FrontRow: Blair Witch redux

Published September 25, 2016

For better or worse, back in 1999, when The Blair Witch Project hit theaters, it quickly became a landmark achievement. Employing what would later be known as the ‘found footage’ style, the psychological horror film was received with open arms by critics, and scared the daylights out of viewers, especially those who had bought into the film’s clever marketing that presented it as a documentary.

I say for better or worse, because The Blair Witch Project has been aped endlessly since; the cheap production cost of the found footage technique allows for lazy scares that earn big outside of theaters. Unfortunately, the vast majority of found footage films, aside from a few rare exceptions such as the first Paranormal Activity (2007), Cloverfield (2008) and Chronicle (2012), have been poor to say the least. Worse still are those that copy the The Blair Witch Project to a tee, right down to the narrative.

So let’s get it out of the way. Directed by Adam Wingard and written by Simon Barrett, the sequel Blair Witch is pretty much a modern update of the original. Yes, it’s a pity that even the official sequel does very little to differentiate itself from the original in terms of narrative. That being said, as far as copies go, Blair Witch is for the most part a watchable film.


While watchable, the film does little to differentiate itself from the original


What I especially enjoyed was how the film wholehearted adapted modern technology. If you can think of a modern device that can capture film for a documentarian, then it’s featured in Blair Witch, right down to drones. For the most part, this technology is used effectively. Where the film is let down is in the scares, at least initially. For the first two-thirds of the film, Adam Wingard relies on far too many jump scares, leaving things too predictable. However, Blair Witch certainly picks up in the final portion, and it’s only a pity that it wasn’t more engaging earlier.

The storytelling leaves little room for surprises. We follow the adventures of James Donahue (James Allen McCune) who is desperate to find his sister. After finding some new footage online, he goes to hunt for her back at the scene of the supernatural crime, Black Hills woods. Joining him are his friends, Peter Jones (Brandon Scott), Ashley Bennett (Corbin Reid) and Lisa Arlington (Callie Hernandez), with the latter being a young film-maker intent on making a documentary. Also joining James on his quest are two locals, (Lane) Wes Robinson and Talia (Valorie Curry).

I can see why these two extra characters were included in the film, for they potentially create an interesting dynamic. As local residents they expand on the legend of Blair Witch and explain to our heroes that this centuries-old creature is responsible for numerous freaky occurrences. Unfortunately, neither the chemistry nor the dialog here is compelling enough to make these scenes stand out. And while it is appreciable that the attempts at scares begin earlier than they did in the original, there isn’t enough foundation for them to be particularly successful. Certainly, Blair Witch carries some magic, but it isn’t a spellbinding film.

Rated R for language, terror and disturbing images

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, September 25th, 2016

Opinion

Editorial

Defining extremism
Updated 18 Mar, 2024

Defining extremism

Redefining extremism may well be the first step to clamping down on advocacy for Palestine.
Climate in focus
18 Mar, 2024

Climate in focus

IN a welcome order by the Supreme Court, the new government has been tasked with providing a report on actions taken...
Growing rabies concern
18 Mar, 2024

Growing rabies concern

DOG-BITE is an old problem in Pakistan. Amid a surfeit of public health challenges, rabies now seems poised to ...
Provincial share
Updated 17 Mar, 2024

Provincial share

PPP has aptly advised Centre to worry about improving its tax collection rather than eying provinces’ share of tax revenues.
X-communication
17 Mar, 2024

X-communication

IT has now been a month since Pakistani authorities decided that the country must be cut off from one of the...
Stateless humanity
17 Mar, 2024

Stateless humanity

THE endless hostility between India and Pakistan has reduced prisoners to mere statistics. Although the two ...