Review of Blair Witch (2016) by Dave M — 15 Sep 2016

The 1999 horror film "The Blair Witch Project" was a real game changer. Originally made and marketed for $60,000, it ended up making over $248,000,000 in worldwide box office - over 4000 times what it cost! What's more, the film popularized the "found footage" horror subgenre, spawning countless imitators and profit seekers, but only one sequel. Until 2016, that is. The little-seen 2000 sequel, "Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2" was not well received by critics or audiences and "only" made three times as much money as it cost. The third film in the franchise is simply called "Blair Witch" (R, 1:29). It doesn't refer to any of the events in the second film, but is a direct sequel to the first. The question for Movie Fans is whether this sequel can recapture some of that old black magic, or maybe forge a trail of its own.

"Blair Witch" finds another reason to draw another group of young victims... er, ah, young people into the Black Hills Woods of Burkittsville, Maryland - a very personal reason. James Donahue (James Allen McCune) was just a kid when his older sister Heather mysteriously disappeared in those woods while attempting to make a documentary about the legendary Blair Witch. James never gave up hoping that his sister might still be out there somewhere, so when he receives a video clip with a brief, blurry image that kind of looks like his sister, he decides to check out that infamous forest where the video was allegedly shot. James' girlfriend, Lisa (Callie Hernandez), is on board so she can make a documentary about James' search. James' best friend, Peter (Brandon Scott) and his girlfriend, Ashley (Corbin Reed), come along to help look, and Lisa outfits the others with wearable cameras to help her shoot video.

As you might imagine, that trip to Maryland doesn't actually go according to plan. Lane (Wes Robinson), the guy who posted that video clip that drew James to those woods, has offered to take James and company where they need to go, but his price is that he and his girlfriend, Talia (Valorie Curry), get to join the expedition. Lane and Talia take James and company deep into the woods and they all set up a campsite for the night. Almost immediately, various sights and sounds put the members of the group on edge, but getting out of those woods proves to be a lot easier said than done. As the scares, the stakes and the tension all amp up, Lisa's cameras capture plenty of footage - in all its scream-filled, shaky glory.

"Blair Witch" is very much in the spirit of the original, but has its problems. Movie Fans who believe that the found footage format has been overused will have a hard time finding the approach very satisfying here - even within the franchise which popularized the trend. Then there's the common problem with the format - people who shoot such footage while they're scared and running from something tend to produce video that's hard to appreciate (and, for some, hard to watch at all). The very technique that is supposed to draw the audience into the story ends up pushing them away when they can't follow what they're seeing and hearing. This script doesn't help, presenting us with details which don't mean much and character decisions which don't make much sense. Fortunately, like in the first film, the acting is convincing, but it's not enough. Even while using and building on the things that made the original movie work, this one has trouble standing on its own and just feels dated. "C".