HOORAY FOR HORROR FILMS

MARIAH HOUSTON

Editor reviews Blair Witch

Asingle tear rolled down my cheek as I soaked in the horror of Blair Witch; not necessarily because I was sad, but because I am a wimp. The plot of the film included a ragtag group of friends who ventured into the supposedly haunted Black Hill Forest of Maryland. The point of the expedition was to search for the main protagonist’s sister who disappeared in the same woods 17 years earlier. The characters believe the disappearance was related to the legend of the Blair Witch, although some characters are skeptical about her existence. The Blair Witch is the ghost of a woman who was banished from Blair Township for witchcraft. Her spirit now resides in the forest, and she is known for killing those who enter. I may have cried during the film, but I have also successfully cried during every single scary movie I have ever seen, so wearing waterproof mascara and stocking up on tissues is most likely not necessary for people who are more in control of their lacrimation. Although the version of Blair Witch I experienced was released in 2016, the franchise has been evolving ever since the original independent film was released in 1999. The 1999 edition of Blair Witch was about a group of friends who went into the Black Hill Forest of Maryland in 1994. Although the characters disappear, their footage is recovered a year later and the movie is told through the lense of that footage. The 1999 Blair Witch was one of the first films to be told through “found-footage,” causing the movie to take off at a viral level and ultimately leading to the trend of found-footage films. A sequel to the original Blair Witch, called Book of Shadows: Blair Witch Two, was released in 2000, making the film I watched the third in a trilogy.

Blair Witch may have pushed boundaries in 1999, but the 2016 rendition was not particularly groundbreaking. Although I appreciated that the video-footage perspective of the film created a personal feeling, I noticed multiple points in the plot that I considered cliche among horror films. People ran out into the woods alone, the African American male was killed off first, the main characters refused to believe the warnings from the character who was portrayed as ‘crazy’ when in reality he was correct. I would have enjoyed a plot filled with more twists and less stereotypes.

There could have been improvements within the plot; but overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie’s focus on psychological terror rather than a physically gory alternative. Blair Witch made me not only contemplate what is true but also reevaluate psychological stability entirely. When fear is at play, the human mind is in a

completely different state than it is in everyday life, and this shift in sanity was clear amongst the characters. My Blair Witch viewing left me cerebrally exhilarated, terrified of trees, kind of crying and ultimately happy with my experience. If ever at a horror movie, make sure to bring someone who can help you laugh about it later, and make sure to always avoid the Black Hill Forest when in Maryland.