The Blair Witch Project is the seminal film which skyrocketed the found footage genre and brought a lot of inspiration and creativity to young filmmakers across the world with no budgets and a camera. That being said as I respect what the film represents and I love the work of its director Eduardo Sanchez, I was never a big fan of the film. While I lived through the hype train and the phenomenon it wasn't a time where I was into the horror genre so by the time I finally saw it I was a bit disappointed. But to say that it isn't effective or that it isn't a culturally relevant film is ignorance. The acting is perhaps what sells the film best in its sheer believability that hooks you. What truly excited me about this 22 year later sequel was the team of Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett. They had delivered two of the best genre films which carried more originality than any filmmakers I had seen in a long time with both You're Next and the masterful The Guest. They had come from the found footage game with the first two VHS films which were some of the most creative uses of the art form in a long time. Barrett's knack for challenging his characters and original narrative paired with Wingard's ability to capture so many different tones in film whether it be comedy, thriller, horror or action utilizing different cameras and techniques amaze me every time I see one of their films. The greatest selling point for me though is this is their first supernatural horror film. 
James was four years old when his older sister, Heather, went out into the woods of Burkittsville to film her film project on the legend of the Blair Witch. 22 years later James is a paramedic saving lives when a mysterious piece of footage finds its way on the Internet that appears to be Heather alive and well. James's friend Lisa is a film student who proposes they go out to Burkittsville and contact the people who uploaded the footage they found in the woods of Heather. James agrees and with the aid of Lisa, his friends Ashley and Peter they set out armed with Lisa's arsenal of film equipment to go out into the woods with the guidance of the people who found the footage to document what they find and possibly finally discover what happened to Heather. 
This movie is essentially a remake/sequel in the vein of how The Force Awakens is a remake of A New Hope but also manages to continue the story. There is a lot of fan service in the film which helps bring in the nostalgia factor but also gets a little tiresome in the beginning. The good thing about it is if you've never seen the original it sets up a lot of the stories and rules in the original film. We get to know our kids in much the same way we did the original cast only there's more of them and they're a little more diverse and tech savvy. Each one of them is equipped with an ear camera and Lisa has her own high definition camera as well as an aerial drone that plays into some cools scenes that set up just how expansive the woods are and how hopeless escape seems. It's very much a nod at the narrative of the original film but with a bigger budget and more technology. If you're already a fan of the original this chunk of the film will go one of two ways, you'll get excited at the mentions of these stories and concepts being retold or you'll get bored as this is information you already know, but told with better cameras. 
The camera work is actually pretty ingenious and a great combination of the writing and directing. With the ear cameras we get multiple views of the horror befalling these characters and from an intimate perspective as you the audience become these characters very much in the same vein as Hardcore Henry. This is also a breath of fresh air from the idiocy of why the characters would still be holding the camera during these intense scenes of terror. Barrett gives so much rhyme and reason with each shot of what we are viewing and Wingard shoots them in a way that would look sloppy but intentionally. It's the art of capturing a moment in film that you shouldn't be able to catch with such "bad" camera work. This also gives us some pretty decent jump scares as we see things literally jump at the screen because we are watching from the characters perspective.
Barrett writing supernatural horror does not disappoint as he grounds these elements into their own reality as if he knows how they work from first hand experience. The last 45 minutes are really intense and not just in the sense that insanity occurs but the tension building scenes of terror and the way they are presented keep your eyes fixated on the film. Those of you hesitant because you want to have seen something in the previous films you will see something. I don't want to spoil the things you see but they are there and there are plenty of Easter eggs for you to find alluding to the original film. There are a lot of really interesting concepts that involve ways to combat the horrors of the Witch as opposed to simply being slaughtered by her. Her terror builds in how she controls the forest, the elements and the ideas of time and space. Everything you see on screen is practically done and Wingard brings in the violence and gross factor from his other films into how the Witch uses the Forest and other elements within to dispatch those who oppose her. 
If you are a fan this is the sequel you deserved and if you wanted more from the franchise in general the last half of the film appeases that want. The greatest part though I feel audiences will not appreciate like I did and that is the camera work. I appreciated it as a master class in evolving the found footage genre, but I think general audiences will feel the the terror the jump scares these shots illicit. Is it scary? I hate that question because I don't really go to horror films to be scared but I will say I feel it is what the Paranormal Activity films should have been so if that is your idea of a scare Blair Witch is terrifying. I am a bit disappointed as a fan of this filmmaking duo in that while they definitely advanced the mythos of the Blair Witch, especially what happens when you break one of her dolls, it felt they were a bit constricted and obligated to deliver a Blair Witch movie. We get an almost beat for beat remake for the first half of the film and while the ending starts off as one of the most edge of your seat tension building scenes, one second blink and it ends leaving me feeling like my excitement for it died. Aside from that this film has enough greatness going for it that while it's not my favorite I thoroughly enjoyed it. Four out of five Blair Witch dolls!
