Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

Cast: James Allen McCune, Callie Hernandez, Brandon Scott, Valorie Curry, Corbin Reid, Wes Robinson.

Going down to the woods used to be such a peaceful, indeed a much anticipated past time, whole weekends would be spent deep in the interior, no other human, except for the hardy souls whose company you keep and whose tent erecting skills you knew would come in handy, would be anywhere near you for miles around and the closest scare you might receive is that of somebody warbling uncontrollably the theme to the Teddy Bear’s Picnic when the midnight bells rang out far into the distance. The woods were the best thing about camping, then along came The Blair Witch Project and all that changed.

Discounting the rather tame, perhaps even arguably dull Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, the original point of the film was that you had no idea what it was that you were watching, a documentary gone wrong, the brutal leftovers in which things beyond our normal realm were uncovered and explored, all possibilities were revealed, all examples of the horror genre were played out before the viewers eyes. Blair Witch does its best to emulate its parent’s prowess but with alarming discomfort it fails to satisfy beyond the expected moments of true psychological horror.

Blair Witch relies on the group experience, both on and off the film; it is not a film that should be entered into with high expectations or demands but if looking for an escape and willing to shed any sign of belief for a while then it is a good accompaniment to the 1999 original.

In Valorie Curry, the film has its redeeming heroine and one to whom an early brush with death is perhaps the most decent outcome for any of the six who strays to deep into the witches lair. Her almost feral like actions, the sense of sincere terror is captivating, endearing and one that really saves the film from going down a path of artificiality.

Blair Witch relies on the big successes of its parent original, the camera angles, the bulging terror and the first person views in which the element of surprise is supposed to stalk, yet it doesn’t quite come off; it doesn’t fulfil the space left behind in the last 17 years.

A good and imaginative film but one that really doesn’t add too much to the genre, Blair Witch is what happens when time is left to fend for itself and a film is not capturing the full extent of its potential.

Ian D. Hall