I found myself sitting in a movie theater on Friday afternoon--one of those cherry theaters with stadium seating, Dolby Surround Sound, four dollar cokes and three dollar popcorn. The tickets were purchased the day before by a friend of a friend. We had to stand in line outside the theater before the movie started and would pass a similar line when we left. Through no fault of my own (I was invited because, well, I like movies), I was part of the hype surrounding the biggest picture to open this weekend. A movie with no stars, no budget, no digital sharks or alligators, and lots of bad and disorienting camera work--you see it was an independent film.

And yet everyone who was hip to the noise wanted to see this film.

I'd heard about the Blair Witch Project earlier in the year. It was the hit of Sundance. Three documentary filmmakers went out into the woods to find the answers to the legend of the Blair Witch. They were never seen again. And this movie is culled from the footage found--sans filmmakers. A psychological horror movie about being lost in the woods with something--a witch? a bear? raccoons?--after them. I thought I'd probably end up seeing the thing on video. We don't always get those hip independent films around here. No one wants to see them, you see.

But everyone wanted to see this film. Everyone.

I was in a similar situation when Star Wars came out earlier in the year. Everyone wanted to see it. Some friends bought the tickets, we stood in line and eventually, we all saw it. At least a couple of times. I am actually behind almost everyone I know because I've only seen it twice.

Of course, except for people my age who grew up believing that one day we would be able to harness the amazing abilities of the Force, everyone hates Jar Jar. This was the worst movie conceit since, well, anything. Of course, everyone loves the pod race.

The hype. The conversation. The backlash.

There will be something similar to this with the Blair Witch Project. Because nothing--especially an independent "horror" movie without gore or explanation--lives up to the hype.

Massive hype collapses in on itself and becomes massively disappointing.

The hype told everyone they had to see the Blair Witch Project. There would be answers to all the nagging questions posed on the website. There would be scares like we've never seen before. Critics called the movie the scariest movie in the last three decades--scarier than Jaws, Poltergeist and E.T. combined! We want to know why it sold out in theaters all over. We want to know what those people who have already seen it already know. We want to know the answers! We must have the answers!

And that's why when the movie was over, there was a lot of grousing about how much the Blair Witch Project sucked. There were no answers. No bogeymen. No resolution. In fact, it turned out there were more answers on the website than in the movie itself.

This is the problem. We want to know the answer to everything, and we want the answers now. There was no way we could wait any longer to see this movie (the hype was too big) because that would just be more time spent wondering what the answer was.

It's a familiar theme from this year.

Why did the kids kill at Columbine? Was it Marilyn Manson? The Basketball Diaries? The Internet?

Why did JFK, Jr.'s plane go down? Was he a good pilot? Did he get confused?

And the latest mass shooting in Atlanta. Was it Internet day trading? Did he kill his first wife? Can we be protected from this madness?

We must know the answers to everything--even if there are none.

Here is the answer to the Blair Witch Project: You'll never know. This will be a cult film causing people to dress up with the witch stick figure painted all over their clothes, sport witchy tattoos and mumbling nonsense and none of these people will tell you either. Watching the movie won't help because the truth is so deep that it's been buried by the massive hype.

All the detective work in the world won't find the answers either. There is no place to look but inside yourself. And no one wants to look in there.

Matt Worley can't wait for the next big must-see movie to come out next week.