The Blair Witch Project

I watched The Blair Witch Project on Halloween and it was one of the most scary films i think I've ever seen (apart from possibly the Saw series), and the amazing thing was that afterwards i realised that you never actually see anything scary, the whole film plays on the audience's imagination. It's also quite inspiring because it's similar to the thriller i will create in that it was very low budget of around £2000 - cheap for a cinema screened film of course.
I think the most effective factor of the film is the iconography:

Setting
Set in a large forest it provides the scariness factor of shadows, noises in the night time and total isolation - i think this isolation plays on audience fears the most therefore making it even more thrilling. This is all also emphasised by the fact that they are lost and are in unknown territory.

Mise-en-Scene
Is generally very dark - this provides the unknown factor again, the lack of glamour to their clothes and general look adds realism to the film/story so it makes it seem more believable and therefore scary.

Camera
Is entirely handheld (or at least on a very shaky track) so it heightens the sense of their isolation from the world because it allows the audience to suspend their belief and think that there isn't a film crew there. At some points the screen is just black because it is night and they don't want to turn their lights on, and i think this panics the audience a little. It's almost like a break from having to close your eyes in fright but at the same time you want them to turn a light on in case something jumps out - so it dramatically increases the suspense.

Colour
Is all natural browns and greens - which adds realism again. Then sometimes when it's black + white it makes it seem supernatural and almost adds glamour - in an old movie style way. By glamour i mean something out of the ordinary - they seem to have very normal lives and i think the black + white symbolises this extraordinary event (also could be put into 'camera')

Rating: ****

The Illusionist

What i found interesting about the illusionist before i watched it was the fact that it was a PG and still managed to a thriller - i know they don't all have to contain violence but it's a very common convention. The film is about a magician Eisenheim (Edward Norton) who falls in love with Sophie as a young boy but she is a Duchess and the two are forbidden to see each other.
Years later he comes to town as a master illusionist and the 2 meet again at a performance, they oinstantly realise they are still in love and make a plan to run away. However Sophia is engaged to the Crown Prince he finds out of her love and she is found dead in a river.

From that point on most of the story is driven by one question 'Is she dead or was it a trick/an illusion?'. After she is found 'dead' Eisenheim leaves town and sets up a different kind of show where he summons the dead (however it is all a trick) and he summons Sophia and finally himself at the end. The final scene is him running to Sophia and therefore showing she was alive all along and they are now going to start a new life together as everyone believes them to be dead.

Back to the point about the PG rating, i think this shows that the film is easy to second guess because there is really only one you want to know - is she dead or alive, and that it's easy to understand. Despite this i think the way it explores pushing the boundaries of what people will believe is really successful and interesting.

Rating: ***

Review: Primal Fear

This film is a mixture of psychological and courtroom thriller and, as i said in a previous post, is one of the most amazing films i think I've ever seen.
The film is all about the murder of the archbishop and the prime suspect is an altar boy (Edward Norton - who is pure genius in this role) as he is found covered in blood running from the police - all he remembers is that he 'blacked out' like he has been since he was smaller.
The reason for these black-outs turns out to be due to schizophrenia, the scene where his schizophrenia is discovered is shown below, and is probably my fabourite out of the entire film.


The schizphrenia is thought to have occured from the physically and emotional abuse Aaron (Edward Norton) suffered at the hands of his father and the sexual abuse he suffered from the archbishop - this being his alleged motive for the murder.

What i particularly enjoyed about the film was how it explored blind trust and instinct, Martin Vail (Richard Gere) is the Lawyer of Aaron and he blindly trusts him with nothing but his word as the evidence stacks up against him.

Rating: *****

Review: Psycho

I enjoyed Hitchcock's Psycho, and i found the character of Norman Bates very intriguing, particularly the psychological reasoning behind his behaviour. I also thought that the behaviour and death of (female lead) was interesting, because although at first she is shown as deceitful and sexual the audience still empathises with her and expects her to escape. Then when she is suddenly and brutally killed it comes as quite a shock, i think Hitchcock chose to put this twist in to get the audience to expect the unexpected, and to hint at the other major twists left in the story.
I thought the setting was perfect also, to me the haunted mansion screamed something warped happening behind closed curtains. The house seemed to have a sense of regality to it and was probably quite valuable, but once inside this is killed by the stuffed animals which i think signifies the other losses in the story - his mother, the business. Another point about the setting is how isolated it was, she seemed so trapped in the tiny cabin making her even more vulnerable
However, i think that the climatic scene with Bates' mother's skeleton was shot and edited quite poorly, because although it does still make you jump it could have been to look even more twisted. To make Bates seem more warped the light probably should have been shafted in through a tiny window, and i think the skeleton should have been positioned as if supposedly doing something - like knitting. Also possibly wearing make-up or jewewellry - but perhaps this would make it too comic.
Overall though i think the film was brilliant, and i think Hitchcock was a genius.

Rating: ***