When the group enters the woods, are they actually still in the same plane of existence? Do they somewhere else? If they are somewhere else, do the laws of space and time exist in the same way?Įach of these questions is presented but not really addressed.
It’s here where Blair Witch expands from basic horror to also introduce concepts that could bridge into science fiction. It is clear very early on that the group is lost, much like the original group, but something happens near the midpoint of the film that establishes something further, something that one would hope further sequels could capitalize on. Wingard opts to use some of the same scare techniques as the original, and they work every bit as well as in the original.Īlthough much of what we see in the first half of the film feels all too familiar, Wingard does manage to add in some new wrinkles that are actually very fascinating, that is, if he’d flushed them out just a bit more than he did. With a tight running time of 89 minutes, very little time is wasted on the setup of the film, getting the group out into the woods, accompanied by a local couple who may not be exactly who they say they are. This fact allows Wingard to shoot a film in a similar way as the original, but with better quality, all while preserving a level of plausibility. While the original film was shot on low-end video and black and white film stock, today’s technology allows for better equipment, at a lower cost. It was that belief that took a small film shot for $25,000 and turned that meager investment into nearly $250 million at the box office.įast-forward 17 years, a metric ton of awful knockoffs, and we return to the mystery of Burkettsville, Maryland in Blair Witch, a surprise direct sequel to the original (we’ll all do well just to forget 2000’s Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2), that manages to tread familiar ground while providing enough new scares to make this found footage flick soar. This worked out to the advantage of Dan Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez, the filmmakers behind the original, who used the Internet to create the myth of the Blair Witch, pushing a narrative that led audiences to believe that the found footage that made up the original was somehow factual. Sure, the web had been around for some time, but most of us were still logging in via 56k modem and had yet to fall victim to the hardened cynicism that forces us to question everything we see online.
When the original Blair Witch Project debuted in 1999, we were at the beginning of the Internet age as we know it. Refreshing an original concept with new scares and interesting concepts, Blair Witch is more than just the same old horror nostalgia.
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