I have to say that The Blair Witch Project is easily one of the creepiest movies I have ever seen, and I've seen a lot of creepy horror movies.  The way it was shot reminded me of The Evil Dead with the film grain and rough camera work.  Plus, both films are set in the middle of the woods.  Anyway, this is a fictional feature film, and never really happened, but this movie can make you think twice about it.  The performances are so natural, and so intense that you know there's no script.  Of course, there was no script, just a general outline of events.  The directors surprised their own cast with a lot of what they encounter in the film in order to illicit those realistic reactions.  It's all natural expressions and performances.  The scares are genuine, and the night scenes will have your skin crawling.

Basically, these three college-aged students (Heather, Josh, & Mike) goto Burkittsvile, Maryland (formerly Blair, Maryland) to make a documentry on the 'Blair Witch'.  As they interview people in town about the subject, their stories differ as any myth would.  In reality, most of these people are making these stories up on the spot, improvising for the camera and actors before them, but some were given specific information to recite for story purposes.  The film doesn't really pick up any momentum until the trio enters the woods, and then, it becomes apparent that there is no escape for them.  The further the movie goes, the creepier it gets.  When night falls, these three friends know that something evil is out there, and it is coming for them.  It's a force they cannot see, they cannot fight, and they cannot escape.  The film descends into the depths of isolated horror, but in a different fashion than say, John Carpenter's The Thing.  The tension builds to an intense crescendo, and then....I won't spoil it for you.  But the ending grabs you and stays with you for a long while.  You cannot quiet the voices in the night.

Updating my original review, I have to take a retrospective look at it.  While time has not been kind to this film due to endless parodies and spoofs, I still hold it in a genuinely respectful regard.  It had a serious impact on film, and really jump-started the entire idea of the internet as a major promotional tool.  The marketing of the film was ballsy, but effective.  I still find The Blair Witch Project to be a very creepy film, and despite a lot of backlash it has suffered, I think it has a lot of say to about horror films.  It has the same kind of documentary style and visceral horror of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, incorporates an air of Friday The 13th deep woods terror, and is all centered on a ghost story.  It holds a lot of influence from other films even if it's not completely obvious.  Though, I am glad that this film didn't ignite a trend of films in this specific style, but all the spoofs got really pathetic, real quick.

It is hard to state that this is definitely one of the best horror films of all-time because of the flack the film gets these days, but I will stand behind it.  It doesn't seem to have become a generally regarded classic, but I don't think people are going to forget about it.  I believe it comes as more of a cult classic due to its extremely non-mainstream and unique style.  Though, it is this style that forces you to become part of the experience.  Yes, many people walked out on this movie saying "it's boring," but they have no patience for slow-burn suspense.  Plus, they're not willing to absorb the mythology in the film, and slowly ease into the gritty reality of the film.  I certainly won't say this is a film for everyone, but anyone with a general appreciation for films with a slow build-up of suspense and tension should give it a chance.  Personally, I got so caught up in this film that I became choked up just thinking about it as I drove home, alone, from the cinema that night.  I truly got that paranoid feeling later that night creeping through my darken home with nearly no lights on.  I couldn't bring myself to walk through a room without turning on the lights.  Before The Blair Witch Project, the last movie that had left me feeling this same way was my first viewing of  A Nightmare On Elm Street. The Exorcist also does the same thing to me with every viewing.  I truly feel that, if you're game for a film of this kind, it will mess with your mind a bit, your skin will definitely crawl, and it'll hold onto you well through the end credits.  I give this movie a 9.5 out of 10, and you'll see why it's not a 10 when you view it, but don't let it get you down because the DVD has a bunch of great supplemental materials such as the various featurettes, pseudo-documentaries, and a highly entertaining audio commentary by the production crew.  Forget the spiteful backlash, and give this unique film a genuine chance some night.