Remembering 'The Blair Witch Project' In Today's Dailies

I had planned to write this up earlier today. Since there hasn't been a huge crush of missed news today, I figured I'd supplement today's issue of The Dailies with a look back at "The Blair Witch Project," which turns 10 today.

The "official" look back is done, as is the obligatory spin-off list (Movies That Make You Reach For The Dramamine). What's been missing is the personal recollection, and I'm here to rectify that now. See, I was totally taken in by the viral campaign leading into the "Blair Witch" release. When it finally came to the Anjelika in New York City, I headed into the city to see what this crazy footage was all about. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

A week or two before "Blair Witch" hit the limited release circuit, I was thumbing through an issue of Rolling Stone. I hadn't heard a thing about the movie at this point. My browsing eyes eventually came to rest on a two-page spread: a predominantly black background with a few bits of text, the now-iconic logo and a timeline detailing the horrific history of some small-town killer named Rustin Parr. Oh yeah... there was also a web link.

Now these were the days before I had high-speed Internet in my home. The confusingly laid out web destination pointed to a couple of audio and video links showing... footage. In the woods. I can't recall all of the details anymore, but it was some creepy stuff. I poked around some more on the 'net, and learned that this was all tied to some soon-to-be-released documentary. Details were scant, but I was intrigued enough to tell my two closest high school chums.

We made our plans and ventured out into the city the day "Blair Witch" opened at the Anjelika on Houston St. The line to get in was nuts, with partitions set up in the style of Disney world attractions. As we snaked our way around towards the theater, we peered into hastily set up display cases containing all manner of evidence and ephemera. Police files, photos, stick men... the works. Still, we had no idea what to expect.

The message that pops up on the screen before the video begins, describing the source of the footage and the absence of those who recorded it, was the first any of us had heard about what we were in for. The movie left all three of us shaken. We couldn't tell if what we'd seen was real or staged.

As terrifying as it was to behold in the moment, I have to say that "Blair Witch" actually holds up once the veil has been lifted. It's still terrifying, the way writer/directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez build a slow burn of suspense. Things start off very light; even once the Wrong starts to crop up, there's still this feeling that everything is going to be okay.

Then there's the creepy appearance of the stick men. The nighttime "happening" with crying babies and a rattling tent. A disappeared friend. The abandoned house with indecipherable writing scrawled on its walls. And that terrifying final image, the one that haunted my nightmares for weeks. The Monster is never revealed, and the experience is all the more frightening for its absence.

Myrick and Sanchez take a page from Spielberg's "Jaws" in "The Blair Witch Project," biding their time to build suspense. Only they take things one step further, never giving us the closure of a proper reveal. And there's nothing worse than the demons which spring from your own imagination. I hate those two bastards for doing that to me, in the best way possible.

"The Blair Witch Project" was definitely a sensation of a particular moment, but it's also an ageless, finely crafted horror experience. Even now, 10 years later, I still get goosebumps when I see Mike standing in that corner with his head ducked down, a seconds-long glimpse before the unseen Monster comes up behind Heather and does whatever unspeakable thing it is that makes her drop that camera.

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