That was one film where piracy offered an experience that the legitimate film experience couldn't have. I worked a swing shift, so my coworkers and I would have

That was one film where piracy offered an experience that the legitimate film experience couldn't have. I worked a swing shift, so my coworkers and I would have a bunch of free time at work and a coworker of mine had gotten into downloading movies from Hotline to fill the time. When he downloaded BWP, all we knew about it was that it was a file name 'Blair_Witch_Project.mpg' on some internet-connected server. There had been no publicity for it and it wasn't released in any theater in the area. When I watched it again in the theatre, it wasn't nearly as gripping as it was on the 17" monitor we used to watch it the first time. Plus, the lack of a steadicam made it actually better on a much smaller screen. All in all, I don't agree with the premise of the article. I'm not even sure I'd call BWP good. It was creative, but I don't know that it worked without the uncertainty that surrounded my first viewing. Also, for me, there was a much better horror film that came out later that year called 'Stir of Echoes', so even if BWP is considered great, it's not, for me, the last great horror film.