If there's one thing I can give "Blair Witch" credit for, is that it makes everyone appreciate the original "Blair Witch Project" even more. It all looked so easy, didn't it? Just throw a cast of unknowns into the woods with consumer-grade cameras, then have them hear strange noises and run a bunch of times. There, your movie's done. If only it was so simple...
The thing this sequel/remake/reboot/cash-in misses so dearly is any sense of dread. The original was compelling because there was just something off right from the start, a creepy atmosphere that made you fear for the character's fates. We just hadn't seen anything like that before, and furthermore it had actors that improvised actual lines instead of just yelling character names to infinity. I swear: if you drink anytime these people shout the name of a missing (read: dead) character, you'll legit get alcohol poisoning. Which is only marginally more unpleasant than seeing this movie all the way through, come to think about it.
Maybe it's just hard to shock people at this point, even for a generally talented filmmaker like Adam Wingard ("You're Next" was pretty great). How many jump scares did the original have? Barely any, because there was no need. The situation was scary enough as it was. This movie constantly uses jump-scares as a band aid, because it has so little else going on. Lightning is simply not going to strike twice. If you're just going to make a bland rip-off of "Paranormal Activity", let this franchise die with a little dignity.
This is actually worse than the universally panned "Blair Witch 2", a sequel that was churned out in less than a year after the unexpected success of the original. At least that movie was something entirely different (maybe a bit TOO different). This just feels like the work of people who saw the first movie, then remade it without actually understanding why it worked so well in the first place. I couldn't wait for these people to die, and that's rarely a good thing when you're trying to make intense psychological horror.
The thing this sequel/remake/reboot/cash-in misses so dearly is any sense of dread. The original was compelling because there was just something off right from the start, a creepy atmosphere that made you fear for the character's fates. We just hadn't seen anything like that before, and furthermore it had actors that improvised actual lines instead of just yelling character names to infinity. I swear: if you drink anytime these people shout the name of a missing (read: dead) character, you'll legit get alcohol poisoning. Which is only marginally more unpleasant than seeing this movie all the way through, come to think about it.
Maybe it's just hard to shock people at this point, even for a generally talented filmmaker like Adam Wingard ("You're Next" was pretty great). How many jump scares did the original have? Barely any, because there was no need. The situation was scary enough as it was. This movie constantly uses jump-scares as a band aid, because it has so little else going on. Lightning is simply not going to strike twice. If you're just going to make a bland rip-off of "Paranormal Activity", let this franchise die with a little dignity.
This is actually worse than the universally panned "Blair Witch 2", a sequel that was churned out in less than a year after the unexpected success of the original. At least that movie was something entirely different (maybe a bit TOO different). This just feels like the work of people who saw the first movie, then remade it without actually understanding why it worked so well in the first place. I couldn't wait for these people to die, and that's rarely a good thing when you're trying to make intense psychological horror.