Movie Review: “Blair Witch” more of an inferior remake than a terrifying sequel

Movie Review: “Blair Witch” (R)

“Blair Witch” is a true sequel to 1999’s “The Blair Witch Project.” It opts to follow the path set up by the original rather than tell a disassociated story featuring the same supernatural presence, ala “Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2.” Make no mistakes, though. Even though this film is a continuation of sorts, it plays more like an inferior remake.

“Blair Witch” finds the younger brother of Heather Donahue — the woman who went missing in the original film — assembling a team and heading deep in to the Burkittsville woods of Maryland in an effort to get to the truth behind his sister’s mysterious disappearance over 20 years earlier. As expected, this team is armed with various video equipment (since this is 2016, there’s even a drone thrown into the mix) so they can document the whole thing. And as expected, said team ultimately find themselves running in circles and coming face to face with something evil in the forest.

If only there was a character here truly worth giving a damn about. Not that most viewers are coming in to a “Blair Witch” movie looking for strong character development. Still, the fact remains that the characters in the original film felt more like real people.

Speaking of the original, in addition to introducing the world to what has become the increasingly tired found footage gimmick, the polarizing “The Blair Witch Project” also benefited from a brilliant online marketing campaign. Where the polarizing nature of “The Blair Witch Project” really comes into question is when talking to moviegoers about their thoughts on the film itself. Depending on who you ask, “The Blair Witch Project” is either an overrated cheapie that wouldn’t have been the success it was had it not been for shrewd marketing or a convincing slow burn punctuated by an undeniable sense of dread and a truly terrifying finale. In my humble opinion, it is the latter.

Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett — the genre-loving duo behind popular home invasion thriller “You’re Next” and immensely entertaining Dan Stevens-headlined actioneer “The Guest” — are rabid fans of “The Blair Witch Project,” and while their heart is certainly in the right place here, this film’s insistence on answering questions by way of more questions becomes increasingly frustrating (think “Lost” in the woods instead of on an island.) Not that there’s anything wrong with a little bit of ambiguity, but too often it feels as if this movie is planting seeds for future installments rather then simply telling a complete story.

Stylistically speaking, Wingard and Barrett take a lot of the thrifty techniques they learned on the creative “V/H/S 2” and apply them here. They couple these techniques with loud (bordering on obnoxious) sound cues making for a handful of standard jump scares. Also in the mix are new strange happenings, including an out-of-place occurrence that feels alien in nature and a sort-of time loop hook that feels like it was inspired by the “Paranormal Activity” franchise.

“Blair Witch” is not without its moments. The movie certainly would have benefited from the “less is more” approach, but there’s no doubt that once the infamous cabin in the woods shows up, Wingard utilizes it to his utmost advantage. Beyond that, there’s one chilling sequence in “Blair Witch” that will be particularly upsetting to those who suffer from claustrophobia.

If you’re coming into this movie hoping for a near carbon copy of the original with a larger budget, you should go home happy. If you’re coming into this movie hoping for relentless scares and a “real” answer behind Heather’s disappearance, you’ll probably walk away disappointed.

Having said that, you might get the answers you seek in the next sequel (or the one after that), which this movie predictably sets up. And given that this flick was made on the cheap, it’s safe to say that it’s going to make a killing at the box-office, meaning that “Blair Witch” will most likely take the Halloween horror franchise torch once carried by “Saw” and “Paranormal Activity” and run through the woods with it.

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