Director: Adam Wingard.
Starring: James Allen McCune, Callie Hernandez, Corbin Reed, Brandon Scott, Wes Robinson, Valorie Curry.
Horror director Adam Wingard, famed for V/H/S and You're Next, carries on nearly seventeen years after the first film; which was a ground-breaker with being one of the first POV horrors of its kind spawning many after, like V/H/S, Unfriended and [Rec].
It follows in the same footsteps of The Blair Witch Project, everything through the artificial eyes of digicams, with a group of friends, a cast of fairly unknowns, going into the spooky backwood forest, in the hope to find James' sister, Heather from the first film. It's a good choice using low key actors instead of placing big names, which would probably distract from the title star, the Blair Witch. There's no reference to the poor sequel Book of Shadows released just one year after the first, apart from the hinted legend around the Blair Witch.
Its starts slow, giving time for you to get to know the characters and at a short 89mins things do escalated rather rapidly, turning into the jump-fest you should expect. However, it's of the same fare, it's conventional horror with you asking continuously why would any in their sane mind make the decisions they take making it humanly unrealistic. I've gone night camping many a time and explored places one really shouldn't if easily spooked, like derelict psychiatric hospitals. And not once was anyone comfortable enough to wander alone in the dark and to do so in a film is just a predictable primer that makes me sigh.
We get more history on the legend which provide markers for the finale, and we get sneak peeks which reminded me of the scary PC game, Slender: The Eight Pages. Though, the plot is not original enough and weak, with a similar back story to Candyman and reminded me of Silent Hill in parts. It's undeniable scary and nerve-wrecking but it's not the most terrifying film ever, not by a long-shot. The constant barraging of shocks and jumps wanes any real lasting effect and I actually left the screening feeling a little dissatisfied.
The acting is awkward but it's supposed to be, adding to the realism, but the script doesn't go far and could have been better, creating a stronger horror story but it's just feels repeated and loses impact. The sound is amazing and the haunting score is by Adam Wingard himself, but just appears to be a low hum at hangs there.
Like the first, there's the incredible hype that comes with the film and yes, it's super jumpy, but isn't totally terrifying like the hype suggests. It's a good copy of the first, being a borderline remake, so existing fans should enjoy, but, like many films that boast to be the scariest film of all time, they turn out to be fairly mediocre like The Babadook and The Woman in Black Maybe we should have a horror story about not listening to the hype, and if you do...
Running Time: 7
The Cast: 8
Performance: 7
Direction: 6
Story: 5
Script: 5
Creativity: 6
Soundtrack: 5
Job Description: 5
The Extra Bonus Point: 0
54% 5/10
