journal features

movie review - Blair Witch Project

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Toronto, 1999.07.19

This movie scared me, pure and simple. It's one of the most effective films I've seen in eons. It's a ghost story of sorts, in which some young people try to track down a certain cabin in the woods that's meant to be home to a witch (or her ghost). I won't give much away, other than to say that the two self-effacing directors were at this preview, and that I'm very happy to have caught one of the T-shirts they were throwing out to the crowd. It was one of those fun things, that, with a genuinely good movie to see, made it a favorite movie-going experience to date.

Recommended.

rand()m quote

Naturally the common people don't want war: Neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.

—Hermann Goering