“Once again that fear of being lost in the woods has been reignited!”
In 1999, the world had a bomb dropped on it when that iconic classic independent film The Blair Witch Project was released. It changed the way horror films were made and brought forth what is now known as “found footage” horror. Nowadays, this genre of horror is everywhere, and although some have been better than others, none will ever have the impact that Project did all those years ago. Since then, we all wondered if a proper sequel would ever surface. Book of Shadows was a failed attempt, and most have tried to forget about it.
This past spring, a teaser trailer was released for a film entitled The Woods. Eventually, it would be revealed to be the next film in the series simply titled Blair Witch. Written by Simon Barrett and directed by Adam Wingard, both known for the V/H/S series and Your Next, Blair Witch shows us all why being lost in the woods is still a terrifying thing!
THE PLOT
James (James Allen McCune) has made a startling discovery: a recent YouTube video of some found footage that could be a link in the mysterious vanishing of his older sister Heather, which happened years ago when he was a young boy. He wants some answers and decides to head to those same woods in the hopes that Heather is still out there. James and his friends Lisa (Callie Hernandez), Peter (Brandon Scott), and Ashley (Corbin Reed) all head out to Burkittsville, Maryland. Upon arriving, they locate Lane (Wes Robinson) and Talia (Valorie Curry), the local people who uploaded the video in question, in hopes of finding out where they found the tape. Lane and Talia agree to lead them to the location, as long as they’re allowed to accompany the group out of their own curiosity of the local legends of the Blair Witch.
Once they all arrive, things quickly go wrong when Ashley becomes injured, and it becomes apparent that things are not what they seem. As the hours go by, it now seems like they are lost, confused, and possibly being watched and hunted by an unseen force that drives them all to the brink of insanity. This planned out search and rescue mission has now become a fight for survival with seemingly no positive outcome for anyone involved!
SHOULD YOU SEE IT?
I had been looking forward to this film for quite some time. After first viewing the teaser trailer months ago, I was immediately intrigued. Another found footage horror film….one of my favorite genres! Despite the heavy negative reviews, my wife and I went into it optimistically. I wasn’t expecting it to break new ground, or have the same powerful impact as the original Blair Witch Project, but I was still pleasantly surprised. It’s hard to say if it’s a Remake, Reboot, or Sequel. A little bit of all three, I guess. It pays homage to the original quite a bit, but with its own spin, and is slightly modernized with newer filming technology. My only complaints would have to be the many, many predictable jump scares and the overuse of loud noises/screaming, along with a bit too many POV edits. It became a little unnerving at times, and the shaky camera effect was a little distracting. Then again, that somewhat made the tension and frantic actions of the actors seem believable.
All in all, I would say it was entertaining and definitely creepy at times. The last 20 minutes or so were very tense and full of heart-pounding moments with an interesting twist to the whole plot! To say it’s terrifying is totally subjective. Nowadays, it’s tough for a movie to truly scare the crap out of me, but I will say that Blair Witch definitely has its moments. All in all, fun fright flick!
