REVIEW: Blair Witch

- By Stephen Folklore

When news broke that Adam Wingard’s (You’re Next, The Guest) latest film The Woods was actually a sequel to The Blair Witch Project, I’ll fully admit I kind of lost my shit. Filmed in secrecy, Wingard did a fantastic job of not letting the cat out of the bag and so did the cast & crew, especially nowadays where internet basically breaks news quicker than it actually happens.

To me The Blair Witch Project is undoubtedly one the greatest horror films ever made. It wasn’t the first found footage film, but it revolutionized it unlike anything that has been done prior and to this very day. Every time a found footage film comes out it’s compared to TBWP. Everything they try to achieve within their films, TBWP done it first. There’s no trick or gimmick they can pull from their sleeves that TBWP didn’t do beforehand and did it better. Like I say, TBWP wasn’t the first found footage film, but what it did do spectacularly was invent a mythology and atmosphere I’ve never experienced with a movie. Its accompanying documentaries even more so cemented TBWP into horror-film folklore.

So what will Wingard bring to the table that so many have failed to achieve? He isn’t just making another found footage film, he’s walking on sacred ground here. He’s venturing into a territory that if you balls-up, get ready for some severe hate. If you’re going to make a sequel as well, you better be a fuckin magician as you have to seriously have a trick that nobody has seen, and if you haven’t, you had better have done your homework with everything ever associated with TBWP to further the story (every documentary, every myth, every case file). You have to treat this as if it were a real legend and a real missing person’s case, kind of like ‘Based on true events’.

I’m really gutted to say Wingard does none of this.

Apart from a few flimsy nods to the original movie, this is in no way a sequel, it’s more of a companion piece fused together with a reboot. This could’ve easily been a spin-off or stand alone story, but looking at it as a potential new franchise, Wingard and co have basically re-made it for a new generation with a new set of characters, but just with nods to the original so not to piss off the hardcore fans, very much like J.J. Abrams recently did with Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The major difference with Abrams is that he at least kept the original atmosphere of the original films and then expanded the story, Wingard doesn’t. Blair Witch almost replicates TBWP scene for scene, but without the interviews of the townsfolk of Burkittsville (which is what made the original great). Wingard will argue he’s added lots, but if lots means flying tents and seriously over-the-top jump scares, then I beg to differ. The only thing he does add is the Witch herself. Unlike the original, you never saw the infamous Blair Witch, but that was the great thing. Everything was left to rumour, to myth, like every urban legend should be. Here we do get glimpses of the Witch. Not fully, but enough to see that some of it is CGI (enough said).

The film itself is very well made and looks great, but I’d argue it should. The indie-original had next to no budget, but managed to do wonders. With the budget and technology the filmmakers have at their disposal now, they have no excuse, so they should get that part right.

My major problem I have with the movie is there’s no atmosphere. No budget in the world can help you create magic. The second is the characters are very poorly written. The decisions they make throughout the movie are just plain stupid and insults the viewer. The third and main difficulty I have is this is NOT a sequel! No matter what the filmmakers say, no matter how much Wingard argues, it’s just not.

Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 got an horrendous time when it came out and hasn’t fared any better since, but I liked it for many reasons. At least the director attempted something different, he wasn’t just replicating the first movie. It actually had something to say and continued the story, Blair Witch has nothing to say, remakes the first film and doesn’t go anywhere at all.

After 17 years and all the speculation I so much wanted another Blair Witch movie, but unfortunately endless loud noises and flying tents just isn’t good enough I’m afraid.

- By Stephen Folklore