'Blair' scares off 'Bride'
"Runaway Bride" was last weekend's runaway at the box
office, but "The Blair Witch "Project" scared away the
rest of the competition in the minds of InfoBeat readers. "Blair Witch," a
low-budget faux-documentary about the mysterious disappearance of three witch-hunters in
Maryland, earned the most positive responses (70%) and most total votes (896) when pitted
against "Bride," the smart-shark suspenser "Deep Blue Sea," and
big-budget ghost story "The Haunting" in InfoBeat's inaugural "Flicks
Picks" reader's poll. "Easily the scariest movie of the past 10 years, not even
'Silence of the Lambs' can match it for relentless, white-knuckle creepiness. No cheap
scares, no gore, just squirm in your seat terror," one reader wrote about
"Blair." That sentiment was echoed by 498 voters who rated "Blair
Witch" "great." Fourteen percent found the film "didn't live up to the
hype," but another 14% also found the film achieved near-great status.
If you believe the box office, "Runaway Bride" was the movie-goers'
choice, as it earned $35.1 million last weekend, outpacing "Blair" by $5.9
million. But almost half InfoBeat readers were equally split between calling the film
either "great" or "below average." Out of 676 votes, 23% found the
chemistry between stars Richard Gere and Julia Roberts good, but the film as a whole a
"cliched" experience. But readers who wanted to see that kind of movie got what
they were looking for. "It was enjoyable. Gere and Roberts still maintain the same
charisma and chemistry that poured out from their first pairing in 'Pretty Women.' There
are many different situations in which they could be cast, but the feeling that they
belong together would remain prominent."
Meanwhile, the two special-effects-driven scare flicks paring off against
"Blair" and "Bride" didn't fair nearly as well. "The
Haunting," sporting another big-name cast in Liam Neeson and Catherine Zeta-Jones,
was widely panned by InfoBeaters, with almost 50% finding it a sub-par experience,
especially those that had already seen "Blair." "Too much CGI, look what
the 'Blair Witch' did with just suspense. Jan De Bont is a hack!" All told, 28% found
it below average, while another 22% really disliked it, ranking it a "1." Only
13% thought it was great, while slightly more (123 voters) found it above average.
As for killer sharks, "Deep Blue Sea" found itself to be a real
love-it-or-hate-it film. While the majority of respondents said it was poor, 38% said
"great" or "near-great." "Look out it's going to eat me ... what
a surprise," was one response, tempered with a solid, "Good special effects. Fun
to be scared of the ocean again!"
