Author's note: if you have not yet seen this movie, do not read any further.

I had the luxury of viewing a pirated copy of "The Blair Witch Project" nearly two months before its nationwide theatre release. My brother Patrick downloaded it off the internet and then used a video card to project it onto the television in our basement. He told me that "three graduate film students went into the woods to make a documentary on the myth of the Blair Witch. They never came back; a year later their footage was found." He was going to show me the footage. I was intrigued. He started the film around midnight and went upstairs, leaving me alone in the basement.

I then experienced the scariest film of my life. It was terrifying. For the last 45 minutes, I kept looking away and telling myself that it wasn't real. I had trouble sleeping that night, so I slept on our couch and kept the lights and TV on. I was still scared when I awoke.

At breakfast, Patrick told me that the movie was actually fictional and the only reason that he said it was a true story was "to enhance the illusion." It worked! I laughed because I couldn't believe that a film could frighten me that much. I proceeded to invite my best friend over, and then I created the same scenario as my brother had done for me. After half an hour, my friend, a collegiate lacrosse athlete, ran upstairs and asked me to come watch the rest of the movie with him. I laughed at him, but he wouldn't leave without me, so I went down and watched the second half again. I didn't hear about "Blair Witch" for about a month.

Then the media gets wind of it …

At first, I was excited when I read the first couple of reviews "Blair Witch" received in entertainment magazines and newspapers. I was glad that it was getting some attention. But then I read a few more articles, and then a few more articles, and then I saw a few clips, then the previews, and finally heard by word of mouth that this was a really scary mockumentary. Everybody knew that it wasn't real. The media had stated in every article that it was a fictional movie. When I went to see it in the theatre on opening night, there was a line around the block, and everyone was talking about the rumors they had heard from their friends. And when I finally sat down to watch the movie, the atmosphere was so loud and overcrowded that nobody could seriously be scared by anything onscreen. Many people were disappointed, and some of the disappointment can be attributed to the media.

When the Irish film "The Crying Game" was released in 1992, the media didn't give away "the little secret" because it would detract from the experience (I won't either). The reviews protected the integrity of the film by only covering the basic plot and telling their readers to "go and see the film." So why didn't the media protect "Blair Witch's" integrity? Would it have been that hard to mention the horrifying experience and not mention that it was a mockumentary? The media's hype was a great disservice

A new type of horror film

Another reason moviegoers were disappointed was because they were accustomed to a different type of horror movie. A type of horror movie like "A Nightmare on Elm Street," "Halloween" or the '90s blockbuster equivalent, "Scream." These types of horror films are based on audience participation. There is yelling and screaming and unexpected twists. They show blood, killing, gratuitous sex and locker room shower scenes until the protagonist is the only person left standing in the "climactic" finish. But these horror films sold because we didn't know better than to watch the same bad repetitious films.

"Blair Witch" has changed the look of horror films. Instead of thriving on quick cuts and gore, it thrives on long shots of darkness and flourishes on our psychological fears of reality. This is a monumentally original idea. It takes our normal fears and depicts them on the screen so we become terrified. It's simple, brilliant and terrifying, and those are the three words that best explain "The Blair Witch Project."

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