I suspect Blair Witch needed to be seen before the hype and before the reviews to have a powerful effect. There was nothing about it that interested me, but I might have felt different if I'd seen it without any preparation, as I did "The Excorcist". After all, it is fear of the unknown and unexpected that really scares people, as Petr suggested above.

So how can you be scared when you've already heard all about it before seeing it?

Be that as it may, I virtually never go to see horror films anyway, but I don't mind a film with gogo suspense in it.

One that worked hard on the suspense angle was "Signs", but the basic premise (at least to me) was so ridiculous that I couldn't take it seriously. I just don't believe in aliens that come all the way to Earth to do something that trivial and that clumsily executed. They couldn't even get through a locked wooden door, for heaven's sake! Ludicrous. Oh, and the kids were weirder than the aliens too.

- LH