by Alec Williams
Prior to watching this new film, I decided that I needed to watch the original 1999 “The Blair Witch Project,” and I’ll just say it does not hold up well. I’m not sure if it is the acting, the 90’s grunge music that had a larger role than I had anticipated or the premise itself that ruined the film. It is probably all of those components which are issues that the new 2016 “Blair Witch” has as well.
We’re dealing with a sub genre, found footage, that was really birthed from the original film. I recognize that the sub genre has existed long before “The Blair Witch Project,” but it definitely did not earn the popularity until the 1999 film. I would say American film-goers have had a love-hate relationship with found footage since its beginnings, but today many would probably agree that the genre is getting stale.
The 2010s gave us an unacceptable amount of “Paranormal Activity” sequels, “Apollo 18,” “The Visit,” and now “Blair Witch.” I would say that the sub genre is effectively dead. That’s not to say it won’t have a resurgence ten years from now, and it probably will, but for now we need to cut down on it.
The Blair Witch films, and we won’t even speak of the 2000 sequel, are not extraordinary films because everyone else has done what they can with it already. Every jump scare, plot device and expositional scene feel interchangeable with another film in the subgenre, there’s no room to stand out in the crowd.
The point of the “Blair Witch” film is to make people think it is real. That gritty, shaky camera is supposed to convince audiences that this could happen to you. But, when you have so many found footage films, you lose that; now audiences are bored. I was most certainly bored watching “Blair Witch.”
Despite this film having a considerably larger budget compared to its predecessor (the 1999 original was made with only $60,000 compared to the 2016 version with a $5 million budget), the new film has nothing to show for.
Yes, there are more scenes of gore, which I would say are veering on an unnecessary level, but it would not have a large contribution to that budget. The money also can’t be going towards the acting, because I could not say that it made a lasting impression. In the original you really did not believe these actors when they were giving a never-ending stream of exposition, but when they were terrified in a scene, you actually believed them. In the 2016 version, I cannot say I believed anything, I was watching an actor acting.
If you are looking for a good scary movie to watch in preparation for Halloween, maybe watch some of the recent James Wan horror films; he is a director who respects the genre. However, if you just have to watch a found footage film, watch the original “The Blair Witch Project.” At the very least it does not suck as bad as the new one.
