Towards the end of summer in 1999, a phenomenon hit theaters
that featured a very crafty experiment, which became a horror and science
fiction staple-subgenre of many movies to come.
The film I’m speaking of is The
Blair Witch Project and it brought forth the popularity of the found
footage category, becoming a press-stud of horror movies that continues to this
day. Sure, there are quite a few films
that predate it which used the same type of classification, like Cannibal Holocaust or The Last Broadcast (which was released a
year prior). But 1999, by all
intentions, should be considered the manifestation of the found footage
subgenre.
Now, timing had a lot to do with the fame and reputation the
film had gained. In 1999, not everybody
had a computer or easy access to the internet, not to mention that it wasn’t as
expansive as it is today. The directors
of the film—Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez—used that to their advantage,
knowing that they could use it to blow up the film and get the word out by
creating a little fake backstory, getting the word out there that this was a
true story and the last remaining days and hours of these victims were captured
on film that had been recovered as featured in this movie. Most people believed they were watching a
documented film, seeing a snuff flick, witnessing the demise of these three
kids…and it was brilliant. The film—made
for around $60,000—reaped nearly $250,000,000 in the box office! Recalling the release of this film, so many
people told me about how frightening it was and how these kids in the film were
real people that had gone missing…I admit, I’d believed the story and thought
it fascinating, so I was very excited to see it. However, days before going to see the film,
I’d heard it was fake…but it wasn’t a deterrent in the least.
All things considered, I’d hazard a guess to say that this
technique wouldn’t work today. Too many
people have technology right at their fingertips…if it was tried today, The Blair Witch Project wouldn’t
work...but that’s just a changing of the times…and, of course, my opinion.
One thing that had always bothered me is that the filmmakers
never tried to make a direct sequel to the 1999 film to follow up on the
made-up story. Sure, a sequel was
released called Book of Shadows: Blair
Witch 2, but that story just dismissed the 1999 film as fiction, using the
movie-within-the-movie method; it wasn’t a good film, seemed pretty confusing
at times, and is very forgettable. Now,
however, 18 years later, it was finally decided to make a direct sequel to that
first film…but before I get into it, let me break down the synopsis of…Blair
Witch.
After discovering a video showing what he believes to be his
vanished sister Heather, James (James Allen McCune ) and a group of
friends—Lisa (Callie Hernandez), Ashley (Corbin Reid), and Peter (Brandon
Scott)—head to the forest near the town of Burkittsville. On the way there, they stop to see the guy
who had found the video to get directions to the whereabouts of where he had
discovered it. But the local named Lane
(Wes Robinson), gives the condition that he and his girlfriend, Talia (Valorie
Curry), must go with them or he won’t give the location. James agrees and the group soon finds out
about the ominous legend of the Blair Witch.
Written by Simon Barrett and directed by Adam Wingard (both
of VHS and You’re Next fame), they brought forth a more frightening film than
we’d seen in the original. Yet, the only
reason this film can be considered a sequel is because of the reason the group
of kids decide to go into the woods—to find his sister Heather, one of the three
kids from the original movie. That’s
it…that’s the only tie to the first film.
Now, I’d read that one difference this film has from the
original is that it’s totally scripted, meaning the words written on page are
what we’re getting from the actors in this flick, and it shows. The original had quite a bit of realism and
that’s because the directors basically told the three kids to go into the woods
and improvise their discussions, debates, and dialogues (sorry for the
alliteration) with each other. They were
left to their devices at hand while the directors set up situations ahead of
time for which the actors would react.
Here, in Blair Witch, you can tell the dialogue was written ahead of
time and it really feels like you’re watching a made up movie in
comparison. For example, the surplus of
battery power is emphasized quite a bit.
Even my wife—who doesn’t enjoy horror movies and usually reads a book
off to the side when I’m watching one—caught that bit of dialogue in this film
and called it out right away.
To show off how ahead the world has gotten in technology,
the devices used in this new film are way more advanced. Instead of just a camcorder and camera with
film, each friend has a small camera fitted to the side of their heads much
like Blue Toothes, they have multiple memory cards to continuously switch them
out, and they also have a drone that can hover around to help them get a sense
of their direction within the woods.
What’s different about this film compared to its
predecessor? There are some nice special
effects that maybe take up a few frames of film here and there with some ideas
that have a creep factor of ten. Will
you get to see a witch this time? I
think so…you get to see something, but it’s so quick and shaky that you really
don’t know what you’re seeing. I think
it may have been explored in the first film, but in Blair Witch time is
messed with and it definitely conveys a sense of hopelessness for the
characters. It even goes as far as dividing
some of them, giving some a sense of minutes passing, with others having weeks
passing—I thought that was well done.
What’s the same? Just
about everything else. I mean, you have
a group of kids going into the woods and documenting everything with video,
they get lost and go in circles, they’re being terrorized by some unseen force,
and they end up exactly the same way as the kids in the original film…in the
same place and in the same manner. I
would’ve liked some resolution or maybe see the kids get the upper hand on the
witch or at least a bit of fight…not the exact same outcome. I felt it was a bit of a cheat.
If there’s anything that was left with me after viewing this
was one plot thread that really never amounted to anything and that was when
one of the girls, Ashley, had gotten a big gash on the bottom of her foot when
they had to remove their shoes and socks to cross a creek. After it was bandaged up and the girl regained
the ability to keep moving, later we see that she’s wracked with pain every few
steps and we hear the sound of some strange crack or something when she uses
that foot. Late in the film, we see the
boyfriend unwrapping the foot to check it out and sees it’s clearly
infected. But a quick shot of this shows
the wound twitching like there’s some sort of animation going on. The implication is that the witch had
something to do with it, that the girl is becoming infected with some sort of
paranormal disease, even seeming like she’s turning into a zombie or something. However, it all goes nowhere and her demise
has nothing to do with the foot’s ailment…in fact, she seems to regain a bit of
energy later in the film as she’s able to run and climb a tree. Nonetheless, this whole plot point went
nowhere and left me confused.
Anyway…my final “bit” on Blair Witch?
As a standalone movie, the story is frightening and well
done. The actors and actresses (just a
small ensemble of six characters) perform their parts well, giving us a sense
of believability even though their dialogue is obviously formulated ahead of
time, but the bottom line is that they’re all likable and you’ll end up caring
what happens to all of them. For all
intents and purposes, this is a remake of the original film, made a bit better
and obviously with a slightly bigger budget.
The new viewers—who’ve never seen the original or who’d thought it was
boring—will enjoy this flick; the fans of the original will see it for what it
is—a complete reboot of the franchise that’s giving us the same situation and
the same (spoiler alert) outcome.
But…it’s still entertaining, will give you some good scares, and it’ll
definitely make you think twice about camping out in the woods…again. I recommend it.
Thanks for reading!
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