The original Blair Witch Project (1999) was one of the best ‘found footage’ (movies where the plot is based on someone finding footage) movies to ever be released back in 1999 because of its realistic theme and creepy aura. The filmmakers didn’t have helpful movie tools such as CGI, (Computer-generated imagery) because it was an independent film. Although it was an “indie” film, it ended up grossing 248.6 million dollars at the box office alone. The Blair Witch Project (1999) is one of the most well-known supernatural found footage movies of all time and is well deserving of that title.
Recently there was a sequel to the Blair Witch Project (1999) that was released September 15, 2016. Th
ere was some skepticism as there always is for sequels of movies, especially those that are released 17 years after the original.
The most basic plot description one could give of these two movies would be that a group of young adults go into the woods, for various reasons, only to quickly realize they are being haunted by a witch and are taken out one by one until no one is left standing.
However, after watching the second movie one can safely say that it lived up to the original movie.
There are many comparisons between the first and second movie: the way the witch hunts her victims, puts stones outside their tents and hangs the ‘people-like’ branches figures outside of their tents. Another comparison is the movie accomplishes everything the first movie did and more. The original movie was scary but could only be so scary up to a point because of the tight budget. While the second movie includes all of the original scare factors from the first movie, they were able to make it more engaging because of modern day film practices such as CGI and improved editing.
A really well-done part about the Blair Witch Project (2016) was the sound. It really makes you feel as if you’re alongside the characters in the movie and that all these crazy things are happening to you because the sound is so sharp, clear and loud. It’s the scariest part about the entire movie.
The original Blair Witch Project (1999) was an 8/10 overall. (Extremely well-done cinematography 
and when the camera was shaking around it really make you jump to the edge of your seat; although, it had pretty poor plot development, as most horror movies do.)
As for the Blair Witch (2016), it deserves a 7.5/10. Although it did have amazing sound and overall was a great sequel it didn’t quite surpass the original. Primarily because it had some minor annoyances, such as how whenever someone died or went missing it would show how it happened, unlike in the original when someone went missing, we didn’t know how or why it happened. So if you are a purist, go for the original; if you want great sound, go for the sequel.
