When The Blair Witch Project was released in 1999 with a unique marketing strategy which convinces everyone that what we were watching was real. The original Blair Witch Project holds a place in my heart since I compared as my generations ‘The Exorcist’ as far as the aura around the film. Even though the movie has not aged too well, there is a legacy that, in my opinion, secures a spot for it as a film that people will keep going back to, especially being the film that birth the genre of the “found footage” horror films. With the current trend that Hollywood has been on lately and with a source material that is bordering on being a classic film to some, of course, we get a remake of the Blair Witch.
They do not present The Blair Witch as a straightforward remake, however, placing this film as a sequel to the first one where the brother of one of the original characters goes down to the woods with a group of friends to find his sister. I call it a remake simply because of the fact that, besides that little reference, they try to recreate the original in every way, but fall very short. The magic of the first movie was the allure that this might be a real event we are witnessing but there is no way to replicate that of course, but this movie did away with all the unsettling atmosphere the original had which gives us a pretty bland movie.
The movie takes the same premise as the original as I mentioned with a group of friends heading to the forest to find out what is happening in the area in regards to the legend of the Blair Witch. They seek some help from two locals who have been researching the supernatural occurrences in those woods. Once they get there the movie immediately turns into a bad Blair Witch Project Knockoff with updated technology. During one of the nights it was also led to believe that the two locals planted a bunch of those creepy wood dolls around the camp and they kicked them out of the group but then they see even more dolls that are huge at their camp which made me confused as to why they had the first scene of the two locals faking these events.
This movie was filled with so many jump scares that it got to the point where it became obvious the writers didn’t know where to go in the storyline so they just relied on cheap tricks. I don’t remember seeing a movie with so many of them, I mean it has been a staple in horror for a while now but the Blair Witch takes the cake. This is the number two reason as to why this movie fell so short for me compared to the original.
The number one reason why this movie fell on its own face for me is…. THEY SHOW THE WITCH! One of the creepiest parts of the Blair Witch Project was the fact that you know something was happening and the Witch was around watching them but you never saw her which added a level of mysteriousness to the film that no other movie had at the time. We never got to see her. Even at the end of the film where it is implied that the main female lead was struck from behind by the Witch, though some would argue that we never saw her, except for an alternate scene where you see one of her feet walk by the dropped camera. In this new adaptation however we get a CGI version of the Witch with elongated limbs that is not at all how I pictured her looking in my mind. A human-like Witch with a supernatural presence is way scarier than what looks like a mix between a zombie and Slender Man. This was the lowest point of this film for me.
With all that said, should you watch this movie? No. Go pop in the original, it might not have the same magic that it did in the early 2000s now that we all know it’s fake but it is a better film overall then this jumpscare marathon. This movie should have never been made or at least not in this way. So some popcorn, some friends who have never seen it and your favorite voodoo doll and pop in the original Blair Witch Project.
