Blair Witch

Director: Adam Wingard
Cast: Corbin Reid,  Wes Robinson,  Valorie Curry,  James Allen McCune,  Callie Hernandez,  Brandon Scott
Rating: 15
Running Time: 89 mins
Release Date: 15/9/16

It’s been nearly 17 years and director Adam Wingard is taking us back into the woods – do we dare to go?

Yes, is the short answer, but not without trepidation, some scares and a few laughs along the way.

THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT is one of the most influential films in the horror genre. It used ‘found’ footage so effectively that you felt like you were watching a real documentary. It was a major success, so much so that they released a sequel in 2000. The sequel that followed it, BOOK OF SHADOWS: BLAIR WITCH 2 didn’t quite have the same effect.

Blair Witch

This time round, more footage is found and we’re going back to the Black Hills.  James Donahue (James Allen McCune, THE WALKING DEAD) believes his sister (Heather from the first film) is still alive in the house that THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT finished with (Wingard also treats us to a quick throwback showing us that last scene from THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT).  James and his friends Lisa, (Callie Hernandez, soon to be seen in the upcoming LA LA LAND) Peter (Brandon Scott) and Ashley (Corbin Reid) enlist the help of local residents Lane (Wes Robinson) and Talia (Valorie Curry). They venture back into the woods to help find James’ sister and track down the mysterious house.

James’ link to the previous film gives us more of a reason to re-visit the woods. Wingard’s film feels like a natural progression of the story and actually supports the first film which scared us all those years ago. In saying this – there are times when the film gets lost between a reboot and a sequel. Sometimes it leaves you with a sense of déjà vu.

Blair Witch

Wingard updates the technology with hands free recorders, night vision cameras and a drone to capture their every move. The film is carefully put together and cuts to each character as we experience the strange and horrifying events that happen in the Black Hills. At times we feel just as disorientated as the characters – our vision is restricted, the sound is amplified and the GPS tracking system has stopped working. The occasionally funny first half doesn’t prepare us for the visual shocks of the second half. There’s one particularly disturbing scene of a girl with a stick figure that I’ll never be able to forget, and those times where we nearly-see-the-Blair-Witch-but-don’t are genuinely terrifying.

Impaired vision with a sound design that has you leaping out of your seat every few minutes – Wingard even has us flinching at the snapping of tree branches. Sometimes the jumpy scenes can grow a little tiring, the sound comes in short, sharp and crisp which makes it somewhat unbelievable for a found footage film. The scariest thing about this film is the sense of the unknown, not the cheap scares. Without giving away too much, the final scene definitely makes up for this.

Overall, it doesn’t feel like they’ve made a sequel just for the sake of it – we needed this film and we didn’t even know it. The BLAIR WITCH is just as scary as it was 17 years ago, not even a GPS tracking system will save you now.

Verdict

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