There's something evil hiding in the woods.

 Blair Witch is the surprise sequel to the 1999 classic and is directed by Adam Wingard (You're Next, The Guest) and stars James Allen McCune (The Walking Dead, Shameless), Callie Hernandez, Corbin Reid (How To Get Away With Murder, Kingdom), Brandon Scott (Wreck-it Ralph, The Last of Us), Wes Robinson (Roadies, Mad Men) and Valorie Curry (The Following, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2). "After discovering a video showing what he believes to be his vanished sister Heather, James and a group of friends head to the forest believed to be inhabited by the Blair Witch". At this years comic con 'The Woods' became a sequel to The Blair Witch Project and fandom went wild - does it live up to the hype?

Horror has been on a roll this year - Don't Breathe, Lights Out, The Purge 3, The Shallows, The Conjuring 2....the list goes on! So many good horror films. Blair Witch is not one of them. In fact, Blair Witch is one of the worst films I have seen all year - it is absolutely terrible. Like Jason Bourne was the dullest action film I had seen all year, Blair Witch is the dullest horror film - its pace isn't even slow to build a tense tone, its just terrible and boring. The film does get better in the last 20 minutes and the performances are solid but everything else is extremely poor. 

I thought 2016 would be the year I appreciate types of films I usually cannot stand - I don't usually like stop motion animation but I thoroughly enjoyed Kubo & The Two Strings...I hate found footage films and Blair Witch definitely did not change that, in fact everything about this film is why I hate found footage films. To be honest, this found footage wasn't even effective - it didn't feel real - some of the cameras used were too glossy and high quality. I will give the film praise for incorporating new technologies into it - for example, a flying droid is used as one of the cameras which is a piece of modern equipment that is being hyped today. However, found footage is found footage and Blair Witch can't get it right - which is strange because the original is what established the genre. The cinematography in this film was tedious - it was so snappy, it felt like a lot was happening but you would look at the time and only a minute had passed. 

There isn't really a story here that justifies the need for this sequel - no new information is learned and from what I've heard, it is just a copy of the original film (I had to stop watching the original half way in as it was boring). The story was incredibly slow paced and not much happened at all. There were a few jump scares placed throughout this slow story which were mostly ineffective as they were not edited in well and simply were not scary. You don't care about any of the characters as they are not developed and none of them are really that likeable either. 

Despite them all starring in a terrible film, the performances from the talent involved are all pretty solid - everyone has stronger and weaker moments. I don't think the performances were good enough for any of the talent to get a big role but they won't end their careers either. There really isn't much to say about the performances as everyone is just ok and not very memorable. 

So is Blair Witch scary? 78% of this film is not scary, 22% is - that 22% is the last 20 minutes which is what everyone wanted from this film. I thought the found footage was effectively used - tension was created when the characters didn't want to face the blair witch, when the characters were passing through the horrible corridors in the abandoned house and when one of the characters is trying to make their way through a hole. There were some effective scares in this segment and I did feel scared. However, unfortunately I cannot say that there were other scary moments because there simply was not - audiences pay to be scared when they see a horror and Blair Witch fails at that. Very disappointing. 

Blair Witch is definitely the worst horror film of 2016 and one of the poorest flicks of the entire year. The acting is ok and the final 20 minutes do have some genuine scary moments but that is as far as the positives go. The rest of the film is tediously paced, not scary, poorly written and unwatchable (because of the found footage). If you want to see a film on 'why Hollywood should stop producing found footage horror movies' then Blair Witch is for you...I can not think of any other reason for you to watch this piece of trash. 

34

Before you click away, I would like to announce that A Selenator's View is now on Patreon! 

Even though film reviews may not seem like a thing that would be costly, there are some expenses that have to be paid for me to continue. Obviously to see films, I have to pay for a cinema ticket - unfortunately, A Selenator's View aren't big enough yet to get invited to press screenings. Travel costs are also an expense. 

Your tips could also help A Selenator's View to grow as a site with a better web design. Don't feel pressured to donate at all as there are far better causes but if you appreciate the site. any donations would be amazing!

Our first goal is $15 which converts in the UK to one cinema ticket - this would be amazing!

Here is the link! https://www.patreon.com/aselenatorsview

There are also some great rewards available!

What did you think of BLAIR WITCH? Do you think it was a worthy sequel to The Blair Witch Project? - COMMENT BELOW

See You Soon!