Caffeinated Clint
Like a rusted hills hoist on a Summer’s day, Lionsgate’s surprise sequel to 1999’s ‘’The Blair Witch Project’’ turns continuously, captures some fresh winds in its twirl and gets the job done effectively and successfully in a short amount of time. But that’s not to say it’s not without some wobbles in the wire.
Marketed as simply “The Woods” until its debut at Comic-Con earlier this year (Google the brilliant trickery cooked up by the distributor), director Adam Wingard’s “Blair Witch” has quite a lot in common with the 1999 original – like a brilliant marketing plan that undoubtedly supplants anything in the film – and while comforting, particularly for fans of the franchise left burnt by the first sequel in the series (2000’s “Book of Shadows”), the familiarity might also be the threequel’s tear in the foil.
Much like “Star Wars : The Force Awakens”, which was so hell-bent on pleasing die-hard “Star Wars” fans it essentially retold the same story as the original, “Blair Witch” plays out more like a retread than sequel, hardly advancing the franchise to greater heights by refusing to stray too far from the original stencil of Dan Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez’s smash indie original. With the same beats, structure and even third act in tow, “Blair Witch” is a rather predictable affair.
Yet like JJ Abrams’ “Star Wars” sequel, the familiar script is the only downfall of “Blair Witch” – and the rest, from the superb production design, spot-on casting, effects and, in this case, brutal scares (!) are eye-poppingly, ear-piercingly brilliant. This one’s ‘Chewie, we’re home’ moment comes right at the tail end of the film, but everything up to that is exceedingly entertaining and technically perfect.
After the events of the original film, a tape surfaced of the horrible events that saw Heather, Mike and Josh strangely disappear leading search parties unsuccessfully combing the woods later. After seeing a YouTube video online of what appears to be new footage of his sister Heather (from the original) still trapped in the forest’s house from hell, James (James Allen McCune) enlists a few friends to follow him to Burkitsville where they’ll attempt to find the house and hopefully, a living, breathing Heather.
The flick sees six friends – as opposed to the three in the original – digging themselves into a corner in the middle of the murky woods where, over the course of days (or is it?), they succumb to the seemingly endless powers of the wicked witch.
Like the no-budget gem that spawned it, “Blair Witch” relies heavily on clever filmmaking and imagination – particularly in the use of its ‘found footage’ set-up (with advances in technology since the first film, the filmmakers here have been able to introduce everything from Drones to head-cams to capture the footage) – but also on its ability to use sight, sound and subtlety to scare the rock rings off its audience. There are moments here that are truly terrifying – particularly some of the later moments, as the core group’s fate becomes more certain.
“Blair Witch” doesn’t reinvent the wheel, in fact it still uses the same old one from 1999, but those scares, the stylish production design and a clever addition to the mythology of the title character (it’s very wily) see it still turn and above most contemporary horror films. It’s a really good time.
Good to see new shine added to a brand thought as long forgotten as Rustin Parr.
