If you know Burkittsville, Maryland, you know the idea of a horror series set in the area is a fairly silly idea. Watching the original Blair Witch Project makes you believe that it’s a backwoods wonderland of endless forest, spooky locals, and witches. This is far from the suburb of Washington D.C. that it actually is, with a Sheetz right in the middle of it all.
That said, it has no stopped filmmakers from making films to follow up on the original, decent indie horror experience. There was Book Of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, starring Jeffrey Donovan from Burn Notice and turning the found footage from the first into some sort of terrible meta horror experience. It went by like a loud fart, killing the prospect of a series for nearly 20 years until Friday at Comic-Con.
Adam Wingard’s The Woods is now known as Blair Witch, taking a page from 10 Cloverfield Lane and surprising everybody with a film that nobody expected. And it might be the best thing for Blair Witch considering Wingard’s track record with You’re Next and the V/H/S/ series and the praise that was being heaped on The Woods before this title swerve
#TheWoods is now @BlairWitchMovie and it is really good.
— Alamo Drafthouse (@alamodrafthouse) July 23, 2016
So THE WOODS has become….. HOLY SHIT. #BlairWitch pic.twitter.com/KFoXiJ5FvU
— Heatherface Wixson (@thehorrorchick) July 23, 2016
The trailer above certainly boasts an experience that is scarier than the original and ditches the silliness of the initial sequel. It might be found footage, but Blair Witch is something that probably should never leave that nook of the genre. If you can do found footage well, it can still be pretty good. And if you have a good movie on your hands, not even the strangest franchise connection can change that.
(Via Wired / Indiewire/ Bloody Disgusting)
