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| August 18, 1999 | Alright, I watched it. Big waste of time. I think the whole attempt at "realism" backfired because I don't know anyone as dumb as any of the filmmakers. At least when someone is "acting" in a "movie", you cut them a little slack because you know it's not real. In TBWP however, the whole premise is that it is a true story, but having such idiotic characters makes that hard to believe. I will say that I think the idea behind the film is very interesting and really gets you into the movie right away. After that though, it's all crap until the last scene in the house. I didn't get any motion sickness (must be all the Quake I play) but the middle 70 minutes of the movie just felt like a waste of time. Have you ever read a book and then watched a movie or vise versa, and thought that the book was far superior? Well, that's my take on this movie. I think it could have been a wonderful book, i.e. you go to the bookstore and buy Heather's journal all dirtied up in a Ziploc bag, but the audio and visual aspects of a film really did nothing for me. So that's it, for better or for worse, my boycott is over. Thanx to everyone who visited, voted, and wrote, this project was far more entertaining than a movie ever could be. |
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| August 18, 1999 | So the poll says I should watch the movie and I will. It's a little past midnight here in California, and I'm going to take a much needed shower, get a bowl of ice cream, and watch the movie in the comfort of my own room... Then I'll sleep on it, and write something up in the morning. | ||||||||||||
| August 17, 1999 | I've been lagging in terms of updating this site and responding to e-mails. I'll definately get back to all the backlogged e-mails today though. Also, it looks like the yes vote is going to win. I think no needs about 1000 votes in order to capture the lead. I'm just glad it's ahead of choice 3. If I do go see the movie, I think after I post my opinion, the BBP will be over, unless something strikes me that needs to be made fun of... | ||||||||||||
| August 13, 1999 | So it's Friday the 13th...oooohhh, scary, wonder how many people are going to see TBWP tonight. I checked my web stats and apparently the site's popularity peaked on Aug 10th. I Xamined some of the stats more carefully, especially the "referrals" part and found that quite a variety of people have been linking to this site.
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| August 12, 1999 | I've realized that even though "yes" is winning right now, if "It doesn't matter because I'm fucking dumb" makes a comeback and ends up with a majority, I won't know what that means I should do. Any ideas? Please refrain from the lame, "go kill yourself" e-mails, because if you vote for choice number 3, you're actually telling ME that YOU are fucking dumb...More good/bad e-mails have arrived, nothing too new; however, I got one that I think deserves to up here, and is concise enough for most people to get through. I think most people should be able to identify with it in someway: From: Daniel Westbrook someone@somewhere.com To: rubicon@uclink4.berkeley.edu Subject: Opinion from just an average Joe Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 12:18:46 -0400 You seem to be getting a lot of heat for making some casual observations. Just wanted to give you my opinion, given the following: - I'm just a regular movie goer. I'm not a film student/critic/distributor. I'm the guy that gets pissed off paying $7 a ticket to see a piece of crap and $10 for a snack that wouldn't feed a Chihuahua. - I'm a big fan of horror and sci-fi, i.e. even if the movie was bad, I still might like it just because of the special effects and/or "creepiness". - I can easily believe a movie premise (e.g. humans as batteries in "The Matrix"). Why you should continue you boycott: The Blair Witch Project just isn't that good. Yes, it did creep me out a little and I did allow myself to get caught up in it, but that's about it. The actors did about 10 times as much whining as you've supposedly done on your web page. My God, how did the people who accuse you of whining survive the movie?? I didn't mind the low quality of the film until the end when I really wanted to see what the actors were seeing. And guess what, I couldn't because of the shaky cameras and crappy lighting. What was she looking at in the twigs, what was in the basement, etc.?? I thought about seeing it again just to see the last 15 minutes, as if the film was going to be clearer the second time around? Then there was the TONS of stupid behavior. I can believe that these guys got lost in the woods, but I couldn't believe their moronic behavior once they got lost. A hamster with Alzheimer's could make better decisions. All you need to know is that in a crowded movie theater in Atlanta, after standing in a line that wrapped around the mall, the audience let out a collecting "Oh, man" at the end of the film. One guy shouted "That movie sucked! I'm getting my money back!". Best of luck |
August 11, 1999 | I "found" a new picture that shows the Blair Witch, it can be found in the filmmakers section. It also seems as though there are several holes in my argument. First off, I received an e-mail concerning the Mystery Men release date. Some people say it was pushed back due to Blair Witch, others say it was always scheduled to be released on August 6th. Secondly, I've been getting several e-mails concerning my loose blaiming tactics. I received a wonderful e-mail from Mike Monello, the co-producer of TBWP, here it is: Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1999 12:36:54 +0800 Subject: The Blair Bitch Project From: "Mike Monello" someone@somewhere.com To: rubicon@uclink4.berkeley.edu Heh! Just a quick note to tell you I love the parody page, especially the rollovers and mike's audio. And since you've voiced your opinion so creatively about the release pattern, I figured you deserved some kind of response. I can't speak for Artisan, but the brouhaha over our movie took the five of us at Haxan by complete surprise. Let's face it, a feature film with no stars, no special effects, and shot on a cheap Hi8 camera ain't exactly the recipe for breaking box office records. I'm still stunned by all the attention. Releasing the film on 27 screens was Artisan's way of testing the waters to see how people would take to the film. But to really clear the waters, the distribution strategy has nothing to do with Haxan Films. We make movies, we don't distribute them. Anyhow, I hope you eventually get to see the movie, and I hope you like it. In the meantime, I'll continue to visit the page, as I'm a sucker for a good parody! Sincerely, Mike Monello Co-Producer, The Blair Witch Project Obviously I did not offend him because he, like any other rational human being understands that this whole site is just a joke, and up in good fun. I made a mistake in putting the blame on Haxan, though I still blame the filmmakers for not having enough confidence in their movie to wait a few days and see what other distributors had to say. I guess my anger goes towards Artisan, or actually to the world in general because if someone has what is considered to be a "good" thing, it shouldn't have to go through sooooo many hurdles and be subject to a "marketing strategy" to ensure its success. |
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| August 10, 1999 | Alrighty, I've received many more e-mails ranging from "You are an idiot" to "This is the best site I have ever seen". Besides comments about the site, I've found people either telling me to see the movie or to continue boycotting. Therefore, I have created a little poll, which can be found at the top of this page. Here's the deal. I attempted to see the movie on July 17th, and started my boycott that same day. At 11:59:59pm PDT I will check the status of this poll and listen to its results the very next day, either seeing the movie and ending my boycott, or continuing my boycott forever... | ||||||||||||
 August 8, 1999 |
So 2 big things, publicity wise, have happened in recent days. All of a sudden I received 700+ hits today. This is due to the front page link that Justin, of atomic411, put on his page...AND that this site is the only one listed in the Anti-Blair Witch Project catagory under Yahoo. Now that people are coming to the site, they feel the need to e-mail me. Below, is one of the first ones I received. Needless to say, the person did not understand that I am not saying the movie is bad, in fact I think it'd probably be pretty good, but I'm boycotting it due to a disagreement with their marketing scheme. From: someone@somewhere.com Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1999 22:59:58 EDT Subject: Your Blair Witch parody To: rubicon@uclink4.berkeley.edu What a lot of effort you've wasted on sour grapes! In the first place, it was no one's fault but your own that you couldn't get tickets for a movie on the opening weekend, least of all the filmmakers', considering they sold the film months ago and had no control over its release. They were damn lucky to get a project onto one screen, let alone 28. I suppose you also whine about hip bands not playing bigger venues just so you can get tickets. Boo fucking hoo. Second, judging by the syntax employed by your friend who panned TBWP, he seems unqualified to pass judgment. It is rather curious the way supposedly creative student types attack TBWP. It makes you wonder if they would feel the same way were it their project that had become wildly successful. Any creative effort, especially one that stands convention on its head the way TBWP does deserves some support. Perhaps your friend would be happier if films simply continue along the same well-worn Hollywood path. Everyone is a critic (or "cricket", as Joyce Cary pointed out), but it takes little skill or creativity (or balls, for that matter) to copy a site - nearly verbatim - just in attempt to parody it. Perhaps someone should also point out to you that your appropriation of Mondrian's work is derivative. Didn't like Blair Witch? Fine, go out and do better; but please - stop whining about someone elses success. It's merely pathetic. - Robert Haines San Francisco |
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| July 31, 1999 | My friend, we'll call him Double D, a 20 year old black male who attends UC Berkeley, but will be studing abroad in Hong Kong next year, went to see the Blair Witch Project on July 29th. He hated it. I believe his comment was, "Didn't like it, don't wanna remember it, don't recommened it." He's the first person I have talked to that didn't like the movie. So I went on-line and found a review that was much like Double D's. It can be found at NYC CitySearch. Double D's main complaint was that the movie did not keep his suspension of disbelief alive, and what's a scary movie without suspension of disbelief. He thought the characters were just plain dumb, whether it be their dialogue, or their actions. He particularly disliked Heather Donahue. His analogy to her stupidity was, "You don't ever see no black bitch tryin' to film the Klan. If there's some witch out there killin' people, you don't go out and film it, you run the other way!" It's now open all across the country and my boycott is still alive. | ||||||||||||
| July 25, 1999 | I found out yesterday that my friend Dave wanted to go see Mystery Men on his birthday, July 31st. Unfortunately because the demand to see the BWP is so high, Mystery Men has moved its opening date back one week because BWP opens in major theaters this Friday. The Blair Witch Project people's marketing plan has gone too far. | ||||||||||||
| July 23, 1999 | Well, my life without the Blair Witch Project has been just dandy. The 6 kids I had at camp for the week of July 19-23 were awesome and I just passed by the Act 1& 2 theaters yesterday and there were two huge lines. One for the seats for the next showing, and one to buy tickets for next month I presume...My friend Dave suggested that I hand out flyers for this web site down in line, so I may do that today... | ||||||||||||
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