Blair Witch is the most disappointed I've been in a movie in perhaps forever. There's a great GREAT movie in here, I'm convinced of it, but for some reason, they chose not to go all the way. They have a good script and a they set the table for us, and then like a prude and a tease on prom night, just when you think you're going to hit a home run, they leave you needing a cold shower. Everything was here for the film to be one of the scariest films out there. It really was. So why did they just not see it all the way through to the end? Instead what we are left with is a remake and rehash of the original, with no answers and more questions than we had going in.
As we all know the plot, I'll just recap it briefly. James, the little brother of Heather from the original, is convinced that she could possibly still be alive in the woods of Burkittsville, 17 years later. There's some new footage that has been uploaded onto the web that could possibly be her. He gets his friends to come along for the ride as they head out into the woods in search of the cabin where Heather and Mike were last seen. We find out that the woods were meticulously searched back in 1999 when Heather, Mike and Josh disappeared.
This time the crew is armed with an array of different recording devices, including a drone, tiny ear cameras and regular 8MM classic style video cameras. One of the true strengths of the film is the different angles that they can and are able to shoot and the sound that the cameras can pick up. The sound design is second to none and it is truly one of the stars of the film. There is some truly unsettling and nerve inducing sounds that are picked up. In the first film, you heard the sounds of the forest at night and you could hear babies crying and people screaming. This time you hear all or most of that, plus so much more. The sound is worthy of an Oscar nomination.
As they six head off into the woods, we get a lot of great exposition. We are told of the witch and how she falsely accused of torturing local children. She was taken by the villagers into the woods and basically hung up with rocks hanging from her limbs to inflict as much pain as possible to her. She was left to die. When the villagers come back in the spring, they don't find her body. Soon people from the village of Burkitsville start showing up dead, including the children who falsely accused her. The legend goes on to say that the woods remain haunted to this day. No one really goes into the woods alone and not over night.
Then things start to happen. The stick symbols show up and the six of them inexplicably sleep in until 2 in the afternoon. There's a fight that ensues between the four main friends and the two tag-alongs. They get separated. Up until now, the film follows a pretty standard pattern and if you have seen the original, it all makes sense and it's all fairly predictable. Then all hell begins to break loose and the film really starts to get good. There is hints of portals into another dimension, time travel or both. They never tell you for certain what happens here and I'm fine with this. What I'm not fine with is that the film never expands on the original. It never gives us any answers and it never truly feels like a sequel. This is much more of a remake than anything. And that is too bad because as I said initially, the script laid it all out for us. All Barrett and Wingard had to do is change maybe four or five scenes. But instead of scaring the absolute hell out of us by going that extra yard, they just stop. Characters disappear without any resolution. One character looks like she is dragged away by something, but again, it's never followed up. If there really was a witch haunting the woods, why would she attack one or two characters but not the others. Why is Lisa made to crawl through an under ground tunnel only to make it out without nary a scratch. Nothing attacks her, nothing scares her. Why? There were so many wasted opportunities here. If they just would have hired me to write some of this, it would have been so much better. Seeing as they don't know who I am, they should have consulted more with Myrick and Sanchez. But instead of giving us what should have been a terrifying film, we get one that is good, unsettling, spooky and kind of scary in some parts. But they left so much out, so much that could have made this so much better. For example, they had a drone, and yet it does nothing. You don't really see any footage from the drone and then there is one silly scene where one of the characters climbs a tree in order to retrieve it and then you never see her again.
The ending is what disappointed me the most because it's basically a shot for shot retelling of the original.
There are three things I would have done to this film. And if they would have done them this would have been a much better experience.
Blair Witch is a very good film for about 70% of the time. But the other 30% really weighs it down. And that is a shame.
6/10
As we all know the plot, I'll just recap it briefly. James, the little brother of Heather from the original, is convinced that she could possibly still be alive in the woods of Burkittsville, 17 years later. There's some new footage that has been uploaded onto the web that could possibly be her. He gets his friends to come along for the ride as they head out into the woods in search of the cabin where Heather and Mike were last seen. We find out that the woods were meticulously searched back in 1999 when Heather, Mike and Josh disappeared.
This time the crew is armed with an array of different recording devices, including a drone, tiny ear cameras and regular 8MM classic style video cameras. One of the true strengths of the film is the different angles that they can and are able to shoot and the sound that the cameras can pick up. The sound design is second to none and it is truly one of the stars of the film. There is some truly unsettling and nerve inducing sounds that are picked up. In the first film, you heard the sounds of the forest at night and you could hear babies crying and people screaming. This time you hear all or most of that, plus so much more. The sound is worthy of an Oscar nomination.
As they six head off into the woods, we get a lot of great exposition. We are told of the witch and how she falsely accused of torturing local children. She was taken by the villagers into the woods and basically hung up with rocks hanging from her limbs to inflict as much pain as possible to her. She was left to die. When the villagers come back in the spring, they don't find her body. Soon people from the village of Burkitsville start showing up dead, including the children who falsely accused her. The legend goes on to say that the woods remain haunted to this day. No one really goes into the woods alone and not over night.
Then things start to happen. The stick symbols show up and the six of them inexplicably sleep in until 2 in the afternoon. There's a fight that ensues between the four main friends and the two tag-alongs. They get separated. Up until now, the film follows a pretty standard pattern and if you have seen the original, it all makes sense and it's all fairly predictable. Then all hell begins to break loose and the film really starts to get good. There is hints of portals into another dimension, time travel or both. They never tell you for certain what happens here and I'm fine with this. What I'm not fine with is that the film never expands on the original. It never gives us any answers and it never truly feels like a sequel. This is much more of a remake than anything. And that is too bad because as I said initially, the script laid it all out for us. All Barrett and Wingard had to do is change maybe four or five scenes. But instead of scaring the absolute hell out of us by going that extra yard, they just stop. Characters disappear without any resolution. One character looks like she is dragged away by something, but again, it's never followed up. If there really was a witch haunting the woods, why would she attack one or two characters but not the others. Why is Lisa made to crawl through an under ground tunnel only to make it out without nary a scratch. Nothing attacks her, nothing scares her. Why? There were so many wasted opportunities here. If they just would have hired me to write some of this, it would have been so much better. Seeing as they don't know who I am, they should have consulted more with Myrick and Sanchez. But instead of giving us what should have been a terrifying film, we get one that is good, unsettling, spooky and kind of scary in some parts. But they left so much out, so much that could have made this so much better. For example, they had a drone, and yet it does nothing. You don't really see any footage from the drone and then there is one silly scene where one of the characters climbs a tree in order to retrieve it and then you never see her again.
The ending is what disappointed me the most because it's basically a shot for shot retelling of the original.
There are three things I would have done to this film. And if they would have done them this would have been a much better experience.
Blair Witch is a very good film for about 70% of the time. But the other 30% really weighs it down. And that is a shame.
6/10