My daughter and I went to see Blair Witch one day after watching The Blair Witch Project. The film definitely wants to create the same vibe as the first one while building on the mythology. The bigger budget and new age cameras make for a slightly less shaky experience. The story is bland, but the characters are entertaining and the scares come frequent. I give Blair Witch the Decent Watch rating.
Blair Witch is a fun 90 minute horror film paying tribute to the one that came before it
James (James Allen McCune) and his friends discover a new video online that appears to show his sister Heather who has been missing for twenty years. They travel back into the woods from which she was last known to have been in hopes of finding her.
This take on the Blair Witch mythology comes from writer Simon Barrett and director Adam Wingard. The film utilizes the found footage style made popular by the original. The major change is in the 17 years since the first camera technology has changed quite a bit. The characters use earpiece cameras, a drone, and a webcam hooked up to a tablet in addition to the DSLR Lisa (Callie Hernandez) is using. They are also equipped with GPS, walkie talkies, and cell phones all luxuries that the previous trio lacked. With all that technology, there is no way they can fall victim to the same fate…right?
The cast is small composed of six people: James, Lisa, Ashley (Corbin Reid), Peter (Brandon Scott), Lane (Wes Robinson), and Talia (Valorie Curry). The characters have a lot of personality and the film does a good job establishing enough back story. It moves a lot quicker than the first film and brings lots of jump scares. Many of the scares are a little cheesy, but still managed to make my daughter and I jump a few times.
My issue with found footage films
I really think my biggest gripe with found footage is in the editing. There are at least eight cameras in total being used. If the premise is someone found all of this footage then why do they leave in all of the exposition? More so, there is a moment James turns off his camera and we are left with seconds of black before it comes back on. This is an editing move and not from the ending of a clip in the camera. It’s little things like this that make found footage feel gimmicky and not function as well as it could.
I did enjoy the film enough. It was a fun thrill ride that does build on the story from the first film. Fans of the Blair Witch Project will likely enjoy what this film adds to the lore. However, there are some elements that may conflict with the supernatural elements from the first one. Still, it works for a short film that’ll make you jump a few times.
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