Blair Witch Review: 7 Ups And 3 Downs

5. It Seriously Expands The Mythology

While the potential of a wide-release snuff film tricked a few people, what really gave The Blair Witch Project its elevated status was its method of delivery of answers. Talks of witchcraft and corner-loving serial killers were peppered through the intro and briefly paid off later on, but to get a real idea of what was going on took hours on the dial-up internet reading into the viral marketing, and even then a resolute solution was hard to come by.

The mythology was a defining element for so many fans, and gave the movie a strange allure for everyone else. So it's very exciting that Wingard takes ahold of that mythology, expands it greatly, and yet still has it feel cohesive.

There's a backstory built up for the Blair Witch that increases her menace and contextualises things like Rustin Parr, those stick sculptures and the original trio's disappearance. Yes, that's right: it provides all the pieces to resolutely answer what exactly happened at the end of the original. And it does it well.