<i>Blair Witch</i> Barf Syndrome

Movie theater employees are enduring something even more frightening than The Blair Witch Project - having to clean up after fans who get sick after watching the low-budget horror hit.

Since the fictional documentary opened last month, workers at movie theaters have had to get out the gloves and mops as moviegoers get motion sickness from watching the film's jerky, first-person perspective.

"The first weekend someone threw up in the women's restroom, the men's restroom and in the hallway," said Kris Monroe, manager at Lefont Plaza Theater in Atlanta. "It's not pleasant to clean up.

"One guy - he was really cool - he threw up in the restroom and he just came out and asked us for a mop."

At the Kendall Square Cinema in Cambridge, Mass., assistant manager Nancy Campbell said she has started making announcements informing moviegoers to leave the cinema if they feel nauseated. Cinema staffers were upset about having to clean up messy seats.

"It's beyond the scope of service we like to provide here," Campbell said.

The independent film, which has so far raked in $80 million since its release, follows three student filmmakers as they venture into the woods to track a legendary witch. The mock documentary features footage supposedly shot by the students and discovered in the woods a year after their disappearance.

Although blood and gore is virtually nonexistent, the cameras are in constant motion as the characters tramp through the woods. Throughout the one-hour, 27-minute film, the picture is often grainy and out of focus.

"We've heard different analyses of why it happens," said producer Robin Cowie. "Some simply may get a little motion sickness; that combined with the tension and the pace of the film."

Someone vomits at just about every showing of the movie at AMC Colonial 18 in suburban Lawrenceville, said Bonnie Hunsaker, managing director.

"This past weekend we put up a sign that said the hand-held camera can create motion sickness and if you're susceptible to motion sickness you may want to rethink your viewing choice," she said.