James Donohue (James Allen McCune) is the brother of the character of Heather from the original Blair Witch movie and he is sent a clip in which he believes he can see his sister in a house in the woods which nobody else has been able to locate since the disappearance of the original group, despite many searches. So he gathers his friends  Ashley (Corbin Reid), Peter (Brandon Scott) and Lisa (Callie Hernandez), kits them out with the latest array of GPS gear, Go-Pro cameras and a drone, and they head to Burkittsville to meet the person who sent the clip as they have agreed to show them the location where they found the tape with the footage.

When they meet their contact it turns out to be two aspiring Internet celebrities Lane (Wes Robinson) & Talia (Valorie Curry) who will only take the group into the woods if they can tag along as they also want to film their own investigation into the mystery. In his desperation to get some answers about his sisters disappearance James pushes the group into reluctantly agreeing so the hike begins with a group of six heading back to the location of the original movie.

All seems fine and they reach the area where Lane located the tape but during the night the group are disturbed by loud crashing noises and when strange symbol appear at their camp site they begin to realise that the legend may be very real so they decide that it is in their best interests to back out of the search but this is only the start of their troubles and their real ordeal begins when they realise that they cannot seem to find their way out even with all their modern equipment and have to spend a second night in the woods despite their reluctance.

Director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett collaborated on both You’re Next and The Guest, two very good if a little underrated movies so the signs were promising to see them both working together on this movie and in one sense they have continued their good record as they have managed to take a tiring found footage genre and injected some modernisation into the film with the upgraded technology, in particular the introduction of a drone, adding something new. They also have tried to give some explanation to the legend and just how the witch and the forest trap people all of which was a positive.

One major problem was the international use of poor sound, especially in the early parts of the film. I realise that it is trying to portray an amateurish feel to the recording but it got on my nerves very quickly. Putting aside that the other major issue I had was that a lot of the film felt very like an updated remake of the original with lots of quick cuts between cameras, plenty of shouting, running, unseen noises, more running, screaming and it even goes so far as to have a very similar ‘I’m so sorry’ scene. They also took a concept used effectively in The Ruins but it had no real impact on the flow of the film so it seemed to be added for shock value only which felt a little cheap. While I appreciate that the story is quite bounded it wasn’t really until the last third that the movie shifted into something approaching originality.

Overall it felt a little like a missed opportunity as the drone was a good idea but very underused, the jump scares were generally cheap and the ‘twist’, once revealed, could have been used far more effectively so with a little more originality this could have been an excellent film. Given the original intrigue and uncertainty surrounding the events of the film which added brilliantly to the effect the movie had on it’s audience this film started with the ground work already done but I think that actually worked against the film in this instance.

After the recent resurgence of sorts in the horror genre for me this was a side step rather than another potential push onward but if you liked the original then you will most likely enjoy this one as well and if you are a fan of the genre there is enough to keep you entertained.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5.5 Out Of 10