So I finally saw the Blair Witch Project b/c it was a 99 cent rental, SPOILERS in this thread, duh, I think that gamer thinking ruined the movie for me Options

[Wounded Ronin]

So, after many years I finally rented and watched the Blair Witch Project. I am sick with some kind of throat infection right now and I am lying in bed and bored and just watching movies.

I didn't really understand why it is a horror movie. Simply getting lost in the woods and/or not having adequate equipment and supplies while in a wilderness setting is in and of itself much more scary than weird noises at night or kindergarten art projects hung up in the trees.

Just from having played this game, all kinds of questions were running through my mind about the protagonists of the movie.

*Upon losing the map and appearing to walk in circles while using the compas, why didn't the film students attempt to navigate by stars and walk in a chosen compas direction? Even people who played the original Operation Flashpoint would think of this...remember the level where you actually have to look at the sky and navigate using the stars in order to escape from the Soviet camp and return to NATO-controlled territory?

*Why did the film students not bring enough food for their excusion, but they apparently brought enough film, batteries, and light bulbs to be filming and running 2 cameras 24/7 for days after running out of food?

*Why are they shown running out of food but not water? For that matter, why didn't they bring some iodine tablets along for a situation where they needed to drink river water?

*Why didn't they bring any firearms? Getting lost in the woods, getting bitten by a rabid dog, and then dying a screaming madman is far, far scarier than any of the supernatural elements portrayed in that film.According to a report I found Maryland veterninary labs reported 431 confirmed cases of rabies in 2007. You know what else would be a lot worse than what is portrayed in that film? Accidentally stumbling upon a meth lab and being murdered (or worse) by the meth maker(s). That right there would be getting into Devil's Rejects or Hills Have Eyes territory. According to this website the students could have brought rifles or shotguns with them legally on their expedition. Handguns are probably legal to carry around in the woods in the middle of nowhere but apparently transporting the handguns in their car would have technically been illegal, but that's only if none of the students had a CCW. Even the "Wilderness" DOS game would sometimes spawn you with a Ruger Security Six revolver which you could use to shoot dangerous wildlife such as rattlesnakes or what have you.

The list goes on and on the more you think about it. Radios, MREs, wool clothing (as opposed to cotton blue jeans), a first aid kit, etc. would have been perfectly reasonable and in-character things for people to take if they were planning to navigate off trail in the woods for a couple of days. As a gamer, you think of all this stuff the moment you imagine a trip like that through the woods because you're thinking about your character sheet and all these EQ lists full of camping and survival items.

I think it would have been scarier if the film had just been about a bunch of retarded film students getting lost in the woods and slowly dying of starvation and exposure it would have been a lot more harrowing and disturbing than it was when they tried to include the supernatural elements.