Blair Witch

The Blair Witch Project (1999) caused a horror hangover for those expecting to be scared out of their skins. A low budget mega profitable marketing sensation it proved that content is less important than the way it is presented. By using "found material", i.e. video clips shot by the characters involved in a lost-in-the-woods scenario, it was possible to disguise the simplest of stories that ends with a bundle of unanswered questions and no satisfactory conclusion.

Now it's time for the sequel which is a repetition of the first movie with modern technology to make it look more now than it really is. The brother of one of "the lost" is determined to find out what happened to his sister. He persuades a group of friends to join him. What they are looking for is the house in which the others disappeared and are aided by a drone, taking pictures from the sky, which proves less than useless after crash landing in the treetops.

It's in the shaky camera "found material" style once again, creating an implication of fear that brings on severe eye ache. The friends are subjected to weird carryings on that drive them into states of temporary insanity. There is no one, it seems, to tell the director, "Enough, already!", and explain that the "spooky" forest has been thinned and is about as dangerous as a walk in the park.

The noise is deafening. The screams sound real. The night falls fast. "OmyGod! OmyGod! OmyGod!" is followed by "It'sOK! It'sOK" "It'sOK!" and, finally, "Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!"

Those that are still standing find the house and it's gloomier and larger than the cabin in Evil Dead.

"Don't go in!"

They go in.

What disappoints is the unacceptable lack of imagination. Watching young people go to pieces in the country belongs to a sub sector, marked Serial Killer: Rural, except the Blair witch (no relation to Cherie) is a kind of ghost. The mystery remains and the audience is left hanging. Again.

Supernatural needs to be super. Blair Witch is unnatural, with the emphasis on un. It makes a lot of noise and throws the camera about.

If it's first person terror you want look no further than Rec. Why waste time with a feeble follow-up?