Blair Witch

Blair Witch is a 2016 American found footage psychological horror film directed by Adam Winged and written by Simon Barrett. The film stars James Allen McCune, Callie Hernandez, Brandon Scott, Corbin Reid, Wes Robinson and Valorie Curry. It is a direct sequel to The Blair Witch Project. It was released theatrically on September 16, 2016.

Plot
A young man and his friends venture into the Black Hills Forest in Maryland to uncover the mystery surrounding his missing sister. Many believe her disappearance 17 years earlier is connected to the legend of the Blair Witch. At first the group is hopeful, especially when two locals act as guides through the dark and winding woods. As the night wears on, a visit from a menacing presence soon makes them realize that the legend is all too real, and more sinister than they could have ever imagined.

Cast

 * James Allen McCune as James Donahue
 * Callie Hernandez as Lisa Arlington
 * Brandon Scott as Peter Jones
 * Corbin Reid as Ashley Bennett
 * Wes Robinson as Lane
 * Valorie Curry as Talia

Critical response
Blair Witch has received mostly negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 36%, based on 143 reviews, with an average rating of 5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Blair Witch doles out a handful of effective scares, but aside from a few new twists, it mainly offers a belated rehash of the original – and far more memorable – first film." On Metacritic, the film received a weighted average score of 46 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "D+" on an A+ to F scale. Critics considered the film as an improvement to Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2.

IGN reviewer Chris Tilly awarded the film 9/10, stating that Blair Witch is "so good it'll make you forget that Book of Shadows ever happened." Bloody Disgusting's Brad Miska gave the film a positive review, commenting: "Blair Witch is that game-changer horror fans desperately have been waiting for."

Josh Kurp of Uproxx gave the film a mixed review, saying "Blair Witch is scary, but it lacks surprise, and without surprise, you’re left with a bunch of kind-of annoying people shakily filming themselves wandering the woods and reacting to loud noises."

Conversely, The Hollywood Reporter's Leslie Felperin criticized the film, commenting that it is "a dull retread rather than a full-on reinvention," enlarging the cast numbers this time but sticking to the same basic beats. New York Post's Kyle Smith condemned the film by calling it "not terror, but sorrow," and gave it 1.5 stars out of 4.