It's been ten years since "The Blair Witch Project" crept its way into the national consciousness. The movie, which follows three students making a documentary about the legendary Blair Witch, managed to hit the sweet spot of viral marketing and word-of-mouth buzz through an extensive online campaign that had movie fans scratching their heads over whether or not the footage was real.
In fact, writer/directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez went to great lengths to convince investors, and eventually potential viewers, that their movie was a documentary. They did so through the use of cleverly staged "found" footage and an extensive back story. In the end, "The Blair Witch Project" was such an effective horror movie because of what it didn't show -- and because the use of unsteady handheld cameras often left audience members feeling dizzy and nauseated. So whether shaky camera work is used or abused in the name of art, shock, shlock or gore, I salute the following flicks for making me reach for the Dramamine instead of the remote.
"A party pooper from deep beneath the ocean crashed Rob's going-away party, leaving all of his guests fleeing from the festivities... for their lives. It just so happened that Rob's friend Hud was at the party with video camera in hand to record everyone's going-away messages. Hud's survival offers viewers the chance to see exactly what occurs as a small group of partygoers try and make it across town to help Rob's friend Beth. Naturally, this involves a lot of jiggling, screaming and occasionally camera-dropping since he's running and trying to stay alive along the way.
"If the utterly depressing story of Selma, a factory worker slowly going blind who occasionally envisions musical numbers in her dreary workday life, doesn't get you, then Lars von Trier's bats--t camerawork will. Björk was so traumatized from the filming of "Dancer" that she swore she'd never act again (although she did perform in "Drawing Restraint 9"). I can understand though; watching the film is just a smidge less physically harrowing than being in it.
"Handheld-happy director Paul Greengrass brought some "Bourne"-type action to the tragic story of Flight 93, the plane hijacked on 9/11 that crashed in Pennsylvania thanks to the heroic efforts of the doomed passengers. Pieced together with assistance from the stomach-churning black box tapes of the passengers' fight against the hijackers, "United 93" was shot using handheld cameras on a plane that's (ostensibly) about to crash.
"Whoops, man and woman overboard! Two scuba divers get more of a tour of the deep blue sea than they bargained for after their tour boat leaves them in the drink, stranded and with little hope of rescue. Lucky for us, we get to come along for the ride. Especially when the sharks come. We viewers may be safe from those sharp, pointy teeth at home, but not so much from water-borne queasiness. Feeling seasick? You will be soon.
"Crank"
Maybe "Crank" isn't actually named after the street slang for methamphetamines, and you're just meant to feel kinda cranky after watching this non-stop action fest held up by everyman ass-kicker Jason Statham. In order to get the super-speedy motion necessary to go with a protagonist who will literally die if he stops moving, one of the directors actually strapped on his rollerblades with camera in hand to capture the action! (Check out a super high-tech explanation of "Crank"'s motion magic here)
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