorry for the very very long tangent in the reblogs, but I noticed my mutual peer reviewed my original tags in my rambliest moment of the day

And your post seemed to be primarily jokey, but it touched upon an attitude among fic writers that I think has surged a lot in the past however many years!

Im really fascinated by it, and how tropes in fanworks reflect on broader fanculture. I just wish that fic writers (and their readers) would give themselves more leeway to explore imperfection without feeling the need to soften, solve, or explain it.

There is so much to learn from stories, including fanfiction. But sometimes the lesson isn't a moral one, or it is but it holds a morality we don't agree with. Even then, we learn something about ourselves and the writer and how to evaluate texts.

But there's a secret other thing we can learn from beach reads, dark romance, fic, and erotica: sometimes we learn nothing substantial at all because that wasn't the point.

Reading a toxic relationship for enjoyment while thinking "man if someone pulled this shit with me I'd kick their ass" is a time honored tradition! Something can be "hot" in a fantasy (ie BDSM scene, erotica) while being 100,000 red flags irl.

A novel titled "My Tormentor, My LOVER" with a very shirtless man on the cover, and a fic with 25 sex-related tags both have many indicators of being fantastical, of being a scene. You just have to know what those indicators look like.

Honestly I think we don't give enough credit to genres like these because of their target audiences. Like, primarily cis-dude oriented spy thrillers don't get grilled nearly as much for their horrible sex scenes!

They'll be made fun of, for sure, but there's a level of internal monitoring (and enforcing) in romance novel and fanfiction circles that just does not exist with dude lit.

Cis women and queer people are treated as both more impressionable AND more responsible than cis men, at least with their reading habits. It's an echo of "boys will be boys" and the slut/madonna dichotomy that has become self-perpetuating in writer-reader circles.

Even when we aren't cis women, or women at all, minorities (and spaces where we congregate) still must "hold ourselves to a higher standard". But that's another debate, I'm way off topic.

Re: the erotica discussion, in Savy's video she was specifically talking about how a lot of Colleen Hoover's works are mislabelled romance when they should be erotica, because her sex scenes treat what are definitely kinks as realistic vanilla sex.

It jars the reader from their immersion, because the novel had heretofore shown no indicators of having those kinks in it. (Except for it being a CoHo book). Not in the description, its marketing, or a content warnings page of the book was Savy made aware these kinks would occur and be treated as normal.

Even just the label "erotica" would have given her more of a heads up! But without any of that, she lacked the informed consent necessary for her to take the scene as the fantasy it is. Leading her to enjoying the whole book a lot less!!

Basically, its about genre expectations and tonal shifts.

If I blind watched the Blair Witch Project because it was advertised only as "a fun parody of ghost hunter documentaries with super relatable main characters" I would brawl a producer for my money back.

If I'm not expecting horror, if I'm not informed of jumpscares, a movie I would have loved has now been made awful and upsetting. I wasn't able to adjust my expectations or be in the correct headspace.

That's what's important about labelling for tone, and why the destigmatization of works called "erotica" would help everyone :D

Oh it's so late and I was rambling again ;---; I had more to say about metatextuality and how being informed of a fantastical scene allows for a safe place to explore what might be unsafe irl. But I have this chocolate to eat

Thanks for liking my og reblog! You have succeeded in feeding 2 Harp rambles!! Redeemable at your local Chester Eustace Cheese

[silvermoon424]

Do you have any TV horror recommendations for someone who cannot do gore because the moments replay in their head after for weeks and ruin their day? (it's me hi I'm the problem it's me) I like horror and scary stuff like Southern Cannibal or CreepyFox narrations but the graphic stuff just isn't good for me. Live action or anime are both fine, I was able to finish Gakkou Gurashi and liked it, have you seen it/read it? Thanks!

I know you asked for tv shows, but I'm going to give you a wide array of recs! I can't personally vouch for all of these (as I have not seen everything on this list), but they all have good reviews!

TV Shows

Twin Peaks

The Haunting of Hill House

The Twilight Zone

Tales From the Darkside

Channel Zero

Are You Afraid of the Dark (aimed at kids so there's zero gore, and the stories can still be pretty spooky)

Cabinet of Curiosities and Masters of Horror (both are anthology series with each episode directed by a different person, so there is gore in some episodes of both series. I recommend just doing research ahead of time for each episode)

Creepshow

Movies

Creep and Creep 2

The Witch

The Blair Witch Project

Ringu

It Follows (there is a scene of a disfigured body in the very beginning but that's about it for gore. I recommend fast forwarding through the first 3 minutes or so and you'll be good)

Midsommar

Ju-On

The Babadook

Coraline

The Ritual

Carrie (there's the infamous "pig blood pouring on Carrie during prom" scene but that's about it for blood)

Also, here are two resources to help you avoid gore:

Does the dog die? - This site has really comprehensive lists of all kinds of "emotional" scenes that might bother people, not just animal cruelty. It includes things like sexual assault and physical mutilation, down to phobia-specific things like spiders. It's a great resource.

IMDB - Most movie pages have a link to a "Parent's Guide" in the "Storyline" section. The parent's guide usually lists any violence or gore.

EDIT: I was wrong about recommending Midsommar, there actually is gore in it. Thanks to everyone who corrected me!