With many of their previous works, writer Simon Barrett and director Adam Wingard took what was familiar, pulled it apart, and constructed a fresh take using horror film tropes we all knew. In A HORRIBLE WAY TO DIE, YOU’RE NEXT, and THE GUEST, it wasn’t so much about spotting the ’80s or ’90s references as it was recognizing the vibe. But with BLAIR WITCH, their 15-years-later sequel to the groundbreaking found-footage work THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, the filmmakers do something even more unexpected—they stick to the formula so faithfully that the result is often frustration peppered with a few jump scares, most of which seem to happen at edit points throughout this (in theory) assembled footage.
Certainly, the setup worked for me. James (James Allen McCune) is the brother of Heather, the filmmaker from the first BLAIR WITCH movie (thank the stars that BOOK OF SHADOWS: BLAIR WITCH 2 is being treated like it never existed), who vanished with two colleagues in the woods of rural Maryland in an area dripping with centuries old stories about a witch living in the woods. James has recently had additional footage dropped on this doorstep that he’s fairly certain shows Heather fleetingly, and he’s determined to head back into the woods to search for any sign of her or the mysterious house shown in the footage but never discovered by search parties.
He grabs a whole bunch of cameras—from hand-held to ear-piece cameras, and even a drone—as well as girlfriend Lisa (Callie Hernandez), oldest friend Peter (Brandon Scott) and his lady friend Ashley (Corbin Reid). They head to find people who allegedly know where Heather’s crew’s equipment was found, and soon they are with the creepy Lane (Wes Robinson) and his girlfriend Talia (Valorie Curry), who say they’ll take them to the spot if the film crew takes these thrill seekers with them to find the house. And you pretty much know where things head from here. Noises, stick figures hanging from trees, dimly lit camera lights that make it impossible to see more than 10 feet in front of you in the best conditions are all part of the experience. The group gets separated, they lose hours and eventually days of time while sleeping, and there is much running in search of a way out of woods that refuses to let them go.
Part of what I liked about THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT is that it was pretty clear that whatever was in the woods tormenting these young people was attempting to drive them insane before any threat of physical harm came into play. And that’s pretty much what happens this time around as well. The woods puts the camper through a barrage of torment before really putting them in any real danger, but there’s only so much tease and fake scares we can handle before we call bullshit. We have the history and legends of the woods spelled out for us again by the local newcomers, and things that are told to us in those moments come into play during the film’s final chase through the seemingly endless corridors and tunnels of the creepy house in the woods.
I’m not trying to imply that BLAIR WITCH is completely ineffective, but where the original film made great use of both creepy sounds and silence, this version is all about camera glitches causing loud pops and bangs (that only the audiences can hear, mind you) when the video switches from one shot to another. As for the loud sounds the characters can hear, that’s mostly the exceedingly earth-shattering explosion of trees getting snapped in half. Not that we see any of that, but the noises are eerie and unexplained, even if they are largely non-threatening.
Wingard fares much better in the witch’s house. The close quarters, rundown setting and darkness around every corner add up to a bit of pulse pounding. A particular scene in which Lisa lands in a narrow tunnel under the house, barely able to squeeze through the narrow space is beyond claustrophobic, and we’re just waiting for her to get stuck and realize that this is how she’s going to die. The moment works because it plays off every fear imaginable; I wish the rest of the film did the same. None of the performances stand out in my mind; people vanish for a time only to pop back up unexpectedly and make us jump at something; and as someone who really was transfixed by the original work, I was mortified watching BLAIR WITCH to discover that the filmmaker decided to give us a glimpse of this presence that is tormenting our heroes, which seems so unnecessary. What always made the witch so scary is that we never saw her.
Something about the entire piece feels like a cheat, and while I certainly understand the allure Barrett and Wingard must have felt getting to play in this sandbox, the entire experience left me wishing for at least a few new ideas that paid off. And it hurts me to say a lot of this because I know we’re going to get more great works from Barrett and Wingard. BLAIR WITCH feels like an unnecessary stop on their journey.
