Jul 16, 2019 The Blair Witch Project is 20 years’ old – can you believe it? The found footage movie about three missing students – Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard and Michael Williams – was released on July 14th 1999 and not only pulled off one of the greatest.
In 1999, “” accomplished somethingthat doesn’t seem possible only 17 years later. The internet was stillyoung enough that a film like this one could come completely out of nowhere andtake the world by storm. We weren’t yet exhausted with the conceit offound-footage filmmaking and “The Blair Witch Project” became a truly viralexperience, something shared via word-of-mouth, and inevitably turned on viabacklash.
I saw the film early enough (before release) to experience itwithout the baggage of expectations and it was remarkably effective. 17 yearslater, director and writer (the team behind “You’reNext” and “The Guest”) take us back into the woods for a straight sequel to thatfilm phenomenon, and we all learn that you really can’t ring the same belltwice. James has had his life defined by thefact that his sister Heather disappeared while searching for the Blair Witch,and Wingard/Barrett even incorporate the end of that movie—the terrifying houseand the man in the corner—into the narrative of this one. A pair of internetpersonalities have found a DV tape in the woods near where Heather disappearedthat shows someone or something racing up the stairs of that infamous house. Jamesis convinced he can see his sister Heather in the footage. Could she still bealive after all this time? He needs answers.James gathers three friends—Lisa , Ashley and Peter —and the quartet equips themselves withevery kind of recording device imaginable.
Wingard and Barrett’s most clevertake on the material is how much they capture the modern ability to record amoment to death. The team all wear GoPros, allowing for first-personperspectives throughout, but that’s just the beginning.
There are iPads used torecord, HD cameras strapped to trees, and even a drone that the team proposesthey can use to send up for cheap helicopter shots or to orient themselves in thewoods. These are kids who are not only amateur filmmakers but have grown up inan era in which documenting multiple angles of their lives is the norm.The quartet gains two more members in their party when thepair who found the DV tape—Lane and Talia —tag alongon the adventure into the deadly woods. There’s some brief set-up, but almostimmediately the mood of this “Blair Witch” is different and ineffective. Thegang shares the urban legends of the woods—a kid was dragged into the river bya mysterious hand, you can’t look the Blair Witch direct in the face withoutdying of fear—and we wait until we know things are going to get creepy. The set-up is the same—someone found this footage and assembled it into ahorror movie—and while that felt fresh in the first film, it now just kind ofdrains the piece of tension because we know no one is making it out alive.
Of course, it’s not long before bad things start happening.The first is actually a little unexpected in that Ashley slips in a river they’recrossing and cuts her foot badly, making it harder for her to travel. Whilethat’s a minor problem, the major ones soon surface, often accompanied byscreaming and stunningly loud noises. It’s hard to say that the first film was “subtle,”but I’m surprised at how much Wingard goes for shock and awe this time in termsof sound design.
It sounds like a bulldozer is going through the woods andknocking over trees. There’s nothing relatably creepy about that. The original built tension off sounds in the distance and that general fear that comesfrom being in the middle of nowhere. This one seeks to numb you with boomingnoises while someone plays catch with a GoPro.There are moments that work. Wingard’s eye isstill prominent, even in the found footage concept—such as in the way a bit with anill-advised tree climb is visually framed or a claustrophobic bit in the finalact that I admit I had to turn away from. But the movie gets its most mileagefrom the minor beats like waking up at 7 a.m.
To find it still dark out (remember,time is fluid in these woods) or the production design of a house that lookslike it’s literally rotting from the inside. As for the major beats? What’s scarier—someoneyelling boo or the sound of someone, or something, whispering it in thedistance? “Blair Witch” has plenty of yelling, but not nearly enough that getsunder your skin.