Blair Witch (2016)
Sequels abound, the first of the bunch came out recently. The original Blair Witch Project came out in 1999 and, as stated in my review of it, the movie was a box office and horror giant. One year later we got Book of Shadows... a complete disaster. Now, 17 years after the original, we get Blair Witch. Unfortunately, in the week it's been released, it's already seeing a bombardment of negative reviews. "It's too much like the first" "It can't stand on it's own", etc.
I, however, found it to be just the opposite.
Now, seeing as I've only seen it the once, I don't really have the money to be throwing around, going to the theater several times for a single movie, this will only be a brief look at my first impression. Once it's out on DVD and once I've got my hands on it and can watch it several times, I'll be coming back for a full review. For now, let's just get some initial response.
Firstly, and the most important of all... it was actually scary. It did what a horror movie ought to, it scared the shit out of me. Not since I saw The Ring have I wanted to hide from the screen for a good half a movie. Unlike the original, it built the atmosphere and it paid off. There was a reason to be scared. The nail marks left in my boyfriend's hand after seeing it was indication enough for me that this was a movie worth seeing. The first time I watched The Blair Witch Project I was just bored. Sure, you could attribute part of that to seeing it in theaters, with the large screen and surround sound as opposed to my bedroom... but that only goes so far in the grande scheme of things.
Secondly, it actually solved one of the biggest arguments against 'found footage' style movies: "the fuck is the character still holding the camera?" Everyone who's ever seen a found footage movie has thought it at least once, sometimes several times, during a movie? Why are they still filming? Who in their right mind would still be filming at that various point? We, as an audience, know it's because the movie still has to be filmed and they can't just switch to an outside camera without ruining the effect, but within the context of the movie you still have to angrily shout at the screen "Stop fucking filming, asshole!" And Blair Witch solves this in a strangely brilliant way. By giving the characters the cameras they don't have to hold and need to be on for them to use the GPS it gives all the reason to keep the cameras on and still filming... even when the characters, themselves, have long since forgotten about capturing what's going on. In fact, there's even a point where the character shooting the documentary, the one holding the main, larger camera, realizes 'you know what, I should stop filming' and puts her camera down... but we're still getting footage because of the earpieces. It was, to me, a brilliant solution to the most prevalent problem of the genre.
Lastly, the pacing and characters were so much better. In the original film it was extremely slow and about 90% arguing that was either completely irrelevant... or just downright annoying. In Blair Witch they get right to the point, keep you at the edge of your seat, and don't fill all the non-straight-black-shots with arguments. Even when the characters are in stress-induced, rightful argument it's less nagging-younger-sister and more stressed-the-fuck-out, panicked adults who know how to calm the fuck down and take care of each other because dear god we're in the middle of the woods, time is warped, and there's a god damn witch trying to eat us alive. You feel the tension. I definitely did.
Overall, I'm going to have to wait until I have the DVD and can watch it a couple more times, but for first impressions? This movie was great. As for all the arguments saying it can't stand on it's own? What exactly do you think a sequel is? It's not designed to stand on it's own and it's extremely rare when one can. It's meant to build off the first, it's a continuation, not a new story. I went in extremely cautious, not sure how they were going to make the 20-year gap between the movies work, but I was pleasantly surprised. They made it work, they improved significantly, and I highly recommend it.
Negative reviews be damned, this was a good one.
grt
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