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| The Curse of the Blair Witch |
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| TV,
Justin Harries,
20 January 1999 |
Rating: F4
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In the style of Spinal Tap it could have started thus: "Welcome to our mock documentary, a mockumentary if you will". However, The Curse of the Blair Witch appears to be a real documentary in every sense - the filmmakers never indicate that what we are seeing is in fact entirely contrived. Its purpose seems to be a fleshing out of the Blair witch mythos that was touched upon in the film – we are given full historical background on Blair itself, and the subsequent ghoulish events blamed on the witch herself are discussed by a series of ‘experts’.
The Blair witch mythos is chillingly reminiscent of an earlier terror in the woods semi–documentary, ‘The Legend of Boggy Creek’. This TV movie explored the exploits of a shambling man beast – a swampy take on the sasquache. Said man beast is shown sparingly in a series of reconstructions, but it was the combination of mundane interviews and backwater isolation that scared the bejeezuz out of me.
Whilst the Blair Witch Project shares Boggy Creek's primordial fear, its TV offspring expands the mythos, but also adds to the gimmick factor. Some of the aged footage is eerily convincing – and the faux mysterious commentary that accompanies it is entirely suited to a document generated by the Sci fi channel. But by now anyone interested knows the real story, and I for one would have been fascinated to see the actual process behind the Project.
What we have here is a footnote that works in tandem with the website to build a convincing new horror mythology, one that tries to root itself in reality as much as possible. Weather you think all this post rationalisation is simply a way of hyping the oncoming movie or a natural extension of ideas, the filmakers have created a compelling backstory that enriches repeat viewings of the movie.
Sky One Friday 22/10/99
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