The Blair Witch Project was the start of a new generation of found footage films (if you don’t count Cannibal Holocaust). It opened up a low cost genre of films that studios couldn’t ignore. Have there really ever been any good films in the genre? Sure. I think there were two. Josh Trank’s Chronicle and Adam Rifkin’s Look are probably the most entertaining and original movies in the genre. It’s also one of the very few that doesn’t break back into traditional filming at some point towards the climax. Beyond that, the genre is pretty much a graveyard of bad acting and jump scares. To be honest, I’ve still never been able to watch the original Blair Witch Project in one setting without getting motion sick.
So, with the genre now bursting at the seams with dozens of blair wannabes every year, the studio thinks there might just be a couple more dollars to squeeze out of the brand that started it all.
The new film goes back to the original story and focuses on the younger brother of one of the victims from the first film. After seeing someone else’s footage, he thinks his sister might still be alive, wandering in the woods. So, he does what any good horror movie victim would, he gathers up his college aged friends and takes off on an adventure into evil…woo.