The Bitch is Back: 8 Ways “Blair Witch” Got the Scares Right
Sep 15, 2016 • Karl R. De Mesa
Recalibrating “found footage.”
“One of the problems with found footage films is you’re hyper aware of the cameras,” says director Adam Wingard. “We wanted to make sure that was thrown out the door, so when the horror happens, you are 100 percent invested.”
While much of the fear behind the first Blair Witch Project relied on what wasn’t shown, the sequel relies on revealing more of what lurks after dark, and to create a better kind of horror that didn’t go over tired ground, filmmakers swapped the first film’s 16-mm. black-and-white camera for discrete head cams (with GPS) and a drone cam.
Commitment to no CGI.
The filmmakers insist that there is no CGI in this film in terms of anything you’re seeing that’s creepy in the woods. “We built everything; what you’re seeing in the film is actually all there,” explains director Adam Wingard.
No oversharing.
A huge part of the first movie was the surprise of those initial screenings when people weren’t sure if it was real or not. “Keeping this a secret in the era of oversharing and excessive marketing on social media, especially of horror films, felt new and original for the time,” says Simon Barrett.
To effect such an enormous logistical challenge, screenwriter Simon Barret created versions of the script that were widely different; and hence the misleading first title: The Woods. “The cast auditioned with fake pages,” he says in the film’s production notes, “and the actors didn’t know what movie they agreed to be in until their deals were finalized.”
Diving into the mythos of Blair and Rustin Parr.
To hold true to the Blair Witch mythos, screenwriter Simon Barrett familiarized himself with every hint of information the first film contains, from old message boards and Facebook groups to graphic novels and young adult books that were published only in Europe.
“We wanted to take the mythos further and explore how outsiders approach the haunting and how locals see the legend,” says Barrett.
“Blair Witch” opens September 14 in Metro Manila cinemas.
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