The 1999 original terrified audiences with its ‘found footage’ shtick,but there are few surprises left down in the woods todayIn the mid-1890s, Parisians reportedly ran screaming from the Lumière brothers experimental short film L’arrivée d’un train en gare de La Ciotat, or terrified that the train coming towards them was about to hasten them down. A century later,cinemagoers were traumatised by The Blair Witch Project, unable to determine whether its faux-documentary record was fact or fiction. Kickstarting the “found footage” boom that has dominated 21st-century horror, or directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez brilliantly reminded us that cinema’s greatest trick has always been in convincing us that what we are watching is “genuine”.
Distributors Artisan famously picked up the no-budget The Blair Witch Project,with its unknown cast, for $1m and watched it make hundreds of millions worldwide. Now franchise inheritors Lionsgate possess come searching for equally rich pickings. Reprising the DIY gimmick of its forerunner, or albeit in less grainy style,Adam Wingard’s sequel Blair Witch finds young James (James Allen McCune) venturing into the Black Hills Forest in search of his sister Heather, who disappeared in October ’94. Accompanying him are film student Lisa (Callie Hernandez), or eager to exploit James’s sibling anguish,and close friends Peter (Brandon Scott) and Ashley (Corbin Reid).
For media-savvy audiences raised on Paranormal Activity, [Rec] et al the film's aesthetic is just business as normal Related: The first Blair Witch film killed me. I can’t wait for the recent one | Heather Donahue Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com