THE BLAIR WITCH
STARRING: James Allen McCune, Callie Hernandez, Brandon Scott, Corbin Reid
DIRECTOR: Adam Wingard
Genre: Thriller, Horror
Rating: 15+
89 mins

Put aside the memories of 1999’s original movie The Blair Witch Project, and be prepared to be only mildly-terrified at its sequel Blair Witch.

College student James Donahue (James Allen McCune) treks to the Blair forest of Burkittsville, Maryland, in search of his missing sister Heather (the main character of the original The Blair Witch Project) after a self-shot video of her seemingly alive surfaces on the internet.

Joining him are friends Peter (Brandon Scott), Ashley (Corbin Reid), and Lisa (Callie Hernandez), the last of whom is a film-studies student who wants to film the trip for her graduate thesis, and brings with her an array of gadgets: night vision gear, GPS, drone cameras, face-top cameras, etc.

Stopping over first to see locals Lane and Talia, who were the ones to discover the footage of Heather in the forest and then upload it, they quickly decide to venture on inside the woods to find what they can of Heather’s whereabouts.

If you ignore the clear cash-grab that the Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 was (as this movie clearly does) then Blair Witch is the sequel to the movie that essentially started the found-footage genre of horror.

When The Blair Witch Project was released it shocked audiences who believed they were watching a real documentary.

Its biggest strength was that it genuinely looked like something recovered and not staged. Flash forward 17 years and it would take only the most gullible moron to believe this to be even slightly real. But that speaks more of an audience trained to distinguish truth from falseness in a digital age than it does about this movie.

It would be impossible to recreate that original level of fear audiences felt in a time where the internet spoils everything and every second of a movie trailer is analysed.

Instead, what the found-footage genre has lost in authenticity, it has gained in technology. Blair Witch is a truly 21st Century multimedia experience, in which screen time is divided between aerial footage, Point-Of-View filming and handheld shooting.

And, this is what the movie gets very right; it utilises its tools in some great scenes where the camera cuts to unexpected places that you had forgotten about during the action. Using the powerful microphones and sound design from Lisa’s technological set-up in a way that other low-budget found-footages horrors can’t, the forest truly comes alive with the presence of malevolent forces attacking from every side.

The backstory of Elly Kedward, the titular Blair Witch, also comes into clearer light. Her powers and legends are more clearly detailed, though this comes at the price of the movie’s many other characters.

Balancing the six main characters ultimately seems to be too big of a task for the moviemakers, and despite initial attempts to draw out more of the characters and their relationships, it is quickly dropped in favour of the witch and her forest.

There are few moments of relief or humour within the group, and though this does notch up the fear factor, it leaves the audience with few reasons to care about the characters. Remembering them from something other than having purple hair or being the person who has cut their foot will prove to be a challenge for even the smartest.

However, for all the tension Blair Witch manages to build up, there are very few actual scares.

The finale releases all hell on the characters but there are very few reasons to care if they survive, or end up being gouged by monsters.

You will either find the last few scenes simple and striking, or boring and long overdue, but in both cases you will not find it especially chilling or horribly terrifying.

Ultimately, Blair Witch is an enjoyable watch and will keep you on the edge of your seats for most of its running time. However, it will never take you out of that edge and burying yourself into the backs of the seat.

Watch the movie if you are itching to see a horror film, but don’t watch it if you are looking to see a sequel that parallels The Blair Witch Project.

Showing in: Novo Cinemas, Cineco, Seef II, Wadi Al Sail, Saar, Al Jazeera, Dana Cineplex

Rating: 3/5