Blair Witch

In the end of the 90´s, i had quit school and was ready to try a new life. I had a lot of plans, and i actually managed to get some of them work out. Especially getting out of my hometown Uddevalla. I was offered jobs in different cities, so when i was offered a job at a meat factory called Dafgårds, i jumped on board. At that time i was a deep VHS nerd, and was watching a lot of films on VHS players. Since i was working a lot, i spent most of my money on buying VHS films. I would go to Gothenburgh especially to the video store Movieline and buy some really nice titles. I remember that the guy at the register was talking about a new horror film called The Blair Witch Project. It was supposed to be based on a true story, and he said that there is a website you could visit to read about the story behind the film. Of course i had to check this out. At that time i did not have internet at home, so i went to the public library to surf online. I checked the web page out, and i did think it looked interesting. Not sure if this really was based on a true story, but i remembered the title, so just had to wait for the release. When i finally got a chance to see The Blair Witch Project in a cinema in 1999, i did not really understand the hype. Sure, considering the budget, the film makers have tried to do something original, so i did see something positive about the film. But i was not freaked out, and i did not really felt scared watching the film. The film still became a massive success worldwide, and horror fans loved the small film. Even at work you could hear people talking about how scary it was. Maybe i just did not connect with the film, i suppose that i was more drawn to grindhouse horror instead. Of course a sequel was released a year later, called Book Of Shadows: Blair Witch 2. The biggest difference between the original film, and this sequel, was that the 2nd film was more of a ordinary horror film. And it was not good either, for many reasons. A typical example when film studios release a sequel just to make money. After the release of the sequel, everything around The Blair Witch Project basically died out. You heard nothing about if they were planning to make a new one. And it seemed pretty dead, until director Adam Wingard decided it was time to make a sequel. But there was a catch. The film studio did not go out and call this film Blair Witch at first, the fake title was actually The Woods. Why ? This was supposed to be a secret, and a surprise for the fans of the original film. As the secret was revealed, a lot of people were surprised that a sequel was coming out. I got a chance to go to a cinema and see this latest sequel, just to give it a try. Is this better than the original film, or is it just a typical cash in project, that don´t care about quality ?

Over 20 years ago, James Donahue ( James Allen McCune ) found out his sister Heather is missing, while she was looking for evidence of the Blair Witch. Now, in present day, James decide to gather a group of friends to go back to the same location, to see if he can find clues if his sister might still be alive. James and the gang go to meet locals Lane ( Wes Robinson ) and Talia ( Valorie Curry ). They were the ones who found a video, where they see a woman hiding in a house. James believe that this could be his sister, so he brings Lane and Talia with the team, to make sure that they find the right location. Wearing different video cameras and other electronic equipment, they head towards the forest where Heather was last seen. Is the story of the Blair Witch project true, or is it just a myth ?

When you make a sequel, from a film that has become a horror classic in the found footage horror genre, you have to find the feeling from the first film. Maybe not copy the content, but somehow connect this sequel, so it feels like a real sequel. And this is where i found myself finding some problems. This is supposed to be a sequel, where a gang of young people go back to the same location. But the location does not feel very interesting, you really don´t feel like we are back to where the first film took place. Also, some of the characters does not feel very interesting. It is almost as if they have been placed here, just to make it look like something similar from the 1999 film. For those of you who have seen the first film, if you loved that film, you might find some fun in here. Personally, i never found myself enjoying The Blair Witch Project as much as i thought i would. Perhaps because i did not find the film to be that scary. This sequel tries to use other ways to scare us, combining jump scares and noices. It is a little bit more effective than the first film, especially in the house scenes. Here we see some good acting as well, especially from Callie Hernandez and James Allen McCunne. When these two have scenes together, they manage to lift the film quality a bit higher. Let´s talk about the so called Blair Witch. In the first film, we never really got to see if she existed, or if it was just a myth. Here you actually get to see her, and i think that was a good choice. Director Adam Wingard have done some good films in his career so far, especially the horror film You´re Next, and the very special film The Guest, that was almost a tribute to 80´s films. I like some of the ideas he have brought in to this sequel. You can tell he have tried to combine classic elements of the first film, and bring some new ideas to make it feel more updated. So far, so good. But when the jump scares become way too many, i feel a bit frustrated. Why rely on jump scares, when you can make a film scary in other ways ? Blair Witch does have some good ideas, that are not used in full potential. Another found footage horror film, that does not give anything new or dare to try different paths. If you want to see a great found footage film, check out Afflicted on dvd. That is how you do a great horror film in this genre. Blair Witch is not strong enough to hide the flaws.

Rating: DD