My History With the Film:
I’ll admit, despite not being a fan of the original and never seeing the sequel, I was pretty excited when they surprised announced a new Blair Witch movie at the San Diego Comic Con in 2016. I thought the film was going to be a regular movie since found footage films seemed to be on their way out, but I was wrong. This hurt my excitement for the film and once it opened to bad reviews, I lost most of my interest in seeing it.
In October 2017, the film popped up on Hulu and I decided to give it a watch. I found it to be better than the original, but not by much. I’m just not a fan of the whole found footage genre and I prefer a decent story be told with the movies I watch.
What The Film Is About (Non-Spoiler):
A brother of one of the original victims from the first Blair Witch film finds evidence on YouTube that his sister may still be alive.
What I Liked About It:
Note: I attempt to avoid spoilers in most of my reviews, but in this film I cannot. You have been warned.
-This film tried hard to increase the amount of scares and insanity that occurs in the woods. My favorite part of the film came when two members of the group find the rest of the group and claim they’ve been wandering the woods for five days, when it has only been one afternoon as far as the film shows. It reminded me of something you’d see in the wonderful film Coherence, which I highly recommend you watch instead of this movie.
-The last ten minutes are pretty decent. We get to see a glimpse of the witch (which according to IMDB is not actually the witch, but instead a victim), which looked cool and was scary.
-I loved the plot that tied into the original, with the little brother going out to find his sister.
What I Didn’t Like About It:
-It’s found footage.
-There is way too much stupidity going on by pretty much everyone on the cast.
-The storyline where the YouTubers fake some of what is found really ruins the rest of the film. After that occurs, you can never truly believe what is going on which takes you out of the realism that found footage only functions with.
-None of the characters were very likable, so it was kinda hard to root for any of them.
-It’s friggin clear that the witch mimics voices, and the fact that the final girl turns around so incredibly frustrating. People like to make fun of horror movies because people make stupid choices and this was one hellova stupid choice.
Additional Notes:
-The film was produced under a fake title, The Woods. The trailer was released at San Diego Comic Con in 2016 and surprised the audience. The actual film was released two months later.
-One second frames of the original film show up throughout this film, usually when the camera is being turned on or off.
Rating:
I’ll admit up front, I’m biased. I do not like found footage films and that hurts this rating. I’m sure someone who enjoys this subgenre would rate this film higher. So please keep that in mind.
I’d say this film is a four out of ten and a low priority rental if you are a fan of the franchise, otherwise skip it.