Blair Witch

More remake than sequel, Adam Wingard's Blair Witch tries to replicate the impact of the ultra-cheap 1999 smash hit The Blair Witch Project (VL Online-10/99). The plot is basically a rehash of the original, except that the leader of the expedition into the supposedly haunted Maryland woods is now the brother of the girl who disappeared in the first film. Embarking on the search for Heather Donahue (17 years missing), James (James Allen McCune) enlists the aid of his girlfriend, Lisa (Callie Hernandez), a film school freak who thinks the jaunt will be a dandy subject for her class project, so she brings along an array of cameras, one even conveniently affixed to a drone. Accompanying them are a skeptical childhood pal and his girlfriend, as well as two local witch-heads. Before long, spooky things start happening, camaraderie breaks down, and the sextet splits into smaller groups. All become lost and start walking around in circles, while an inexplicable time swerve prevents the sun from rising. Blair Witch suffers from numerous flaws—the acting is atrocious, the dialogue (which largely consists of names being yelled out when characters become separated) sounds badly improvised, and the filming is horrible—so fuzzy and sloppily edited that it is almost impossible to figure out what is going on half the time. Add to that the fact that the “found footage” conceit has long since become tired—so there is no sense of surprise here—and this is easily not recommended. (F. Swietek)