Film Reviews, Hong Kong Cinema Listings & Interviews – Time Out Hong Kong Reviews

Ante nosotros está la madre de los documentales encontrados y los subgéneros del mismo. No es la primera de igual forma, Holocausto Caníbal usa las mismas ideas directivas década y media atrás para dar la ilusión de un falso documental como método de narración. Lo que hace destacar al Proyecto de la Bruja de Blair es ser grabada enteramente en ese formato y popularizar varios trucos publicitarios para atraer al espectador. El más evidente fue engañar a la audiencia para que pensase que era un rodaje de verdad, esa táctica de ocultar cuanta información exista de la procedencia de una película o los mismos actores ayudó a su gran éxito a nivel mundial. Si creen que Endgame fue un éxito, La Bruja de Blair le da mil vueltas. Costó unos cuantos miles de dólares y recaudó cientos de millones a nivel mundial con un estatus de culto y aprobación casi unánime en su estreno. Por supuesto una vez pasas el shock inicial la película no es para tanto, podemos darle el mérito de popularizar un género entero por el que saldrían ciertas joyitas como Distrito 9 y Chronicle, pero no ignoremos que esto produjo mucha mierda como Actividad Paranormal, sin nombrar las aberraciones de The Poughkeepsie Tapes o Grave Encounters.

Aislando el meta comentario, no le desmerito el buen trabajo de ambientación. Las cámaras con las que grabaron son viejas y de baja calidad al punto que es imposible hacerle un remaster. El sentimiento de en serio ver un documental perdido se transmite. No ignoremos que la imagen granulada y saturada añaden a la decrepitud con su ausencia de efectos especiales, se ve super espeluznante cuando empiezan a grabar en el bosque con el sonido de la naturaleza inhóspita rodeándoles. Son básicamente colores bonitos sin un duro para ellos, otra prueba que puedes hacer un film atractivo con lo mínimo posible, con talento puedes hacer maravillas. No lo notarán a la primera si es que no ven el resto de la saga que se creó a raíz de su éxito que por mucho que tuvieran mayor presupuesto se ven blandas y genéricas.

Otro punto positivo que tiene cualquier película de terror hecha y derecha es el aura de misterio. Inicia con un texto de que los estudiantes involucrados están desaparecidos, cuando empezamos vemos que su contacto con los pueblerinos despierta interés, no crees que nada malo va a pasar hasta que llega el terror para pegar en el rostro. Ya que los personajes en realidad fueron actores de bajo calibre que se les convenció de ir a un bosque perdido en medio de la nada con poca información, el susto que reciben es genuino. Llámenlo una táctica maliciosa del director y el productor, pero eso hizo que la actuación marcara perfectamente sus sentimientos sobre su situación. Añadió un factor psicológico puesto que los personajes estaban desesperados, yendo en círculos, encontrándose con tótems extraños y comportándose raro entre ellos. El pánico y paranoia fue captado en primera plana, hoy es memorable ver a la actriz principal llorar por pensar que su amigo estaba muerto y deseando que pueda salir viva del bosque. 

La naturalidad se logró hacer por el pacing que con total honestidad encuentro una embolia, el ritmo de eventos es demasiado lento, muchas cosas del primer acto no distan del SOL de gente aleatoria que se encuentran o la propia vida diaria de los involucrados. El propósito es obvio, dar la naturalidad necesaria para que te sumerjas. La distinción entre esto y un film como Stalker es que el pacing lento suele acompañarse con excelente exploración temática. Los temas de la Bruja de Blair no distan mucho de la historia de terror genérica con tenerle miedo a lo desconocido, el factor psicológico no forma parte de esto. De igual manera fuera de la paranoia los personajes no son realmente complejos, se basan en unos tratos que son puestos a prueba bajo presión.

Por lo que juzgar a los personajes es lo clásico del slasher: son scouts del montón que están para sufrir. Sabes que no habrá solución a sus vivencias por el spoiler al principio, sólo esperas a ver como mueren que por el bajo presupuesto mantienen fuera de pantalla. De hecho, casi todo en el film es fuera de pantalla, un grave problema típico de metraje encontrado. Nunca nos podemos hacer una idea de que está ocurriendo en en el escenario, limitando el acceso a la información. No es grave por ser de terror y no revelar que es lo que te tormenta es una movida sabia a darnos pena con malos efectos, pero de igual forma te deja decepcionado cuando terminas la película.

Es un film divertido para ver una noche con amigos luego de Dross o Scaretheater, pero nada más. La trama es lenta y deja más preguntas que respuestas, los personajes son algo básicos, lo que es decir mucho del género en el que está, y mucho de su disfrute se basa en un marketing que funcionó en un punto específico de la historia, hoy por hoy puedes saber lo que pasó con un poco de investigación, por lo que esta incertidumbre se evapora al instante. 

Apartado visual: 7/10

Dirección general 2/2 (fundamentada)

Actuación 2/2 (casi ni es actuación pero ok)

Escenografía 2/2 (mundana pero inmersiva)

Cinemáticas 0/2 (no existen)

Efectos especiales 1/2 (pobres)

Apartado acústico: 5/10

Actuación de voz 3/3 (cruda)

Banda sonora 0/4 (no hay)

Mezcla de sonido 2/3 (algo sucia)

Trama: 4/10 

Base 2/2 (cool)

Ritmo 0/2 (super lento)

Complejidad 1/2 (paranoia)

plausibilidad 1/2 (en sus propias reglas al menos)

Conclusión 0/2 (se spoilea al inicio)

Personajes: 5/10

Presencia: 1/2 (fuerte)

Personalidad 1/2 (cast slasher, pero no tan obvio)

Profundización 1/2 (hay algo)

Desarrollo 2/2 (paranoia)

Catarsis 0/2 (abrupta)

Importancia: 3/10

Valor histórico 2/3 (avivo un genero entero)

revisita 0/3 (una vez sabes el gancho no sirve)

Memorabilidad 1/4 (por la atmosfera)

Disfrute: 6/10

Al menos es respetable. 

Calificación: 5/10 

This film was hyped up as a scary horror film. The Blair Witch Project ending left me neither scared or horrified. Anger was the only emotion I felt at wasting my time for a conclusion that was lacking any adrenaline.

This short film really is A must see for everyone It really does A great Job dealing with the often scary and confusing issue of HIV,For me this really him home My best Friend who is like a Brother to me is HIV POSITIVE the actors in this does A incredible job with this touching Issue the actors are Walter Chan,Yau Hawk Sau the film show love respect and understanding

Despite the huge hoopla that surrounded it thirteen years ago, I had never seen The Blair Witch Project until last night. My observations :

Pros

1. Effective
2. Good performances
3. Proof that less is more


Cons

1. One trick pony
2. Very short at 80 minutes
3. The plot device that caused them to "lose" the map was ridiculous
4. Spawned an entire genre of "found footage" films, none of which were nearly as good.

I would have given it a 6/10 if it were not for the aforementioned plot device which was straight up laughable. Even leaving the map out in the open and having the "Blair Witch" take it would have been more believable.

An urban legend getting an American production above the average, even with amateurish technical about. However, this is the great charm of the film, to bring a touch of reality to something that frightens people, while not real. With an unstable nature documentary footage, the two rookies directors, Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez, lead an unusual thriller that explores witchcraft in a peculiar way and extremely evil. What is most interesting in this production, is the fact that directors can create fear in the viewer, without the least show directly the source responsible for it. Imagine what you can not see. How can you not be afraid of it?

The power of an urban legend is something that can be measured against the influence which it carries in the middle. In some cases, above the power is so vast that people around the world are interested in such stories. Based on this concept of influence, the plot of this production is a journey of three film students, to explore the long- cherished legend of the Blair Witch, however, what is shown on the screen, are just the roll of film found by police, after the mysterious disappearance of young people. Starting from a premise that the suspense has good things to come, the two directors work in the background that is extremely favorable for the development of the script.

The amateur footage further contributes to the enhancement of the heavy atmosphere, which is already present in the photography involved. The naturalness of it is the factor that close ties to production reality. The sound system works like a soundtrack orchestrated by a great professional who knows very well to put it in the context of the film. Adding these two questions film, photography and soundtrack, we get a product that pleases and amazes the viewer, while every sudden movement of the camera. It is clear in this production, the film does not require cutting-edge technological improvement, to satisfy your audience.

The script is working well and can, from the start, accumulating records that direct the viewer to understand the outcome. The development of the argument is a gradation of psychological conflicts of each character, which tracks the tempo until the final minute. Playing with the psyche of each character , the filmmakers create claustrophobic situations that reflect the viewer, keeping it stuck in that atmosphere without answers and with every move closer and with a look at the picture provided by amateur camera in the darkness of night, where the script comes to apex of the gloom .

Combining certain techniques is a superlative effort to create something new, taking the proper proportions of gender addressed. Working from the premise peculiar form, the script can do justice to what is stipulated in your synopsis so enjoyable and interesting for the audience. The technique is not mainly attributed to technology, but on good ideas, falling in the right hands. Exercising a right direction and leading the film gradually, the two rookies prove that gender is not lost, but it takes a few bumps to get it moving again.

The movie isn't that scary, but it gives you the chills the first time around.

The film is not a horror film, it`s a psychological thriller. Many people have complained that this movie isn`t scary and shit, nut it isn`t it really. It`s more about how even the best of friends can (or perhaps, can`t) cope with themselves in extreme situations. Everyone`s near a mental breakdown, there`s ominious voices from the woods which source can never really be seen quite clearly, strange wood sculptures and like that. It doesn`t necessarily create a mood of scariness, but a mood for suspense? Hell yeah.

I remember exactly the first time I saw this movie. Back then, I was on holiday in Baltimore, my host family went to see this flick and they brought me with them. At that time, I had no idea what it was about and I was completely unaware about the whole hype surrounding this feature. To be honest, I had never seen anything like this before but, even though my host family didn't it like at all (I think there were expecting something more conventional), I thought it was a really engrossing experience. In my opinion, the biggest difference with the other found-footage features I have seen afterwards is that you don't actually see or hear anything really preposterous which made the whole thing even more unsettling. The other thing I enjoyed is that even though the 3 actors were amateurs, a typical trademark with this genre, they were actually really convincing and believable so I really cared for their predicament. I have re-watched it a couple of times through the years, I still think it held up pretty good and it is by far my favorite movie in this genre. Since then, this directing style has been copied to death because it is really cheap so you don't need many people to show up to make some money. To be honest, since I really liked this flick, I always had a weak spot for this genre but I have to admit that it is getting tiresome by now as there is unfortunately no more creativity involved. To conclude, even though this movie doesn't have a really good rep nowadays, I actually like it a lot and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre like I do.

First of all, I couldn't care less how over-hyped this movie was. Anyone's whose opinion of this movie was as an adverse effect from this, it's their fault for giving it any attention in the first place. No hype, no matter how well-founded, should ever be believed.
Secondly, as kid, sure, but as an adult, I really can't get scared from movies anymore. Especially, if there's a monster or a Jason/Freddy/Michael Myers involved. The minute I see any of these guys on the screen wearing some kind of fright-enhancing mask or wielding a sharp object with a screaming Abercrombie & Fitch-looking teenager's name all over it, I am instantly reminded that I'm watching a movie, & thereby negating any chance of suspending my belief enough to being frightened anymore. However, Blair Witch tried to bring the horror of cinema as close to the real world as any fright flick could since Night Of The Living Dead (IMO, that is), thus making it seem like this situation could actually happen in this frame of reality. Plus, a major part of the fear-factor for this story's premise is that the lead characters, or even the viewers themselves, never actually get to see the witch in question. And as it has been stated many times over centuries, "The unknown is one the greatest fears to the human mindset".



So while it still didn't scare me, TBWP probably came as close as it possibly can come to at this point in my life. As far as I can remember, I've never had any real inclination to go out on a camping trip of any sort.
But now, because of this film, sleeping under a tent overnight in the middle of the woods, is a situation that I can definitely say that I will never expect to try & initiate.
Ever.
And for me, The Blair Witch Project earns a couple of extra points just for that.

"A Bruxa de Blair" é um filme que poucos gostam, mas que conseguiu ser convincente e superar, de uma forma estranha, minhas expectativas. Antes de ver este, vi o segundo filme da franquia, "A Bruxa de Blair 2: O Livro das Sombas", quando estava nos meus 9 anos. Resultado: o filme que mais me aterrorizou por muito tempo. Hoje, 8 anos depois, decidi ver o primeiro. E como me lembro muito bem da minha experiência com o segundo filme, estava com medo.

"A Bruxa de Blair" é um falso documentário produzidos por três estudantes de cinema. Estes estudantes decidem ir à floresta 'mal assombrada' de Blair para tentar documentar algo de sobrenatural. No estilo 'câmera na mão' ("[REC]", "Diário dos Mortos"), o longa consegue passar realidade a cada momento.

O filme passa tanta realidade que mesmo de dia dentro da floresta o medo se instala no espectador que espera uma bruxa enorme engolir os estudantes. Mas isso não acontece. A bruxa nem aparece. E isso é o que surpreende. Como a câmera não capta nada sobrenatural, o que assusta é o desespero contínuo dos estudantes e a câmera (mais uma vez, ela!) cambaleando nas mãos deles. O que me fez lembrar de "Psicose", clássico do gênero. O longa de Hitchcock é tão competente que mesmo quando é revelada a identidade do assassino, o medo persiste.

Mesmo com poucas cenas fortes, "A Bruxa de Blair" cumpre seu papel pelo estilo documentário amador que, sem dúvida, é o seu diferencial. Prova de que não é preciso efeitos mirabolantes, cenas estupendas e montros supermacabros para assustar o espectador. Medo é mais que isso, bem mais.