Blair Witch

BLAIR WITCH

Director : Adam Wingard

Year : 2016

Genre : Horror

Rating : ***

Earlier this year, a trailer surfaced for a found-footage horror movie entitled 'The Woods'. It looked pretty run of the mill; barely indistinguishable from the dozens of other handheld, shakycam shockers that have infested cinemas worldwide for the best, or worst part of a decade. But when it was revealed at this Summer's San Diego ComicCon that 'The Woods' was actually going to be a sequel to one of the most influential and profitable horror movies ever made, expectations and audience anticipation for the newly christened 'Blair Witch' was exponentially raised.

With Adam Wingard (whose entertaining 2014 slasher pastiche 'You're Next' proved to be both a commercial and critical hit) at the helm and armed with a trailer that had more scares and atmospheric threat than almost every other found-footage film made in the past five years combined, 'Blair Witch' promised a hell of a great deal.  But could it possibly live up to the extraordinary hype?

Well, it's clear through multiple filmmaking techniques that both Wingard and screenwriter Simon Barrett are ravenous connoisseurs of the faux-documentary sub-genre - deftly echoing many of the elements and ideas that made 'The Blair Witch Project' such a cultural phenomenon upon its initial release in 1999. But while this imitation allows for a great deal of nifty camera work and expert sound design, it also proves to be the films biggest drawback.

Set seventeen years after the terrifying events of the first movie, (the nigh-on unwatchable 'Blair Witch : Book Of Shadows' is totally ignored here) 'Blair Witch' once again follows a small group of friends who, armed with the latest in navigational and communication technology, venture into the creepy Black Woods of Burkittsville, Maryland in an attempt to find out what happened to Heather, the girl who mysteriously 'disappeared' after searching for the mythological witch while filming a documentary. But it isn't long before the night closes in and the demonic forces that occupy the forests recommence their malevolent mischief.

As is to be expected with any found-footage picture, most of the scares in 'Blair Witch' are comprised of the same quiet-bang jumps which have made watching modern horrors so tedious and predictable and while executed with much more flair and pizazz than many of its inferior counterparts, I would be lying if I said that the constant barrage of loud bangs didn't quickly irritate me. That being said, there is still enough brooding atmosphere and a significant amount of knuckle chewing tension throughout 'Blair Witch' to satiate the appetites of horror fiends both young and old - with the high-tech surround sound systems of the 21st century multiplex greatly accentuating the claustrophobic terror taking place on screen.  Not to mention a grisly strain of squishy body horror that turns the stomach as well as chilling the spine.  

But for all of its technical ingenuity and a roster of fine performances from the largely unknown cast, 'Blair Witch'  is ultimately scuppered by the done-to-death sub-genre it is so lovingly paying tribute to. When 'The Blair Witch Project' exploded into popular culture almost two decades ago, the found-footage aesthetic was new, unexpected and wholly unpredictable. Now in 2016, it seems forced, tired and wholly predictable.