Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Blair Witch’

Written by Scott Edwards and John Edward Betancourt

Scotty’s Review
While I am a firm believer that there is a little bit of truth behind myths, sometimes I don’t want to know what they are. It seems like these stories have been passed down for generations for a reason and while sometimes they are positive, most of the time the message is a warning. Knowing some of the stories and the hearsay that allows for them change is never a bad thing but finding out the truth to them could lead to more problems than solutions. Just be careful when looking for the truth, and do it with an open mind, because once you find what you are looking for, it may not be what you expected.

Keeping an eye on the internet for anything that could lead to some answers as to what happened to his sister Heather in the Black Hills since she disappeared looking for the Blair Witch, James has stumbled across a video that might show her still being alive. Showing the clip to his friend Lisa, she has a plan to make a film about the search for Heather and with plenty of cameras at her disposal, she believes that it will be a great film project. But that thought is not shared by all as James’s best friend Peter is not thrilled about this project but will do anything for his friend. Getting packed up and making their way to talk to the person that posted the clip, the group has no idea what they are in for.

Arriving at Lane’s house and meeting his girlfriend Talia, James and his friends are shocked to hear that the couple wants to join them on their hunt. Agreeing to let them come along, James, Lisa, Peter and Ashley are guided into the Black Hills and shown the exact spot where the tape was located. Being found under a tree where the old Rustin Parr house used to stand, the group moves on to find a good place to camp for the night before James’ search for his sister truly begins. After telling stories about what they have heard about the Blair Witch, the group turns in for the night, but they quickly find that they are not in the only ones in the woods.

Being woken up to crashes in the distance, the group is able to make it to morning without issue but seeing the Blair Witch stick figures all around their camp, they decide that it is time to leave. Making their way back to the car, Lisa makes a little discovery of what happened the night before as she finds that Lane and Talia have played them for fools. Sending the couple on their own way, James continues to follow his GPS that leads the group back to their original camp site. As night is moving in, the group is forced to set up camp once again but awaken to something much more sinister. As things start to get stranger, James is not able to get his mind off of finding his sister, but the Black Hills will make his search impossible to complete.

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Being a direct sequel to The Blair Witch Project fifteen years later is actually kind of a fun idea, especially after Book of Shadows seemed to turn a lot of people off to the story. The only real problem I have with this movie is all of the video edits making more noise than they need to, but after tuning that out, it is a pretty fun movie and getting to see the impact of the loss of a family member to what appears to be a myth is a good way to tell a story. I liked the addition of Lane and Talia to the group and how they helped to move the story forward, especially when the woods come to life and will not allow anyone to escape. With plenty of jump scares, a drone, lots of trees, flying tents, a myth, crazed people and no way of escaping, this is a pretty cool follow up to the original and you get to see more things in this movie than you got to see in the first. Stay Scared.
 
John’s Review
Closure is something that every single human being out there... craves. We have to know in essence how the story ends and when we are robbed of closure, when we cannot understand the how or the why a particular relationship in our life ended, it tends to haunt us for quite some time, but we move on with our lives and do our best to cope, simply because we know the odds are not in our favor when it comes to getting the answers we so desperately crave. 

But once in a great while, the universe goes at great lengths to surprise us and the opportunity to receive said closure falls right into our lap. Sometimes we skip it simply because it was a minor enough issue that we are in fact, over it. But when the issue is large, when the memory of it finds us randomly from time to time in the middle of the day, we take the opportunity and run with it, regardless of the old wounds it may open, or the dangers that may come with it and it is our desire for closure that is at the forefront of the horror film... Blair Witch.
 
This is a film that introduces us to James Donahue, and if that last name sounds familiar, it should. Because James is the little brother of Heather Donahue, the woman who went missing in The Blair Witch Project, and while James has grown up just fine without his sister in his life, he's always wondered exactly what happened to his older sibling in the woods surrounding Burkittsville, Maryland and the recent release of a chilling video that appears to feature his sister has reignited hope that maybe his sister is out there, or he can at least figure out what happened to her; prompting James and a group of his friends to return to the woods where Heather disappeared years ago, a decision they will regret for the rest of their lives.

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I have to admit that I was extremely hesitant to see this sequel to The Blair Witch Project simply because one cannot forget Book of Shadows, which more or less proved that a quality and original sequel to such a unique story would be extremely difficult to put together. But alas, my love of the original film and my curiosity got the better of me and I finally had the opportunity to see this particular entry in the franchise and well... it turned out to be nothing more than a so-so sequel.

Yes, that's right, this one is mediocre at best, simply because of the fact that the film suffers from a split personality. The opening part of the film is downright disappointing because it's pure rehash territory, taking us through all the familiar moments we experienced in the original and well... by giving us the same old thing, it makes the film hard to watch and that's a shame because once the back half of the film hits and the Blair Witch arrives... it becomes a brilliant horror film, one filled to the brim with tense and disturbing moments where horrible things roam the darkness and you're left on the edge of your seat to see what happens next.

But that first half, truly overshadows everything that follows it and detracts from the second half because of the fact you're disengaged when the horror arrives and forced to push yourself back into the story and that's unfortunate because it's clear now that this could have been an incredible entry in the Blair Witch saga, one that rivaled the original... had the studio allowed the filmmakers to take a chance and tell an unbridled chilling tale. Either way, this one is worth a look, especially if you're a fan of the series, but if you find yourself glancing at your phone or your watch early on, there's no shame in skipping to the good stuff, you'll be glad you did.

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