10 Horror Movies Test Audiences Loved (And Everyone Else Hated)

You have to give Lionsgate some measure of credit for managing to shoot a sequel to The Blair Witch Project in complete secrecy.

Shot under the fake title The Woods, its true nature was only revealed at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con, where Blair Witch had its surprise premiere screening.

Lionsgate effectively used this ambush screening to gauge critical and audience response prior to its theatrical rollout later in the year, and perhaps unsurprisingly the audience who were the first in the world to watch a secret new Blair Witch movie went absolutely gaga for it.

Reviews out of the gate were universally positive, with Bloody Disgusting even calling it a "game-changer" for the genre, ensuring that considerable hype for the movie built over the next two months prior to its release proper.

But then general audiences got their mitts on it and realised it was a pretty listless retread of the original 1999 found footage classic.

Though Blair Witch sat at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes for two months following its Comic-Con premiere, the score tanked to 37% on general release, with audiences giving it an even worse 31%, as well as a brutal "D+" CinemaScore.

While Lionsgate were certainly incredibly smart to get critics and fans in a room and show them the movie first, those euphoric early responses were totally out of step with what everybody felt removed from the hype of seeing it before anybody else.