The Blair Witch Project (Magna Home Ent) (1998)

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General		Extras
Category	Horror	Menu Animation & Audio Featurette-Curse Of The Blair Witch Featurette-Newly Discovered Footage-Theories Of The Blair Witch Notes-The Blair Witch Legacy Biographies-Cast & Crew Production Notes Theatrical Trailer-1.78:1 (Non 16x9), Dolby Digital 2.0 surround Teaser Trailer-2, both non-16x9, Dolby Digital 2.0 surround Audio Commentary-Directors & Producers
Rating
Year Of Production	1998
Running Time	77:37 (Case: 90)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (74:17)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Daniel Myrick Eduardo Sanchez
Studio Distributor	Magna Home Entertainment	Starring	Heather Donahue Michael Williams Joshua Leonard
Case	Brackley-Trans-No Lip
RPI	$34.95	Music	Antonio Cora

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Full Frame	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	None
16x9 Enhancement	No
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.33:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    I think it is safe to say that most people would be aware of the whole deal with this movie. Three young film-makers attempt to do a documentary-style piece on the Blair Witch. She is a legend of a small American town called Maryland, and our intrepids take a video camera and a 16mm film camera and set out on a hike through the Black Hills Forest in search of relics of her existence long since past. Heather is essentially the leader, the strong-willed of the three. This is her project, and she does most of the talking and filming. Whilst the main aim is to make a film on black-and-white 16mm, she wants the whole process documented on video as well. She has her video camera on all the time, even when her companions plead with her at times to give it a rest. But, she is determined. Mikey is the sound techie, carrying the trusty DAT which you will hear referred to a number of times - for those who don't know, it stands for Digital Audio Tape. He is really the character designed for the audience to relate to the most. Josh is the 16mm camera operator, and the most flaky of the three. I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him.

    They start with some token filming of the locals giving their spiel on the myth as they see it. Then, the trio park their car on the outskirts of Black Hills Forest, back-pack up, and go for a scouted hike. Can you guess what happens? They get lost, and descend deeper and deeper into both the woods, and the legend of Blair Witch. I don't think I am spoiling anything by saying that they don't make it out of the woods, and the footage we have is that which was found and pieced together into this movie.

    Make no bones about this one, it is scary. Why it is so scary is up to the viewer, because much is left up to your imagination, and if that happens to run wild, then be warned. There is no music, there are no special effects. The camera work is bad, the audio is at times bad. It all comes together as "the real thing", and indeed I know of people who went into this movie not knowing it was fiction and being absolutely terrified by it all. If you let yourself be sucked into it, you will be in for a treat. I watched it twice more with various people, and I gleaned something more from it each time. There are some truly frightening scenes, especially towards the end. The ending is very creepy, and even creepier the second time around.

    I will not go so far as to say that this is a classic, and it certainly is not in the same league as The Exorcist  regardless what the cover might say, but it is solid horror and worth your time at least once, and twice if you want the full impact!

Video

    The transfer is presented in strictly 1.33:1, in accordance with video tape, and it is of course non-16x9 enhanced. I did not see this at the cinema, and would be interested to know how it was presented there, since the trailers are roughly 1.78:1. I would also like to know how well NTSC video footage survives being blown up to cinema proportions - "not too well" would be my guess.

    There wasn't much in the way of sharpness or detail in the image, and indeed a lot of the time "jaggies" were visible in high-contrast boundaries in the video footage. The 16mm footage suffered from horrendous amounts of noise, and gave new meaning to the term "film grain." Since the 16mm footage was shot at night for the most part, shadow detail becomes very important, and indeed it was quite good - however, in order that it be as good as it is, the stock would have been heavily processed to bring out that detail, hence the copious amount of noise. Video footage was also good in this regard.

    The colour palette had that typical video look, being slightly undersaturated and slightly artificial-looking in comparison to film. The 16mm footage was black and white.

    There were no MPEG artefacts of any kind. There were no film-to-video artefacts, nor were there any film artefacts.

    This disc is RSDL formatted, and the layer change occurs during the end credits at 74:17 minutes. Whilst this is the best place for a layer change by all accounts, I am surprised they didn't get in the last few minutes of the movie and be done with it completely!

Audio

    Dialogue was very clear and easy to understand for the most. There were occasions when a member of the group would say something off-camera which would be unintelligible, and Heather would usually repeat it for our benefit. There were no lip-sync problems which I noticed.

    This is entirely a dialogue movie, with no music at any time, other than briefly in the car during the opening scenes. All the suspense and all the tension is created by your own imagination - though Heather's screaming goes a long way to help!

    This is technically a monaural soundtrack, although the sound has been spilled into all speakers. It is up to you whether you listen to it in stereo or surround. I chose stereo, because I don't particularly like it in fake surround, but please yourself. In any case, the sound is more up-front than not.

    The subwoofer was too scared to be in the same room, and only came back in when the movie finished. Poor thing.

Menu

Theatrical Trailer (0:59)

    Presented in 1.78:1 (roughly), and non-16x9 enhanced.

Teaser Trailer #1 (1:00)

Teaser Trailer #2 (1:15)

Audio Commentary - Directors & Producers

    This is a very good commentary from the makers of this movie. We have, in order of introduction, Robbie Cowie (producer), Daniel Myrick (co-writer and director), Eduardo Sanchez (II) (co-writer and co-director), Gregg Hale (producer) and Michael Monello (co-producer). Phew. They all have their input (I think), all speak in the center channel only, and have much to say. Well worth a listen, and one of the more spirited commentaries I have listened to lately. I should note that the soundtrack was present, suitably muted, and off-sync by a good 3 seconds! Knowing how much money this film made them from such a famously small production cost, it is little wonder they are all glad to be present!

Featurette - Curse Of The Blair Witch (43:52)

    This is a lengthy look into the "myth" of the Blair Witch, and is of quite good quality, and as a bonus it is chaptered which is welcome when an extra runs for this long. It does ask you to run with the suspension of disbelief a little bit too long in my mind, but fans will love it.

Featurette - Newly Discovered Footage (Theories Of The Blair Witch)  (5:04)

    This is simply a scene which didn't make the final cut, and is nothing particularly special or revealing.

Notes - The Blair Witch Legacy

    Quite lengthy written notes on the Blair Witch, all aimed at furthering the myth.

Biographies - Cast & Crew

    Extensive bios on most people involved in the production.

Production Notes

• DVD ROM extras

    Given that the movie was shot predominantly on NTSC video tape, with the odd black-and-white 16mm film footage, the transfer is fine. You will find nothing impressive picture-wise with this disc, nor is there anything to complain about.

    The audio is equally ordinary, being essentially monaural sourced, and split to all 5 speakers in a pro-logic setup.

    A most impressive and well packaged collection of extras, which coupled with the excellent menus lead to me award this title full extras ratings.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall