Blair Witch (2016)

Cert: 16. Now showing

In 1999 the Blair Witch Project scared the bejoolies out of millions of people, with men more than women reporting levels of terror not felt since The Exorcist. It made a fortune and spawned the found footage genre. Current horror golden boys, director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett have been charged with revisiting Blair Witch and scaring a new generation, but arguably it was always going to be an impossible task.

James (James Allen McClune) was a four-year-old when his sister Heather went missing in the Burkittsville woods and her disappearance has shaped his life. Following some more found footage, Peter enlists three friends including one (Callie Hernandez) who is making a documentary and they trot off back to Burkittsville. They end up being railroaded into going camping in the creepy woods with weirdo Lane (Wes Robinson) and his girlfriend Talia (Valorie Curry.)

First Ashley (Corbin Reid) gets a nasty cut that slows them all down, then scary things start to happen. There is the standard horror mix of red herrings, genuine creepy event, panic and mishap and the filmmakers concentrate on using fear, rather than gore, to generate fear. There are some little jump moments but what works best in terms of evoking emotion is the creation and milking of the characters’ fear and a strong sense of being trapped. One scene in particular taps into everyone’s worst nightmare. Hernandez does a nice job of channelling real terror, but really this is a victim of its forerunner’s success. The found footage thing, no matter how updated the technology, is done to death and this sequel never really takes off.