Starring: James Allen McCune, Callie Hernandez, Corbin Reid
Directed By: Adam Wingard
Running Time: 89 Minutes
UK Release Date: 15th September 2016
Certificate: 15

A lot of fans of director Adam Wingard were eagerly expecting a horror movie called The Woods and were pleasantly surprised to hear that it was in fact a new Blair Witch film. It was a great bit of misdirection from the production and marketing teams which included a fake trailer, posters and a website which all kept the film a secret until all was revealed at Comic-Con back in July.

Having been impressed by the trailer I was curious to see if this would be another pointless reboot / remake or a sequel to the dire Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000).

Thankfully this film ignores Book of Shadows and is a direct sequel to 1999’s The Blair Witch Project.

This entry is reassembled from footage shot in May 2014 and features a group of 4 college students venturing into the woodlands of Burkittsville (a town formally known as Blair) in the hope of finding James’s (James Allen McCune) sister Heather, who disappeared in these woods 20 years earlier while filming a documentary on the fabled Blair Witch.

The group explore the forest along with a pair of locals who recently found footage of what could be Heather, but as they progress a series of supernatural and horrifying incidents torment them and they realise that the witch is more than a myth.

The original was ground breaking as it revitalised the found footage genre and led to such great films as Cloverfield (2008), Chronicle (2012) and of course Paranormal Activity (2007). However many other films used this technique as a novelty and as such varied in quality. It’s sequel Book of Shadows ditched this format and was your typically mundane teen horror which is best forgotten.

It is worth mentioning that the original basically created online viral marketing for movies and I for one was on the films fictional website reading the history of the town and police reports of the disappearance of the films three leads, trying to piece together the backstory and to solve the mystery of the witch, and as such bring closure and understanding of the film.

However this was not to be as the film and the website didn’t explain everything, which in turn only added to the psychological horror and the overall mystery. I have mentioned before that I am not a fan of modern horror films as we mostly see a full frontal CGI beastie with its entire backstory explained before the end. Whereas if you have a shaky camera with only partial glimpses of what is terrorising our characters, your mind fills in the gaps and is often scarier than anything you will see on screen.

But is this sequel is any good? Yes, it’s a great ‘WTF’ thrill ride that travels the same path as the original, expands on the mythology and adds new elements that work well. For one the technology the group have to film their journey is put to good use as we now have SLR cameras, a drone, and ear mounted cameras which gives us the first person perspectives of the 4 college students. At first it’s a bit Peep Show (2003 – 2015), but leads to some great and terrifying shots and some well-placed jump scares.

I don’t want to give too much away but I would advise watching the first one and not ruining the surprises this film has to offer. I believe it is best watched as part of a collective experience in a dark cinema where everyone jumps at the same time and laughs when the tension is released.

I also advise finding a cinema with a good sound system as the use of soundtrack by director Adam Wingard is great as the cameras and walkie talkies pick up the various supernatural and eerie noises, which only grows more sinister as the film progresses. Combine this with the choppy editing, bad focus and a lot of shaky camera work, it all adds levels of realism that suck the audience into the film.

It is a lot of fun to watch even though it is basically a retelling of the first film and is often quite predictable, following many generic conventions found in most horror films and ultimately doesn’t add anything new to the genre.

And this is where Blair Witch, as with most sequels and reboots, is problematic and some would say fails. The new technology and expanded mythology is all utilised well, but it’s a film that you have seen before. It won’t have as much of a cultural impact as its predecessor, but delivers on what most audiences want: more of the same. However if this sequel changed location and fully explained the witch and what happened to Heather and co, audiences wouldn’t accept it as they have created their own answers, answers that this film would fail to deliver. But that’s the point of this movie as it takes you along for the ride without explaining everything, leading you to an intense finale and questions that will be in your head for days.

Overall Verdict: It re-treads the original while adding a few new elements, and retains itself as one of the best psychological horror franchises around. It’s a thrill ride full of early laughs, escalating tension and suspense and will play on the minds of the viewer for nights to come.

Reviewer: George Elcombe