Review of Blair Witch (2016) by Jonathan A — 16 Sep 2016

1999's 'The Blair Witch Project' showed the disappearance of three young filmmakers; Heather, Mike and Josh. In 'Blair Witch', Heather's brother and his friends venture deep into the Black Hills Forest, in hopes of uncovering the mystery of her disappearance.

I should start by saying that I'm not a found footage fan. There are only two found footage movies that I actually like- being 'Chronicle' and, of course, the groundbreaking 'Blair Witch Project'. Now, while this film may not be groundbreaking like the original- its a very worthy sequel; and has earned its place as number three on that list. Sure, it has a lot of the same beats as 'Project'- but that's exactly what this franchise needed; to go back to basics and what made it so good in the first place. Think of it as 'The Force Awakens' to 'A New Hope'.

That being said, a lot is added to the Blair Witch mythology in this movie. Very clever and inventive additions, that amazingly manage to add to the original. My main complaint with this film, however, is its jump scares. Now, I've become quite the horror fan recently- and nothing pisses me off quite like jump scares...and this movie has more than its fair share. There are so many occasions when genuinely scary, subtle noises could've been used- but instead we get a giant fucking boom erupting through the woods. It's not scary, it's annoying; and it definitely doesn't belong in a Blair Witch movie.

'Blair Witch' is a worthy sequel to the original- adding many inventive ideas to the lore and using its found footage format to its full capacity. But, goddam, I hated those jump scares.