Review of Blair Witch (2016) by The Movie G — 31 Aug 2016

The year is 1999. A "documentary" gets released into theaters featuring a group of college students that enter supposedly haunted woods in order to investigate the legend of The Blair Witch. Largely responsible for the "found footage" explosion of later years, The Blair Witch Project was released and took the world by storm, convincing everyone that it was real footage. Shortly after, it was revealed to be a fictional movie that shocked. A few years later, a god awful prequel was released that we try not to remember. Fast forward to 2016, a new horror movie is being made with the title of The Woods. At SDCC, Lionsgate unveils that The Woods is actually titled Blair Witch and is a direct sequel to the cult horror classic. Special attendees got a surprise screening of the new film. Last night, I had the opportunity to view the film myself. Being a huge fan of the original and loathing the prequel, I went in cautiously optimistic. Was this the re-vamp found footage films need or is this an attempt at Hollywood to get a cheap cash grab?

Blair Witch breathes fresh air into the exhausted and now dying found footage genre of horror movies. Being a direct sequel of the Blair Witch Project, it takes a lot of ideas that the first used so well and pushes them to a higher, more frightening level. The first act is a slow burn mystery as we are introduced to our characters, their motivations, the various modern "documentary" camera techniques that will be used, etc. While the intro might be slow, it is engaging and often humorous at times, poking fun at some horror tropes from the 90's, while setting up a wonderful legend. After the group heads into the forest and sets up camp for the first night, things get fun creating hostility within the group, uncertainty among actions and directions, and a nice level of slow insanity not unlike the first film.

My main complaint with the first film is the lack of mythology and story beats for the actual Blair Witch herself. It is a very slow, anxious film until the semi-anticlimactic final moments. I can happily say that Blair Witch does not follow this routine. Blair Witch had me nervous, on the edge of my seat, muttering "Don't look that way...don't look that way" the entire time, terrified of whatever character we are following to turn around. It builds suspense and tension masterfully and reminded me of why found footage got as big as it did: the ability to instill realistic terror. The third act of this film hits the turbo charged level of fear and had my heart pumping, blood racing, and hair on edge with more than a few "HOLY FUCK" moments that had me catch my breath. This film grabs hold tight and doesn't let go until the very last scene.

Is it perfect? Far from and it still does not take the crown of best horror movie of the year. It has a few weird script choices and follows a few dated horror tropes that had me laugh under my breath but once the terror starts, it was so expertly paced and crafted that I completely forgot I was watching a movie and even and me question my own sanity due to a few subtle hints and scenes.

In the end, Blair Witch is not a perfect horror movie but it revitalizes the tired genre of found footage and reminds us why it's predecessor pioneered these types of films in the first place. I had chills running down my spine and a heart attack looming at every moment and that, when combined with fleshed out lore, enjoyable characters, and wonderful story dynamics, creates one hell of a memorable horror experience that has me not wanting to go camping anytime soon.

In the end, I score Blair Witch 8/10. Go check it out when it releases on September 16th! #BlairWitch #Oakland.