`BLAIR WITCH PROJECT' WORKS MUCH MAGIC.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

``The Blair Witch Project'' is a textbook case of timing. Coming as it does after a slew of slaughterhouse horror movies where blood was thicker than originality, this creepy treatise in terror recalls a time when fear, not form, was the filmmaker's goal. This is a truly original movie, tapping into primal anxieties while blazing its own unique trail into the dark and foreboding woods.

The film's premise is so perfect that it's a wonder no one had ever thought of it before. Then again, Hollywood was too busy cranking out franchises like ``Friday the 13th'' (nine movies), ``Halloween'' (six) and ``Nightmare on Elm Street'' (six) to bother with unprofitable invention. The ``Scream'' series and its clones have continued the formula, albeit with a mocking, self-referential tone.

``Blair Witch'' doesn't bother with gore or guts or glorified serial killers. Its plot goes straight to the darkest recesses of our collective imagination, borrowing from such diverse sources as the brothers Grimm, MTV's ``Real World'' (from hell) and the bogeyman demons that chase us in the pitch-black night.

Here's the setup: Three student filmmakers hike into the Maryland woods to make a documentary about a local legend, the Blair Witch. They're never heard from again. A year later, the footage they shot is found buried beneath an abandoned house. Those scenes - sometimes shaky, often out-of-focus, but always revealing - constitute ``The Blair Witch Project.''

The idea provides an outstanding vehicle for a couple of struggling first-time directors to make their debut. Film school classmates Eduardo Sanchez and Dan Myrick wrote and directed ``The Blair Witch Project,'' although the movie's three cast members actually handled the camera work and improvised most of the dialogue. The special effects are limited to some spooky rock formations and an alarming array of twig figures hanging from trees near the kids' campsite.

But budget restraints don't make the cumulative effect of the movie any less disquieting. In the film's early moments, we watch the earnest documentarians interviewing Maryland townsfolk and filming solemn scenes outside cemeteries. Once they venture into the woods, most of the footage comes from the behind-the-scenes videotape shot by the group's leader, Heather (Heather Donahue), a resourceful young woman with a Capt. Ahab-like determination to see her project through to the end.

The naturalistic footage perfectly captures the growing frustrations and tensions that Heather and her fellow students - cameraman Joshua (Joshua Leonard) and sound technician Michael (Michael Williams) - begin to feel as they wander the forest, their bearings and their hope waning with each successive day. Rarely has nightfall seemed so soul-shattering.

``The Blair Witch Project'' works as a masterful piece of psychological horror, but the movie stands as just one piece of an elaborate mythology. The film's Web site (blairwitch.com) sketches out a time line and continues the story with details of a police investigation and interviews with family members left behind. A special on the Sci-Fi Channel and various book tie-ins will also expand the narrative.

It's a kind of creative synergy that could make ``The Blair Witch Project'' one of the most influential movies in years. As it stands, it will likely have the same effect on forest camping that ``Jaws'' had on ocean swimming.

Be very afraid.

THE FACTS

The film: ``The Blair Witch Project'' (R; much vulgar language).

The stars: Heather Donahue, Michael Williams, Joshua Leonard.

Behind the scenes: Written, directed and edited by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez.

Running time: One hour, 27 minutes.

Playing: Nuart Theatre in West Los Angeles. Expands to other theaters July 23.

Our rating: Four stars.

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Photo

Photo: Michael Williams, left, Joshua Leonard and Heather Donahue star in ``The Blair Witch Project.''