Letters

THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT

"Their terrifying and disturbing movie stands alongside Hitchcock's thrillers. Like a fine wine, it is to be savored and revisited." KARL LOGAN Auburn, N.Y.

The Blair Witch Project leaves things unsaid, undone and unanswered [CINEMA, Aug. 16]. One truly gets scared by not knowing everything. Whether by design or accident, the makers of this film have created a movie that lets the audience use two things that Hollywood rarely engages: intelligence and imagination. CHRIS BYZEWSKI San Diego

The public has been enduring the Blair Witch Project with little comment, but seeing it on the cover of TIME is the last straw. If 81 minutes' worth of twigs and leaves is all that's required to create a successful blockbuster, we've solved the unemployment problem. MICHAEL VAN EESBEEK Windsor, Canada

It's funny that in the technology-driven '90s, our idea of horror is a walk in the woods. DAVE DOUGLAS Summit, N.J.

My husband and I saw Blair Witch last weekend and hated it. But we have nothing but admiration for the directors--$100 million in ticket sales so far from a $35,000 movie. Go, go, go!!!! MARISA GRAZIANO ROBERT GORMAN Blue Bell, Pa.

Hey, Freddie Kruger! Retire the mask, put down the ax and take a lesson on how real horror evolves! Nothing so purely frightening has happened in a good 30 years. I have never understood why contemporary Hollywood's "Oooh--scary!" people wouldn't support the proved fact that the unseen beast is the most hair raising of all. Hail to Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez for following their instincts and not the usual commercial formula. AMANDA STEAD GHIO Warren, Conn.

The success of the Blair Witch Project suggests that the film industry is on the verge of a great democratization. The technology is now in place to change the way films are made, sold and shared. Thanks to computers, digital cameras and the Internet, many independent filmmakers can afford to make, market and distribute their own work. Perhaps the immense pool of film talent that has lurked just beyond our local multiplex movie theaters has a better shot at the big screen now that it's armed with the resources to create a blockbuster of a different flavor. The savvy directors of The Blair Witch Project are pioneers in what is destined to be a new era in film. ADRIEN GLOVER, CO-FOUNDER Undergroundfilm.com New York City

The Blair Witch Project is being touted as a long-awaited antidote to the slick, overhyped, multimillion-dollar products of Hollywood, and that is just what it is. It stands for the proposition that with only a shoestring budget, inferior equipment, no script and three of the most unattractive, foulmouthed performers imaginable, you too can make a movie that is every bit as rotten as anything ever dreamed up by the major studios on a bad day. THOMAS A. DIMAGGIO York, Pa.

Three potty mouths in a thicket. ALYCE CROW Linwood, N.J.

As a Gen X-er, I'm really impressed with these young, talented filmmakers who aren't afraid to push the line when it comes to entertainment. As a moviegoer, I found watching an entertaining movie worth every penny of admission. I was scared out of my mind! SARA MILLER New City, N.Y.

I was really afraid after watching the movie The Blair Witch Project--afraid to trust a movie critic's rating again. This movie deserves a -3 1/2 stars for its predictable plot, endless photographic jarring and idiotic f______ dialogue. If this is a 3 1/2-star movie, boo, hiss--and help! JUDY COLTON Lititz, Pa.

The most interesting thing to happen came at the end, when the audience in the crowded theater booed. It's a boring film, and I can only echo what a patron at my showing said (once the booing stopped): "Now we know why it took only eight days to make." PEYTON HIGGISON Brunswick, Maine

The "Blah Witch Project" was just that--blah. And not scary. Its appeal to the younger set is not so much in its "bold sense of withholding" and "seeming artlessness" but in its Grimm-Golding mix, which zeroes in on the adolescent psyche's worst fears: fear of getting lost in the woods (a la Hansel and Gretel)--leaving home and being without guidance--and fear of the anarchy and tragedy that can ensue without adult supervision (a la Lord of the Flies). Coupled with the reality of the recent high school shootings, this is truly a "grimm" tale that hit gold. LAURA CAHNERS-FORD Charlotte, Vt.

A GENOCIDAL PAST

It is extremely disturbing that we should be entertaining the idea of forgetting about Cambodian genocide [WORLD, Aug. 16]. Have we so soon forgotten the lesson taught us by Hitler's Holocaust? The one lesson taught by that insane carnage is never to forget. If we allow the memory of such a horrific occurrence in Cambodia to fade from global memory, then there is a chance that it will happen again. Almost 2 million people were brutally slaughtered, but we're no closer to knowing why. The only man who could have told us easily, Pol Pot, died in 1998. The world's reaction to Cambodia is appalling. We need to dig deep into this, investigate it, find out why. It will be a black stain on the entire human race if we allow a man to slaughter uncounted men, women and children, literally setting the development of a country back centuries, and find no reason for it. All the world shares in that blame, America more than most. JESSE PAUL NELSON Tucson, Ariz.

As the daughter of parents who fled Cambodia to escape the Khmer, I am disheartened to tell people where I am from and have them ask if Cambodia is in Africa. I know what the Cambodian people have suffered and what they will continue to suffer, in Cambodia and even here in the U.S. and wherever else Cambodian refugees have relocated. I hope people will read your article and will want to learn more about how Cambodia is still being pressured by the U.S. and other countries. Cambodia is one of the forgotten countries with a long, hard past and a long, hard future. I am an American, an American who still remembers that we all, in this great land, came from some other country recently or a long, long time ago. PEA LAY MENG HE University Park, Pa.

TROUBLE IN NETLAND

To all who didn't practice due diligence before investing in "Netland" stocks [BUSINESS, Aug. 16]: you deserve the losses of greed. Even though the Net is the best economic thing since the Industrial Revolution, it isn't a magic boulevard. It is simply a convenient location with easy access to companies. One must still deal with the reality of what a company has to offer. Companies that provide products of real value are in it for the long haul. Those who can view the Internet only through "county fair" eyes should just buy their amazing Magic Mop and go home. MARIO CORONA Escondido, Calif.

IMAGINE A SPRINGER SENATE!

Truth is indeed stranger than fiction [NOTEBOOK, Aug. 16]. A group of Ohio Democrats, apparently in all seriousness, were promoting a Senate candidacy for tabloid trash talk show host Jerry Springer. [Although Springer has decided that he won't give up his television show to run], just think of the possibilities of a Springer U.S. Senate. The ringmaster could foster an environment in which members engage in fistfights, brawls and smashing chairs over one another's heads. What sport! OREN M. SPIEGLER Pittsburgh