Blair Witch Review: 7 Ups And 3 Downs

1. Jump Scare Fake-Outs

My least favourite thing in all of cinema - not just horror, the entire medium - is jump scare fake-outs. Cattle prod jolts aren't all that fun in general, but there's at least a few standout cases where they really made things more tense. However, those ones where you think it's the ghost/monster/killer but is instead just a cat/bird/dumb friend (delete as most annoyingly applicable) have never worked, only serving to release all the built-up tension and give audiences a chance to laugh in the face of horror.

I can respect Wingard for trying to use them to show the characters' increased paranoia, but most of the ones he executes (and he does far too many) don't work and only exhaust the audience. Many of them are localised in that middle section too, so it's not easy to see why some people may fall out of favour with the film before it really picks itself up for the finale.

Blair Witch is in cinemas from 15th September.