Before & After: Blair Witch Review

Before

Does the world really need another Blair Witch movie?

That’s pretty much the first thought that ran through my mind when I heard we were getting a surprise sequel nearly two decades after The Blair Witch Project shocked the world.

Sure, the original is already regarded as a horror classic that helped put low-budget found footage movies on the map.

But have you watched The Blair Witch Project recently? Because the scares don’t quite hold up and these days it feels more like a grainy home movie about a group of friends who get lost in the woods.

The Blair Witch trailer doesn’t really offer anything new, as we essentially have another group of friends getting lost in the Burkittsville woods and experiencing more of the same spooky shit we’ve seen before.

Except this time we’re following Heather’s younger brother James (played by James Allen McCune), so there’s that fun twist I guess.

But despite all of my pessimism, there is hope for Blair Witch considering its director, Adam Wingard, has already proven himself with modern horror hits like You’re Next and multiple segments in the V/H/S franchise.

So who knows? Maybe this HD clone with a bunch of unknown actors will give me the scares I was looking for in the original.

I can only hope.

After

Remember when I asked if the world needed another Blair Witch movie? Well I guess my answer has to be yes.

I know, I’m just as surprised as you are.

While this movie follows a lot of the same beats as the original, it also adds some new elements that I thought worked really well.

The most obvious upgrade is in the camera department. Instead of one bulky old camcorder we have multiple HD cameras that allow us to see exactly what the characters are seeing.

There’s also a drone camera that gives us a few pretty shots of trees, but other than that it turns out to be pretty useless.

Then there’s our group of campers, who are way more likable than theoriginal trio of Heather, Mike, and Josh.

Callie Hernandez turns in a great performance as Lisa, James’s friend who’s conveniently shooting a documentary at the same time as him, and Brandon Scott brings some much needed laughs as Peter, the black character you just know is going to die first.

Last but certainly not least, the movie just shows us more and I found that to be very satisfying. While the original keeps things a bit more ambiguous, Wingard really pulls back the curtain and gives us a good glimpse at how the witch manipulates its victims.

At the end of the day Blair Witch probably isn’t going to be for everyone. But overall I found it to be a really fun and well done found footage movie with a downright terrifying final act, and it’s definitely worth checking out for horror fans.