“What happened to Heather?”
Directed by: Adam Wingard
Written by: Simon Barrett
Cast: James Allen McCune, Callie Hernandez, Corbin Reid, Brandon Scott, Wes Robinson, Valorie Curry
Swift shot: Have you ever been so obsessed with something, needing closure on something, that you’d risk your life to find out the answer? That’s what James (Mc Cune) is faced with. James was four years old when his sister, Heather disappeared in the Black Hills Forest of Maryland in 1999. He isn’t able to just forget his sister or her strange disappearance, and when someone online provides even a tiny bit of video evidence that she might be alive, he enlists his closest friends to help him discover the truth.
James has recently become friends with a budding film-student, Lisa (Hernandez) who wants to film a documentary about the “Blair Witch” and James’ search for the truth about what happened to all those kids in the nineties . . . and learn more about the town’s strange vanishings over several decades. Lisa is ambitious, and James’ good friend Peter (Scott) doesn’t think she has James’ interests in mind, she’s just looking to use him for his connection to this terrific story.
Peter has been friends with James since they were both very young, in fact, Peter was in the search party to help find Heather and her cohorts back when they were just kids. But, Peter has seen what the obsession has done to his friend, so he decides to go along with this crazy adventure and brings along his girlfriend, Ashley (Reid). Ashley is not exactly what I would call surefooted in the woods.
I mentioned that someone contacted James about the video that was posted online. A guy named Lane (Robinson) that uses the handle Darknet666 online and his girlfriend Talia (Curry) have one condition about showing the four adventurers where they found the film. Lane and Talia insist on going along, but what are these locals really after?
Peter, who serves as James’ apparent protector throughout the film, doesn’t trust Lane or Talia. I mean, no one sane would, but right away we see that James is willing to go along with this couple just to get closer to an answer about his poor sister, Heather.
Now you have essentially two groups joined into one and all the typical character study moments you expect between James and his three companions versus Lane and Talia, the local weirdos.
And, did I mention James is a paramedic? [Swift aside: thought that was a nice touch, to see someone actually competent at dealing with scrapes and bruises and contusions.] Trust me, James is plenty busy with these idiots constantly finding ways to hurt themselves, especially Ashley.
But, ultimately, they’re all doomed. That’s all you really need to know about the setup.
There is plenty revealed in Blair Witch, and if you pay close attention it is actually quite brilliant how they explain everything. It’s easy to get lost in the dark though, and that was my only real critique. There were countless times that something, somewhere came out to attack and you just never see anything despite them having all this high tech camera equipment. But, in the end you will be horrifically rewarded for your patience once the conclusion tears through your psyche.
Trust me, once you meet the Blair Witch, you’ll wish you hadn’t; just incredible creature effects! The next time you are in the woods, if you aren’t immediately conjuring up this ghastly witch in your mind’s eye, nothing will ever scare you. Nothing! That’s kind of sad too, because sometimes it’s fun to be scared. I mean, only a masochist or an idiot would go to horror movies if they didn’t enjoy the thrill of being frightened.
That always seems to be the question with Blair Witch, will it scare you? It didn’t scare me in the sense I was hoping, but with the state of the world right now, we’ve all become a bit more cynical about monsters. Still, the best monsters are people, and Blair Witch does a solid job reminding the audience. With some trippy metaphysical mind-games towards the end (and the beginning), the film makers delighted me in explaining, subtly, just how the witch captures her victims. Hint: Don’t spend the night in the woods.
The attention to detail for set design was impeccable, even the original film makers were shocked at how authentic the house was, meticulously built up, brick by brick. And if you are a serious fan of the original, you will definitely be rewarded by how they recreated the final set and other Easter eggs. And it is a testament to both the work of the original creator, Eduardo Sanchez and now Adam Wingard to know that a freakishly twisted chimera will forever lurk in the woods.
What I really appreciated about this new sequel to the original is that it was the film I have been waiting since 1999 to see! I have always wanted to know more about how the witch came to be and how she manages to overpower her victims. Now I have some answers, and now I have even more questions!
Check out the trailer below for a taste:
