“If people believe something enough, isn’t it real?”
Oh, this trilogy was a ride. Some entries deserve more credit than they’re given, and some deserve less!
THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999)
I originally saw this one last year, but I decided a refresh was in order if I was to watch the other two movies! The original Blair Witch Project is one of the crown jewels of the found footage horror genre, and it deserves every bit of its iconic nature! The website and other efforts devoted to its creation made the movie appear real to so many viewers back in the nineties! That’s a time capsule of history that could never be recaptured in the modern day!
Through its footage, this movie is genuinely creepy because you never see the titular witch, and you could theorize as to whether or not she even really exists! (I’m a fan of the proposal that the main girl was a sacrifice by the other two guys and the witch cult!) There are SO many scary elements that unsettle in their mystery, from the rock cairns around the tent to the stickmen hanging from the trees! And don’t get me started on the fantastic creepiness of that final scene and open ending!
Oh, and “It’s the same log” is a scene so rich in hopelessness and devastation. Made my stomach drop when I first saw it! This movie is SO atmospheric for fall and Halloween!
BOOK OF SHADOWS: BLAIR WITCH 2 (2000)
I went into Book of Shadows expecting a poorly-made cash grab sequel to the OG. But honestly, despite what the critics said 24 years ago, this is a surprisingly solid movie!
From the start, BoS obviously loses some points for doing away with the original’s iconic found footage style. But with its cheesy music and cinematography, it makes for a fun Halloween watch!
This movie opens with people trying to profit off the Blair Witch myth, focusing on a band of teens investigating the legends. I genuinely liked the group here, from the goth psychic to the Wiccan girl! As the five of them take residence in the same house from the OG movie, strange events unfold around them. It’s oddly satisfying for the witchy stuff to be tangible and visible to all parties – everyone knows something’s going on here!
Book of Shadows maintains the original movie’s ambiguity and mystery surrounding the titular witch while also taking a fantastically creepy angle. With possessions, visions, and shocking twists, this is a movie that keeps you guessing till the end!
Honestly, this movie deserves major props for its messed-up ending! It’s one thing for a villain to simply murder their victims. It’s another for said villain to take over their minds before disappearing, leaving the victims confused and defenseless in the real world! So much for “cameras don’t lie”!
BLAIR WITCH (2016)
You’d think people would’ve learned to stop going in these woods, right?
This “sequel” to the OG features the brother of Heather, the girl who originally went missing in the first film. He wants to look for her because he thinks she could still be alive – you know, twenty years later. I mean, everyone grieves in their own way, but really?
Oh, and I put “sequel” in quotes because, technically, this movie is trying to breeze past Book of Shadows and pretend like it never happened! Technically, one could argue that BoS isn’t explicitly decanonized (and it’s me, I am the one), but just a small reference to it would’ve been great! Have the guides talk about the original trio that went missing, as well as a group of teens that supposedly murdered multiple people in these woods!
Ugh, anyway! Following in the footsteps of the original, Blair Witch returns to the style of found footage, but it’s significantly worse this time around. There are way too many cameras, resulting in jump cuts mid conversation, and everything just looks too crispy. Shaking around a bunch of professional cameras isn’t the same thing! Not to mention that the dialogue comes across far more stilted than the original’s improv!
Oh, and don’t do background music on a damn found footage movie!
The horror elements in here aren’t too bad, with the woods actively messing with direction again but also distorting timelines. Unlike the OG, we have more blatant examples of witchcraft, such as the stickmen having an added voodoo element. And the witch herself is given a sufficiently unsettling origin story to explain her appearance! Yeah, it’s better in the first movie to keep her existence ambiguous, but she was so scary when we finally saw her! That movie poster genuinely creeps me out!
But before that! The scene in that house nearer the movie’s end was decently creepy, along with the crawling through the tunnel scene – but you could not drag me down there, good lord!
In Book of Shadows, the visions were individual and personal, whereas in this movie they only exist through camera lenses – an expected pitfall of the found footage genre. Again, to sing BoS’s praises, the character work was stronger in there!
In the home stretch of Blair Witch, many of the creepy shots were too quick to catch – I rewound my DVD multiple times to actually see them! And then we have a strange time loop paradox formed, something I actually liked. It feels like a natural next step in these fucked up woods!
Supposedly, we have a fourth installment coming to this series in the near future, and I’ll certainly be seated in the theaters when that day arrives! I can’t deny how enjoyably autumnal and Halloween-esque atmospheric these movies are, and the lore has been well-shaped so far – let’s see if it’ll hold up!
