Director Adam Wingard
Genre Horror | Thriller
Cast James Allen McCune, Callie Hernandez, Corbin Reid, Brandon Scott
Rating R
Release Date September 16th, 2016
“After discovering a video showing what he believes to be his vanished sister Heather, James and a group of friends head to the forest believed to be inhabited by the Blair Witch.”
Blair Witch is a found footage style horror film directed by Adam Wingard, the man behind V/H/S 1 & 2, You’re Next, and The Guest. Although many of his films have remained fairly under the radar, he has proven a knack for producing quality horror films. It was entitled The Woods originally, and the fact that it would be a 3rd Blair Witch film wasn’t announced until only 2 months prior to release. In an effort to protect its secrecy the film was filmed in Vancouver, Canada as opposed to Burkittsville, Maryland where the original was filmed. According to IMDb, Blair Witch was in the filming process for over 5 years before anyone knew it was actually happening.
Blair Witch attempts to revitalize a sleeper hit that released nearly two decades ago, and although certain aspects of the film do make an impact, the final product falls short of expectations. Let’s face it, this film was fighting an uphill battle from the beginning. The 1999 film was a fresh idea and caught audiences by surprise, serving up many sleepless nights for those brave enough to see it in theaters. The idea of a found footage film was simply unheard of, and because of that it felt incredibly authentic and therefore truly frightening. Fast forward to 2016 and audiences are essentially numb to the effects at this point. You really need a fresh idea in order to make it work, and I’m not sure many of those are still out there. Blair Witch does put its best foot forward, providing quality acting, and overall a very solid and sequel worthy premise. It just really isn’t all that scary, and needless to say when it comes to a horror movie, that is an issue.
The acting in Blair Witch was surprisingly good, all things considered. I mean generally horror films can skate by with average to below average acting, especially when it comes to found footage style films (The Gallows anyone?!). The two primary leads include James Allen McCune and Callie Hernandez. McCune previously held recurring roles on AMC’s The Walking Dead as well as the hit Showtime series Shameless. Hernandez on the other hand is relatively unknown but seems to be getting more work now according to her IMDb page. Both played solid and convincing roles and most importantly keep the audience from shaking their heads at the Achilles heel of horror films, which is terrible acting. Kudos to them.
Blair Witch serves as a more than worthy sequel to the 1999 money printing machine of a film, and should at the very least erase the joke of an actual sequel that preceded it. It includes effective cinematography, above average acting (at least for a horror film), as well as a creepy and unpredictable feel throughout. Although I slept like a baby after I saw the Blair Witch, it could very well keep you up for a week. I feel like Adam Wingard's newest film is still worth checking out for horror fans, and considering all of the mixed reviews out there, you might as well try and make your own opinion this time around.
