Was the Blair Witch Project the last great horror film?
bbc.com
bbc.com
When my sister saw it, it was very early on, prior to any pub or wide release, at a festival (or something) were it was presented as basically a true found film/documentary. She called me almost immediately after seeing it and pestered me for months to go watch it, presenting it as truly great.
When I saw it, I knew it was fake, had read about the making of it, etc. We were laughing at it in the theater (especially the "found my cigarettes" part). So, while a little scary in parts (especially that ending), it wasn't anything special to us. We still point to Event Horizon as our favorite horror movie, partly because we didn't know it was going to be what it was. We thought it was more of a space exploration thriller.
I think the transition from Lovecraftian "cosmic horror" to modern jump scares is one of the biggest shames of modern cinema. It's easy to copy gore or other ick factor stuff that are part of the classic great horror flicks, but getting the essential creepiness of The Omen, or the alienation of Rosemary's Baby takes talent.
He couldn't sleep for days (I had a nightmare but I could sleep), my father was SO mad.
I thought he could handle it because we'd just watched all the Alien movies and he quite enjoyed them. He saw Aliens first and I suggested we watch the original/rest, he was quite drawn into suspense of the first film which the others have never quite matched in intensity. I guess Event Horizon was a bit too dark and visceral for his tastes.
"Where we're going, we won't need eyes to see." :D
When I watched it again in the theatre, it wasn't nearly as gripping as it was on the 17" monitor we used to watch it the first time. Plus, the lack of a steadicam made it actually better on a much smaller screen.
All in all, I don't agree with the premise of the article. I'm not even sure I'd call BWP good. It was creative, but I don't know that it worked without the uncertainty that surrounded my first viewing. Also, for me, there was a much better horror film that came out later that year called 'Stir of Echoes', so even if BWP is considered great, it's not, for me, the last great horror film.
28 Days Later / Shutter Island / Donnie Darko / Let The Right One In / Jeepers Creepers / The Ring / Drag Me To Hell / Saw / The Host / The Others / Cabin In The Woods / It Follows / ...etc
Even just viewing the past can be disturbing as it breaks some privacy concepts, aka camera that can see into anyone’s homes or future crime. Going to the outer edge starts to get really freaky especially if you start getting into the head of the main character.
> 28 Days Later / Shutter Island / Donnie Darko / Let The Right One In
http://www.avclub.com/article/25-best-horror-movies-2000-227...
That question is more interesting than arguing about whether or not you liked the film.
But it's probably the only film that successfully tiptoed that line between reality and film.
BWP was a solid innovative film that inspired a whole sub-genre of horror films. It was great, but there have been really outstanding horror films since then.
I am thinking, in particular, of "It Follows". THAT was a revelation of what can be possible in horror.
It confuses that so many directors keep pushing the same style of horror movie out, when they consistently get poor reviews. Are all directors scared by the same exact themes?
Should see but not necessarily must: Village of the Damned
For recent ones, It Follows and The Ba-ba-dook were phenomenal.
As for Blair Witch... when I saw it in theaters, people were literally laughing at it.
Anyway, I don't care, I've already talked about this bad movie more than I ever care to. I don't mind to never hear of it again.
Scary isn't what you see on screen, it's what you carry with you the rest of your life. I still stiffen up every time I area flock of birds gathering on telephone wire. If the birds turned on us, we'd be dead.