I'm not going to lie, I was pretty terrified by the movie. That's the main reason I've given it 7 stars out of 10. The plot is basic but plausible, the acting is very good for most of the film and importantly the back and forth between the two leads is totally believable which really helps draw you into their world and suspend your disbelief enough so that you really do begin to feel involved in proceedings. Exactly what a good found footage film should do, in other words.
So far so good, right?
Well now for the bad part. This film is just the Blair Witch Project with Bigfoot. It really is. It's the same film, practically identical premise (just substitute Blair Witch for Bigfoot), same exact scares, even some of the dialogue is the same or as close as as to make no difference. Scary or not, the level of repetition is quite unforgivable, I'm surprised somebody hasn't sued. Watching the later stages of the film I was equal parts crapping myself and increasingly infuriated as it began to dawn on me quite how closely this movie paralleled the (superior) Blair Witch Project.
The final verdict:
Ultimately despite everything, I'm really glad I watched this film. It left me feeling pretty strung out, so in that respect I have to say it was a really successful horror movie. It's just a shame it relied so heavily on somebody else's original genius and had so few ideas of its own.
Update: Having just watched the new Blair Witch (2016), I'd like to mitigate some of my criticism of this film. Whilst everything I said was true, in many ways this film is more of a spiritual successor to the Blair Witch than the 2016 sequel, which is really, really bad. It made me realise that whilst this film is very similar to the original Blair Witch, a good horror movie is a rare thing, a well-made one even rarer. This film is well-made and scary as hell. I was too harsh on this movie and from now on I'm going to look on it as the unofficial successor to the Blair Witch and try to forget about the awful sequels the people in charge of that franchise keep knocking out once every decade or so.
So far so good, right?
Well now for the bad part. This film is just the Blair Witch Project with Bigfoot. It really is. It's the same film, practically identical premise (just substitute Blair Witch for Bigfoot), same exact scares, even some of the dialogue is the same or as close as as to make no difference. Scary or not, the level of repetition is quite unforgivable, I'm surprised somebody hasn't sued. Watching the later stages of the film I was equal parts crapping myself and increasingly infuriated as it began to dawn on me quite how closely this movie paralleled the (superior) Blair Witch Project.
The final verdict:
Ultimately despite everything, I'm really glad I watched this film. It left me feeling pretty strung out, so in that respect I have to say it was a really successful horror movie. It's just a shame it relied so heavily on somebody else's original genius and had so few ideas of its own.
Update: Having just watched the new Blair Witch (2016), I'd like to mitigate some of my criticism of this film. Whilst everything I said was true, in many ways this film is more of a spiritual successor to the Blair Witch than the 2016 sequel, which is really, really bad. It made me realise that whilst this film is very similar to the original Blair Witch, a good horror movie is a rare thing, a well-made one even rarer. This film is well-made and scary as hell. I was too harsh on this movie and from now on I'm going to look on it as the unofficial successor to the Blair Witch and try to forget about the awful sequels the people in charge of that franchise keep knocking out once every decade or so.