Posts Tagged ‘Blair Witch’

 

Part of what made 1999’s “The Blair Witch Project” so effective was that despite not seeing much of anything during the film, you suspected or knew what was going on based on the intelligent way the mythology had been laid out.  Not seeing anything actually made it creepier or spookier.  

“Blair Witch” tries to walk that fine line between doing what the original did so well, along with giving modern audiences more concrete or visual things to scare them.  Unfortunately, that approach is not very effective.

 

This third entry in the Blair Witch franchise focuses on James, who is the little brother of Heather from the original film.  He essentially has been obsessed with trying to find any clues to what actually happened to his sister (despite the fact he was only four at the time she disappeared).

 

A new piece of footage convinces James that Heather might actually be alive, so before you know it, James and friends go into the woods looking for clues and the mysterious house where Heather was last seen.

 

The early time spent in the woods is actually pretty good, but as things go south, the film surprisingly becomes less interesting.  We are given more sights and sounds to ponder than we had in the original, but it doesn’t make it scarier.  And despite having watched Heather’s original footage countless times, James seems way too willing to make the same mistakes his sister, Mike and Josh did.

 

One thing that is done well in “Blair Witch” is the use of time, or specifically, how time does or does not pass once you are in the Black Hills.  This concept was hinted at both in the original and even in the sequel, “Book of Shadows,” but it is really a major player this time around.

 

Most of the mythology remains the same, although one new piece is added, mostly for self-serving reasons, as it allows director Adam Wingard to finally put a face (and body) of sorts on the Blair Witch herself.

 

As a huge fan of the first film and even a fan of the much-maligned second, I was very excited when I heard the franchise was being revisited.  Sadly, this was not the trip back to Burkittsville that I had hoped for.  

 

I would give “Blair Witch” 2/5 stars.

 

Mark J. Marble

 

 

UPDATED:  So, now, according to the writer, Simon Barrett, despite changing the mythology for the sole reason to make us think the creature we see at the end was the Blair Witch… it really wasn’t.  It was someone else.  And maybe Elly Kedward wasn’t really the true source of the evil to begin with.  This makes me want to make the review one star now. Just a horrible way to trick viewers and also to crap on the mythology that had come before.