I find the new Blair Witch difficult to review. I have adored director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett’s prior work going back to A Horrible Way to Die; You’re Next did not achieve half the success it should have. Their secretive continuation of the Blair Witch franchise has so much less ambition than the lambasted sequel, Book of Shadows, but works as a remake for horror fans who don’t remember its 1999 predecessor.
Atlanta native James Allen McCune stars as the brother of The Blair Witch Project’s Heather, who has been missing since the footage for the original film was discovered. James, several friends and some townies (including Valorie Curry, Emma Hill from “The Following”) spend multiple nights in the Black Hills of Maryland. Despite new technology like drones and first-person-enabling cameras, Blair Witch tells the same tale in much the same way, just louder.
Without getting spoiler-y, the final act does little to dispel comparisons to the superior original. The Blair Witch Project is scarier and more successfully establishes a real world captured in found footage. The new movie is not bad, but it definitely disappointed this fan of its precursor.
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