The original Blair Witch Project came out almost 20 years ago and it ignited the found-footage genre. Personally I was never a fan of the original movie or the genre itself. I found the concept to be idiotic and lacking creativity. Initially, I wasn’t that interested in seeing this sequel/remake but when I found out that it’s directed by Adam Wingard, I was curious. First it was titled The Woods, then a few weeks before its release date, the studio revealed that the movie’s actually a sequel to 1999 hit movie.
The setup of this new movie is basically the same as the original version. James (James McCune) discovered a video showing what he thinks is his sister’s experiences in the woods of the Blair Witch. So he and his friends Lisa (Callie Hernandez), Peter (Brandon Scott) and Ashley (Corbin Reid) decided to head out to the same location where his sister disappeared. They equipped themselves with more technology than the original group, each of them wears digital camera that’s attached to their ear and they also have a camera drone. Tagging along with them are two people who lives near the woods, Lane (Wes Robinson) and his girlfriend Talia (Valorie Curry).
Of course once they go deep into the woods, weird things start happening. On their first night, they hear weird noises and then in the morning they see a bunch of Blair Witch sticks all around their campsite. Freaked out, they decide it would be a good idea not to spend another night in the creepy woods; they start to head back to their cars but got lost. They end up arguing with one another and more weird things start happening. So basically nothing new happened in this movie, if you’ve seen the first movie then you know what’s going to happen next.
Adam Wingard’s previous two movies You’re Next and The Guest were very entertaining and I thought for sure he’d bring something new and creativity into this one. Sadly he just remade the original movie; there are no scares or surprises. For those hoping to see the evil witch, well you might not be disappointed. But by the time the real evil shows up, I just didn’t care and wanted the whole ordeal to be over with.
None of the actors stood out and clearly they’re all amateurs. If the actors in the original movie annoyed you, then you’re going to get annoyed by these guys too.
It’s very disappointing that the filmmakers didn’t come up with anything new since I believe they can expand the story and make it scary. I don’t remember much about the other sequel, Book of Shadows, but at least they tried to do something new with the myth of the Blair Witch.
So have you seen Blair Witch? Well, what did you think?
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I, too, based on the strength of ‘You’re Next’ and ‘The Guest’ was kinda curious about this. You and I are on the same boat re: the original film and premise, Ted. The found footage idea never really grabbed me, and the shaky-cam technique that seemed to go right along with it I’m definitely no fan of, as anyone who suffers from motion sickness is prone to be. Oh, well.
Thanks for taking one for the team, Ted. 😉
Hey Michael, yeah I never understood the popularity of the found footage genre, to me it’s basically a lazy way of making a movie. Only few directors can shoot shaky-cam that actually worth watching, Paul Greengrass and his Bourne films worked but most copy cats just didn’t work.
I think I got dizzy from this movie a couple of times because the whole “movie” was basically POV of each character.
I haven’t seen this and I have no interest in seeing this. Plus, I’m sick of shaky cam.
Yeah don’t waste your time on this one. It’s a pretty crappy remake of an already crappy movie.
I have no desire to see this Ted, never care for found-footage genre or this types of horror. Btw this is the tweet that he made about Sully: https://twitter.com/AdamWingard/status/777552291939229696 What a sore loser!
Oh okay, thanks for including the link, I didn’t see the tweets by those two guys. From reading the context of those tweets, I think they tried to be funny since their movie failed miserable but it came out sounded like they’re sour grapes.
I was really young when the original Blair Witch came out, but I remember my mom letting me watch it when she rented it. I thought the ending was so stupid, though it did have some creepy parts (which I could probably just contribute to my age if I could be bothered enough to watch it again lol) I’ll skip this one. Great review!
Thanks Brittani! If you didn’t like the ending to the first movie then you won’t like this one, it’s basically the same movie. It’s a shame because I think they could’ve expand the story and make it into a scary movie.
The original was boring as hell. I’ll probably skip this one. Sounds like I won’t be missing anything.
Nope, you’re not missing anything at all. It’s the same movie as the original, stay away from it if you’re not a fan of the first one
Well, that’s something of a turn up. This has been getting some good buzz too. Personally I loved the original and was quite freaked out by it. I like your argument though Ted.
Oh yeah I know some of my friends loved the original, didn’t understand why but I totally respect their love of it. I think you might enjoy this one if you dug the first one. I’m just not into the whole found footage story telling.
I was actually a huge fan of found footage film when it originally came out. Now, it’s too much. What disappointed me most about Blair Witch (although it kept me entertained), was how IDENTICAL it was to the original. Scene by scene. So annoying and unoriginal.
That’s why I gave it such a low score, I thought the writer and director would come up with something new but they just remake the original movie. Very disappointing.
This sounds as bad as I thought it’d be Ted! Disappointing cos I absolutely loved The Guest
Hey Jordan, yeah I thought The Guest was very entertaining, it’s very disappointing that the director didn’t deliver the same kind of creativity for this movie.
Its amazing how quickly this thing has disappeared from our cinemas. Two weeks it lasted. Must have made NO money at all!!
Yeah it received terrible reviews from well known critics and of course many people didn’t go see it. I think the studio just don’t realized that many people hated the original Blair Witch movie, so they’re not going to see the sequel or reboot or whatever the hell they’re still trying to milk out of this franchise.
Ah, that’s a shame that it’s not really any different to the original…why bother then? I hate it when certain films are revived to a big fuss, just to let the audience down…
That’s the question I asked myself after I saw the movie, why the heck did they make the same movie? Very disappointed from a talented group of filmmakers.
Sounds like it was all about making a quick buck…