As usual, I appreciate your thoughts. Honestly, I'm not a big fan of horror films, and while I find them unsettling, they have a limited sphere of impact; my suspension of disbelief can only stretch so far. The Blair Witch Project, though, was so vividly disturbing that I might even suggest that your 9/10 is too low. It's a first-rate film, for sure.
I remember years after the film was released hearing a friend say "I don't know man--either those were the best actors of all time, or something really was going on."
I think it designates it as one of the great cinematic achievements in history that over a decade later a film has generally-levelheaded people pondering out loud whether it could possibly be fiction.
I totally agree. I find that "horror" element not in masses of blood and guts and gore in general! But more in the psychological impact of a movie. And this one hit home perfectly! It is amazing how many people actually thought they were watching "real" footage. Just goes to show what a great job the team did. :)
Yup. I think the idea that necessity is the mother of invention rings true; it's easy for lazy filmmakers to assume that the psychological impact of a film is tied to how grotesque the images are, when they've got a sufficiently large budget to be lazy with, rather than figuring out what it is about ourselves, other people and the world around us that elicits genuine horror.