Memorable, crazy movie

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

This faux documentary, originally shown in the run-up to the release of 'The Blair Witch Project' and helped create the belief that that film was in fact real. It tells us how the three student filmmakers who feature in that film had gone to Burkittsville, Maryland, to investigate the legend of the Blair Witch then disappear in the woods… never to be seen again, and how their recordings were discovered a year later. This also goes into the legend and goes into some detail when discussing various events linked to the Blair Witch. Various 'experts' are interviewed and give their views; some appear sceptical others seem to believe the commonly held details of the story.Unfortunately I watched this after watching the film; I think it would have added to the sense of dread if I'd seen this first as the various details mentioned in the film are explained in detail here. These details are discussed in such a matter of fact way that people could be expected to believe much of it is real or at the very least that there must be a real Blair Witch legend that inspired the film… there isn't. There is also a believable use of re-enactments; historical evidence and even 'archive footage' of a convicted killer who was linked to the legend. I watched this immediately after watching the film and really enjoyed the way it the way it gave us details of the legend. Overall I thought this was an impressive companion piece to the film; it is well worth watching even if you don't usually bother watching DVD extras.

This stands well on its own. You can enjoy this and never see the movie. How well done is it? Well ... When all of this first started playing out, and "The Blair Witch Project" was being promoted, I saw certain things about it all that, because it was all done so well and because I wasn't paying that much attention, well, I thought it was REAL. Now thats a compliment to both cast and crew. They brought it off in a very real fashion. I think that watching this in conjunction with the Blair Witch movie is a real entertainment treat. As far as frightening goes, and coupling that with a building tension that I would compare to "The Red House" of the 40s, this is wonderfully wicked fun.

I saw the movie before Is aw this TV special, though now I wish I had done in in reverse order. I was far more scared and intrigued after watching the TV special than I was after I saw the movie, which was good but fairly disappointing. Even if you hated the movie itself, please give this TV special a chance. It has many details and answers many questions than the movie does not.

Having seen this without any prior knowledge that it was complete fiction, I have to say that it scared me badly. By the time I got to see the movie, I'm afraid the initial impact had worn off, so if you want to get the full force of the horror in "The Blair Witch Project" I would recommend seeing it first, with as little information as possible, then following it with this special. The documentary style is mimicked beautifully in "Curse of the Blair Witch", down to the Ken Burns-like reading of period documents in various voices. This program could stand on its own as a humorous textbook example of how a standard TV documentary is put together in the 1990s, complete with stock characters: the skeptical historical expert, the stolid, unimaginative police official, the superstitious townfolk, the irrelevant friends and family members. Only occasionally does the story overreach in an attempt to produce shivers; for the most part, this "mockumentary" is thoroughly believable. Even once the trick behind it is explained, it can be enjoyed as a skilful piece of film craft.