By David Hastings
The Blair Witch Project is undoubtedly one of cinema’s greatest horror films. Let’s get that out of the way here and now. The tightly paced, mockumentary found-footage tale of three filmmakers, Heather, Josh and Mike who head into the Black Hills near Burkittsville, Maryland in search of the infamous Blair Witch has certainly held tight on to its legacy. And while sequels, books and even games that have expanded on the lore have come and gone, none have ever surpassed the innovative and chilling sense of dread the original film seems to exhale, even still today.
And now, 25 years later, Second Sight Films have themselves, seemingly delved back into the woods of the Blair Witch, but with better results than the three lost filmmakers, managing to escape the haunted hills and bring back with them a glorious amount of new footage and other treasures! The most anticipated of these new results is a brand-new restoration from the original Hi8 videotapes and 16mm film elements, overseen and approved by the original producers and directors, which has helped rebirth the infamous Festival Cut (alongside the theatrical version).
While not running much longer, the extra scenes actually do allow and welcome more character exposition while some more specific new scenes actually could help enhance various fan conspiracies and theories about what actually happened in those woods that Halloween (was there even a witch at all?). These new scenes comfortably root themselves into the already celebrated narrative and bring new questions to the mythos.
Some of the extras have appeared in previous releases such as alternate endings, and the equally unsettling ‘Curse of the Blair Witch’, while the new commentary from Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson gives us more of a fan feedback approach, discussing the legacy of the film on us all as well as recounting their experiences with the film itself at time of release. Both funny and nostalgic, their conversations are a welcome juxtaposition to the ones from the Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick director’s commentary (ported over from past releases), so you have a wealth of information here to enjoy.
Topping this off is the brand-new documentary on the film (that has a longer running time than the latter), and gives you absolutely everything you possibly ever needed to know about the film and beyond. This is simply one of the best documentaries you can possibly ever want to watch – informative, entertaining and even funny in parts, it caps off a stunning release of a cinematic masterpiece in the found footage genre.
The new elements present the film like never before and even doubles down on the low quality, faux amateurish, grainy look, removing all the polished ingredients that we have experienced on previous releases of the film so far, which results in giving the film back the natural and uneven feel Sanchez and Myrick originally intended.
It may have been 25 years since its release, but The Blair Witch Project is back And still as spellbinding with its bewitching eerie charm as ever!
The Blair Witch Project is available on Blu-Ray now from Second Sight Films.
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