The film stars Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Michael C. Williams. It was co-directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez.
Synopsis
Heather, Josh, and Mike and are all film students in the year 1994. Together, they travel to Burkittsville (formerly Blair), Maryland. They start their documentary by shooting at an old cemetery. The cemetery has several graves of infants and young children. When the trio goes to interview locals, they are told that a man named Rustin Parr kidnapped seven children. He took them to his house in the woods and brought them to his basement in pairs. He made one child face the corner, while he killed the other. Than, the other was murdered as well. The man turned himself in, and plead insanity, saying that the Blair Witch coerced him to kill the children. The students also interview Mary Brown. The town views her as crazy, but her description of her encounter with the witch is chilling. When one lady is asked if she believed that the Blair witch exists, she replied by saying that she believes enough not to go up to the woods and test the theory. The next day they travel to north to woods for exploring, but not before being warned by two fishermen of the haunted woods. The young adults go to Coffin Rock, where five men were killed in a ritual during the 19th century. They camp in their tent and have no trouble. They continue to explore Black Hills the next day, still searching for evidence of the witch. Heather has trouble with the map, but the kids come across 7 piles of rocks, or cairns. They set up camp and return at night. Josh knocks over one of the piles, and Heather freaks out, quickly repairing it. It is somewhat implied that they have disturbed something or someone. While back in their tent, they hear crackling in the darkness. They cannot find where it is coming from. The noises end, and they assume it was just animals or locals trying to scare them.
The next day they search for the car, and while Mike and Josh are convinced that Heather is lost, she continuously defends herself, saying she knows where she is going. Night comes, and they are forced to camp again. They hear crackling once again, and the following morning, the discover 3 similar cairns surrounding their tents. While Heather can't find the map, Mike confesses to kicking it into the river. Heather and Josh attack Mike, and apologize later. They soon discover sticks and branches woven into human figures. Heather cuts one down. That night in the tent, the group hears a large array of noises, including children laughing and a baby crying. Their tent is attacked, and the three book it out of there and run into a nearby field, where they stay until morning. They go back to find their belongs strewn all over the ground and Josh's belongings have a slimy blue substance on them. The group travels south all day, but come across a familiar log. Has the group walked in a circle? Or is someone playing a trick on them? They set up camp and become very emotional that they wasted an entire day and that they once again have to spend the night in the forest.
The following morning, Josh is gone. They scream for him, but no response is heard. They reluctantly leave camp. At night, they hear Josh yelling and screaming. They cannot locate the painful calls for help. At dawn, they wake up and Heather finds a bundle of sticks and twigs, wrapped in strips of Josh's plaid shirt. Inside the "package" are unidentified, bloody parts of Josh's body. Heather hides this fact from Mike.
On the final night, Heather points the camera toward herself, and apologizes to her family and friends, along with Josh's and Mike's relatives. She begins to cry, expresses her fear, and utters, "We are going to die out here tonight..."
Once again that night, Josh's screams are heard. Mike and Heather follow the screams to an abandoned house. Mike goes upstairs and finds handprints in the attic, printed in blood. He hears Josh's voice in the basement, and runs down to him. Mike continues to call his name and when he finally reaches the basement, he struggles with the camera. Mike then falls to the ground, along with the camera, and all is heard is Heather's screams for Josh and Mike. Heather goes down to the basement, and the camera sees Mike turned to corner, much like the children that died there before. Heather seems confused, when a bump is heard. The camera hits the ground and silently goes off.
Review
This movie scared the snot out of me, and I absolutely loved it. It started out as a normal movie, but it was obvious that things would get worse and worse. The legend of the Blair Witch had me convinced that it was real, as I googled it to find out that it wasn't real. Much like Paranormal Activity, the camera is held by the cast, and the footage seems completely real. I must commend the actors as well. Many horror film actors are over-looked by the movie's usual crappy plot. Characters that provide comic relief are often praised. It's safe to say that this movie had a great plot, the actors did great and were convincing, and there WAS no comic relief. Yet it was still great. And, best of all, it was a genuinely scary movie.
Grade: A-
One thing I would've liked is for more scary scenes like when the children and baby were heard late in the night. Those were the scenes that stuck out to me the most in a very scary way.
Zach
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