Blair Witch (2016) serves as a direct follow-up to the 1999 found-footage horror classic, The Blair Witch Project. Adam Wingard (You’re Next, The Guest) is behind the camera and seeks to build upon the franchise lore while Modernizing the original’s found-footage style.
The film started marketing as a sequel under the working title The Woods, but the title was changed to Blair Witch only a couple of months before release, deepening the enigma surrounding it.
Plot Overview
The film follows James Donahue, the younger brother of one of the three missing filmmakers from the original Blair Witch Project, Heather. James believes his sister may still be alive after discovering an online video that appears to show Heather inside a house in the Black Hills Forest.
In order to find the truth, James, along with Lisa, Peter, and Ashley, decides to go into the same woods where Heather and her crew went missing 20 years ago. They are joined by Lane and Talia, a local couple who offer to guide the team. They claim to have found the footage and are willing to help.
Initially, the group considers the lore of the Blair Witch to be mere superstition. After some time, peculiar sounds, impossibly warped figures of stick men, and awful time loops begin to manifest around them, and they begin to understand that the legend is not only true, but very much real, and is worse than what they had bargained for.
Main Cast & Characters
James Donahue, Heather’s sibling and the group leader, is played by James Allen McCune.
Callie Hernandez as Lisa Arlington, the filmmaker who came along to record the expedition.
Brandon Scott as Peter Jones, James’s best friend.
Corbin Reid as Ashley Bennett, Peter’s girlfriend.
Wes Robinson as Lane, a local god and conspiracy theorist.
Valorie Curry as Talia, Lane’s girlfriend.
Unlike the previous film, Blair Witch retains a significant degree of scripted material, which in turn allows for a noticeable focus on group dynamics and relationships, whereby the original film’s cast had to improvise around a great degree of the dialogue and emotional reactions.
What Makes Blair Witch (2016) Different from the Original?
- Increased Terror with Modern Equipment
While the 1999 film is rife with low-budget footage set to grainy sound, Blair Witch features drones, body cams, and HD cameras. A mix of mosques shouting through speakers with silence and gleaming lights set to high-definition night vision footage adds to the visceral terror, all while staying true to the found footage aesthetic.
- Quickened Pace and Heightened Frights
“Blair Witch” captures rise in tension in much shorter time than its predecessor does, by portraying:
- The presence of unnatural disturbances in the woods.
- The vanishing and reappearance of individuals in inexplicable methods
- Characters stuck in never-ending time traps
- A horrifying glimpse of the Witch
- Expanded Mythology of the Blair Witch
This film further enhances the legend with:
- The manipulation of Time: Characters experiencing missing time and time loops suggest that the witch is able to bend reality.
- The Blair Witch’s true manifestation: In the first movie the Witch is unseen, but here we catch a glimpse of an altered, menacing shape- could be the Witch or a cursed figure cast by her.
- The makers of the film highlight the eerie setting of the place that the witch cast her spell: In the end of the film we see blair witch capturing her victims by ending the story showing the house from where the mesmerizing figure disappears.
Assembling the Team:
Filmmaker: Adam Wingard (You’re Next, The Guest, Godzilla vs. Kong).
Scriptwriter: Simon Barrett (You’re Next, The Guest).
Production Company: Lionsgate.
A Secret Sequel
Shrining accuracy to detail, the producers of the film ‘Blair Witch’ concealed its title as ‘The Woods’ to further build hype around the film. The San Diego Comic-Con of 2016 became the ground where the film finally received its due recognition due to Liongate Studios revealing its real title.
Filming Style
In place of letting the actors actually get lost in the wilderness, as was done in the previous movie, Blair Witch was shot using a mixture of loose control shooting and blend of cinematic capturing, make it feel more balanced and realistic.
Reception & Box Office
Critical Response
The reviews of the critics were mixed, where some of them criticized the lack depth in the horror and others praised its intensity for trying something new with the original concept.
It holds a Rotten Tomatoes score of 37%, with critics saying it lacked the groundbreaking realism of the original film.
Once again, ranging from those who loved the new aggressiveness blended with psychotic horror to those who criticize it for deviating too much from the original movie.
Box Office Performance
Budget: $5 million
Box Office: $45 million worldwide
The film, although performing financially better than the previous attempts, did not reach the expected heights. Many people presumed the success of the original movie, The Blair Witch Project, would be mirrored.
Best Movies To Watch After You Liked Blair Witch
- The Blair Witch Project (1999)
One of the world’s most faux real horror movies, while the rest seem so ordinary.
- The Ritual (2017)
The brutal roots of this folklore horror stem from a strange figure deep in the forests.
- Paranormal Activity (2007)
A jump scares free horror movie that builds suspense and chills with horror elements.
- Hell House LLC (2015)
The monotony of an attraction amusement park can turn real scary if one of the horror houses become a little bit more than haunted.
- As Above, So Below (2014)
Maybe it’s Paris’s way of inverting reality or a found footage of Pan’s catacombs.
Final Thoughts: Should You Watch Blair Witch (2016)?
✅ You liked the original ‘The Blair Witch Project’ but wanted a little more action from it? Well you will expect more terrifying suspense in this film.
✅ If you’re into paranormal activities, Blair Witch give chills through unexplained folklore.
❌ Avoid this film if you are not a fan of psychological horror and prefer peace over noise.