The fourth theatrical Blair Witch film is shaping up, and we finally have some idea who’s involved and what the story could be…aside from the obligatory “characters go into the woods where they shouldn’t, and come to regret it.” It’s been ten years since the last attempt, and 27 since the first became — at that time — the most profitable film of all time, and made found-footage its own horror subgenre. (The Blair Witch Project didn’t invent the format, but its success made sure we’ve never escaped it since.) Neither attempt at a sequel set the world or the genre on fire in the same way, but it’s such a familiar IP and so relatively cheap to make that there’s no reason to stop trying.
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Scooper Daniel Richtman previously named YouTube filmmaker Dylan Clark as the director of the latest one, which was confirmed thereafter. Now he has revealed some of the cast and premise for the movie that, according to original 1999 cast member Michael C. Williams, will absolutely not be a remake
The Next Blair Witch Looks to Be About Grief and Loss
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The unfortunate souls who venture into the witch’s woods in Maryland this time will apparently be a family looking to scatter their mother’s ashes. Soon enough, they find out they’re not alone out there. This does inspire a viewer to wonder exactly why and how Mom got attached enough to that location that she wanted her remains left there. Did she hate her family enough to knowingly direct them to leave her in the woods nobody comes out of? Or was she herself a witch whose ashes might become part of a ritual? So far, we don’t know…and the way the Blair Witch operates with stealth and mind games, we may never be quite sure. The family could just be completely innocent, yet again, of course.
The very first sequel, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, combined video and film found footage and focused on the events of the first film being commercialized and turned into a local tour…one that naturally goes wrong in its own way. The original plan was for a third film to be a period-piece prequel, something like The VVitch ended up being, but the second film was so disliked by audiences and critics that nothing more came of the property for over a decade. The second sequel, released in 2016, was disguised, promoted initially as an original horror movie called The Woods, until a Comic-Con audience had the truth revealed to them at an advance screening. Simply dubbed Blair Witch, it ignored Book of Shadows, and functioned instead as a direct sequel to the 1999 original.
Original filmmakers Dan Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez, as well as original cast members Williams and Joshua Leonard, are on board as executive producers. Rei Hance (formerly known as Heather Donahue), the original lead actress, has distanced herself, having struggled with sobriety, and the fact that the first movie’s blurring of reality and fiction allowed a movie studio to effectively own her as a character. She agreed to let her likeness be used in the last sequel, provided the film not mention her last name. Is it a possibility that those ashes are of her character, who somehow made it out of the woods, maybe possessed? While the franchise is no longer pretending to be real, it’s going with lesser-known actors Patrick Scott McDermott (Rust), Dominic Bogart (Pandemic, 400 Days), Mila Hayhurst, and Holly Hayhurst, according to the scoop. Neither Mila nor Holly Hayhurst are on IMDB; their names could indicate a young child being played by twins.
What would you like to see done with the Blair Witch property? Is it time for that period prequel? Summon your thoughts in comments.
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