On July 30, 1999, the found footage film style underwent a radical rebirth. This type of storytelling had been used before in movies like “Cannibal Holocaust” (a film I will never recommend), and the Peter Jackson mockumentary “Forgotten Silver.” But while an effective technique, it wasn’t seen as anything super special or groundbreaking. It wasn’t until “The Blair Witch Project” that things really kicked into high gear. The indie horror film rattled the nerves of critics and audiences alike, and spearheaded the found footage mainstream popularity as a sub-genre. It was a surprise success, and many die-hard horror fans regard it as one of the greatest horror films in history. Such a high status begs the question of whether the 2016 sequel, simply titled “Blair Witch,” could match or surpass the precedent set by the original.
Directed by Adam Wingard, “Blair Witch” takes place about twenty years after the disappearance of Heather Donahue and her crew in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland. Heather’s brother James (James Allen McCune) finds a YouTube video that shows a young woman running frantically through a dilapidated building. He’s sure that this person is Heather, and believes she’s still alive. Equipped with cameras and accompanied by his friends Lisa (Callie Hernandez), Peter (Brandon Scott), and Ashley (Corbin Reid), James heads into the Burkittsville woods determined to find his sister. But as the group travels further and further into the woods, strange and disturbing things start to happen. The woods are alive, and whatever lies at the heart of it won’t let them turn back.
I went into this movie with so-so expectations. I secretly saw “The Blair Witch Project” when I was in elementary school, and it freaked me out. So even though I didn’t expect the sequel to be great, I was hoping that it would as least recreate unnerving feelings of complete helplessness and isolation. Thankfully, the film delivers on that very level.
Even though the very beginning is a little slow, the film gains momentum as soon as the characters head into the woods. Immediately, you get the sense that they’re alone, yet surrounded. The sequence of events follow the same path as the original: they go into the woods, get lost in said woods, find freaky stuff in the woods, etc. In that regard, the plot is pretty predictable. But the horror of the situation still plays out very well and you're left feeling the frustration of being stuck in the wilderness.
The incredible sound design combines the wailing of violent winds, pattering rain, snapping twigs and toppling trees to give the woods its own voice. Wingard’s sharp direction also emphasizes the pitch darkness of the area, thus adding to the terror of being lost and blind within an endless sea of trees. They also expand on the Blair Witch mythology, which in turn makes everything that's happening around more profound and disturbing.
The found footage aspect was also handled very well. Technology has come a long way since the 1990s. So naturally, a story like this has to adapt to modern times. The use of multiple cameras and surveillance tech allows us to see what’s happening from different angles. For the most part, it makes the film seem more grounded in reality. But there are multiple jump scares that take away from the realism and make it more cinematic. The actors’ performances were pretty good overall. There was some overacting here and there, but whenever something disturbing happened, they look genuinely terrified.
“Blair Witch” builds on the disturbing quality that was established in “The Blair Witch Project”. It’s a well-constructed film that stands on its own, and provides just enough scares (especially towards the end, which was absolutely terrifying). This is a film for fans of the original. If you hated the first movie, then you probably won’t have fun with this one. But I think that it’ll quench the thirst of any horror fan if given the chance.
