Blair Witch Review: 7 Ups And 3 Downs

Downs:

3. It Becomes A Bit Too Repetitive

Of course, a requisite part of a legacy-quel is that the film acts as a stealth remake, and if there's an element that Blair Witch struggles with, it's that.

The plot beats are unsettlingly similar to the first - documentary set-up, pratting about in the woods, creeping worry, all out panic etc. - which doesn't work in something pitched on being spontaneous. There's definitely elements in the new mythology that allow Wingard to present something of a twist on the beats, but it does begin to feel like this is going onto autopilot.

Sometimes the movie redoes so heavily that it stops making proper sense. At one point the characters discover that, after a day of walking through the woods, they're back at the previous night's campsite. We do get the expected millennial response, but it's still cheapened by directly coming out of the original's book of tricks. There's not even a recognition this is the same problem Heather and co. faced, which, given the recording's importance, just doesn't ring true.