Blair Witch, directed by Adam Wingard, is the newest movie in the Blair Witch Project franchise. The film follows a group of young people who decide to camp in the Black Hills Forest in Maryland, where they hope to uncover the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Heather Donahue. (The girl from the first movie). Who, happens to be the sister of one of the characters.
Now that I have gotten the introduction out of the way, I'm going to talk about my thoughts on this movie. I'm not going to go into too much detail here because I feel like I will just be repeating what so many others have already. Blair Witch has made quite a bit of money at the box office in the short time it has been out, however, it seems to be generating mixed reviews from both fans and critics.
Initially going into this movie, I wasn't particularly excited about it. I really didn't care if I saw it. I have never really understood the hype these movies create because I didn't grow up watching the first one that people love so much. I knew about it, but didn't give it a watch until later in my adult life. So I didn't have that love and nostalgic factor others had seeing this new one. Maybe that affected my opinions a bit.
Overall, I thought it was a decent movie. It was very reminiscent of the original, so if you loved it, you will probably find some enjoyment in this version. Found Footage movies aren't a new thing anymore, so you probably won't be as wowed with this one in that aspect. It does somewhat continue the story from the first in that they are holding onto hope that Heather is somehow still out there. So that's pretty cool.
One thing I found to be utterly annoying in Blair Witch is the jump scares. It's not that there was too many, it's that they felt the need to add ungodly loud sounds for each one. And when someone is walking and it's supposed to be suspenseful, they add those loud sounds again. I just felt that they were unnecessary. I found myself not caring for these characters, though. I literally had a conversation in my mind where I ask myself "Is there one person in this movie that I care to see live?" I kept coming up with nothing. Most of them were obnoxious and stupid. So many times I saw them doing dumb things and thought "wow, is anyone actually that stupid?". Maybe, just maybe, the brother James wasn't that bad, so I guess I cared a little what happened to him.
But those are really my only complaints. Overall, it wasn't terrible. It was a lot like the original and very true to it. It didn't add in overly ridiculous stuff like most sequels do. It was entertaining enough to keep my attention and the visuals and stuff were good. The last 15-20 minutes of the movie were really good and worth seeing! If you can get past the annoying stuff like the jump scares and stupid characters, you might actually enjoy this movie.
I give Blair Witch a 2.5/5 Star rating.