BLAIR WITCH IS THE PERFECT EXAMPLE WHY HOLLYWOOD SHOULD SOMETIMES STICK TO THE ORIGINAL AND STOP PLAYING THE NOSTALGIA CARD
Director: David Wingard
Starring: James Allan McCune, Callie Hernandez, Brandon Scott, Corbin Reid, Wes Robinson and Valorie Curry
Rated: 14A
Studio: Lionsgate Pictures
Running Time: 1 Hr, 29 Mins.
When it was revealed at last July’s Comic Con that the horror movie titled The Woods was actually another Blair Witch movie snuck in under another title, more than a few eyebrows were raised. After all, how many people get away with screening a movie under false pretenses at one of the premier pop culture events of the year? But the fact that the movie seemed to gain some acceptance by the unsuspecting audience granted it a pass. It also gave fans of the original 1999 film and of horror movies in general some hope. After all, the original Blair Witch Project granted new life to a stagnant horror genre (before being insulted by a horrible sequel in 2000).
If you want to keep that hope alive, don’t go see this movie.
It’s been seventeen years since the original Blair Witch Project, where the footage of three amateur filmmakers was discovered in the Black Hill woods outside Burkittsville, Maryland. James (James Allan McCune), the younger brother of one of the missing filmmakers, has discovered some new footage from his sister’s ill-fated trip into those storied woods. Along with videographer Lisa (Callie Hernandez) and best friends Peter (Brandon Scott) and Ashley (Corbin Reid) and armed with an arsenal of high-tech surveillance toys, they set off to discover the true fate of the original filmmakers. After meeting (and reluctantly joining) the locals who discovered the new footage (Wes Robinson and Valorie Curry), they venture into the infamous woods to retrace the doomed party’s steps.
And if you’ve seen the original Blair Witch Project, you pretty well know how the rest of the movie unfolds.
The first Blair Witch Project started the found footage craze, which has been so overused it became stale a decade ago. But the original Witch had a sincere, genuine texture. Its grainy, rough and unpolished look combined with the complete anonymity of the cast and a few creative tricks used by the original directors to keep their performers on constant edge lent an honestly scary feel to the movie. Not only does Blair Witch fail to re-capture the spirit of the original effort, it doesn’t even try. It’s as though it was counting solely on the nostalgia it thought movie-goers had for the original translating into box office dollars (forgetting that, for as successful as the original was, it was also polarizing before polarizing became a thing, generating just as much hate).
While the formula is almost exactly the same as the original, you never truly connect with any of the characters. You found yourself rooting for the gang to escape back in 1999 but now you don’t really care. Perhaps it’s because they doubled the size of the cast or maybe because they all seem bent on doing stupid things (it’s pretty tough to feel sympathy for sheep blindly marching towards grisly and certain death) but you never make any emotional connection with them. And without an emotional rapport or investment, it’s impossible for director David Wingard to achieve genuine suspense or tension no matter how many predictable jump scares are crammed into the plot.
And the plot is virtually a Xerox of the original. 1) Unbelieving skeptics wander into mysterious woods despite local lore warning of violent spirits haunting them. 2) Foolish wanderers then inexplicably get lost despite all their compasses and maps and GPS trackers and are soon being tormented by malevolent spirits. And outside of James’ need to find his missing sister and the locals’ hunger for thrills, we’re given no explanation for anyone’s motivation. Decisions are made almost on a dime with little thought or consideration. Even the discovery of the new video footage that inspires the new quest is simply blinded accepted, no questions asked.
The movie fails to add anything to the existing Witch mythos. It talks a lot about ago old legends but never lets you in on anything that wasn’t covered in the original. It simply rehashes old ground to catch you up to speed and wipe sixteen years of fog from your memory. At points Blair Witch looks like it may venture into some fresh territory but then abandons those ideas completely for more of the same old.
Blair Witch tries to duplicate what made the original successful (again, it wisely ignores 2000’s Book of Shadows) but fails to realize the secret of the original’s success. It adds nothing new (seriously, they couldn’t have thought of something fresh in seventeen years?) and doesn’t even seem aware of why it pales in comparison. There are no special effects to speak of, the acting and directing are bare bones and there’s no music. It’s less than underwhelming and you’ll have forgotten this ten minutes after you walk out of the theatre.
There’s no reason this movie should have been as bad (or worse, as boring) as it was and it had every advantage to help it carry on the original’s work. It had the benefit of improved filming technology, a built in mythos and fan base, a much higher budget and seventeen years to come up with a more compelling script. If you’re a fan of The Blair Witch Project, do yourself a favour and skip The Blair Witch. It completely forgets what the made the original a groundbreaking hit and fails to bring anything new to the table (the two most important things a sequel is supposed to do). Like the original, Blair Witch feels like something that would be made for film school, but unlike the 1999 hit it deserves a great big F.
Photo: Lionsgate Movies
Leave a Reply