“The Blair Witch Project” is a pioneer in the found footage genre. It was all the rage upon its release in the summer of 1999. While I wasn’t a fan I understand its place in horror history. It ushered in a two-decade run of found footage films; some excellent but the majority unwatchable.
“Blair Witch” was released in 2016, and serves as a sort-of sequel/follow-up to the original. There are plenty of throwbacks and references. Its 89 minutes – and it’s a Lionsgate production. Proceed with caution.
James Donahue (James Allen McCune) is the brother of Heather; the main character from the original film. He grabs friends (Callie Hernandez, Brandon Scott, Corbin Reid) cameras, and a pair of kooky locals (Valorie Curry and Wes Robinson), and they head out into the haunted woods to find her.
Two characters in the haunted, scary woods
There are some good elements. Each of the friends wears their own camera. This results in multiple shots and perspectives of the same situations and conversations. I also thought the sound editing was excellent. There are several scenes at night where the noises coming from the dark woods are chilling. The subtle way the characters voices echo makes me believe they actually filmed the movie outside in the woods.
Yawn
Ultimately, it’s just another entry into the ever growing list of found footage flops. The characters don’t act organic – which can be said for many horror movie players, but here its to the next level. There’s also no chance of success. We the viewer knows that once the scary stuff starts happening there’s no way out. So really, what’s the point? By the end, you’ll be hoping for the batteries on the cameras to die just to be done with it.
And spoiler alert – by the end they are all dead. So who found the cameras?
“Blair Witch” is a pretty bad movie. I don’t love the original, but at least its original. Stick with that if you want a boring walk through the woods.
“Blair Witch” is currently available to stream.
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