Savvy Halloween

My husband and I were at a party the other evening, and the subject eventually turned to movies, which in turn became a conversation about where I’m blogging.

When one person in the group heard I was a horror film reviewer/blogger and buff, she asked, “So what’s the scariest movie you’re ever seen?”

Glitter, Showgirls, Alfie (the remake), Eyes Wide Shut…all train wrecks and scary in their own right.

The sarcastic responses were swirling in my head, but I knew what she was getting at–what is the one film that I can say truly terrified me beyond all others?

We went on to discuss the classics (Carrie, The Amityville Horror, The Exorcist, The Omen) and splatter fests (the Saw franchise, Hostel and its sequel).

But there is one film I hold above all else as the scariest.

The Blair Witch Project came out in 1999, and I remember dragging my then boyfriend (now husband) with me to see it. The entire audience seemed riveted by the film, and it was one of only a handful of times I can honestly say I did not feel robbed or cheated in any way after the film was over. In fact, I probably would have paid more to see it in hindsight.

Although I loved every scary moment of the film, I did not see the film again in the theaters, and I would also not allow it in my home. No way.

It’s not that The Blair Witch Project is a true story (although it’s given a real feel courtesy of documentary-style footage and a marketing campaign that had everyone convinced for a while there). And it’s not gory at all.

In fact, it subscribes to the less-is-more theory that sometimes what you don’t show the audience is much more terrifying than what you do show them.

It’s been nine years since The Blair Witch Project first came out, and I have only re-watched it once since then.

I don’t need to see it again to recall the feeling I got in the last five minutes of the film. Luckily, I haven’t been camping in the woods in well over two decades, and I’m not much of a hiker, so at least the film didn’t ruin the woods for me (like Jaws did the ocean).

Although my husband and I laugh about it, as one more than one occasion one of our two cats will sit facing a corner, a pose we call “Blair Witching”, I don’t think I will ever be able to wipe from my mind the final images from the film.

For that (as well as its brilliant cinematography, directing and acting), The Blair Witch Project is, hands down, the scariest horror film I’ve ever seen.

Tags: The Blair Witch Project

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