Reviews: The Woods (2016) Movie Review
Genres: Horror, Thriller, Mystery
Subgenres: Found Footage, Survival, Urban Legend, Wilderness, Witchcraft
Our review of The Woods (2016) dives into the story, the scares, and whether it truly delivers the horror fans crave.
Blair Witch (2016) is a one h 30-min American found footage psychological horror movie that is a direct sequel to The Blair Witch Project (1999). Director Adam Wingard (V/H/S (2012), You’re Next (2011), The Guest (2014), V/H/S/2 (2013)) did an outstanding job directing this sequel that was a hit. I was shocked out of my mind that Blair Witch (2016) was as good as the original and that it paid homage to the original. Blair Witch was more than I expected and everything you could want with a little extra tossed in. The characters and mythology tie in seamlessly, resulting in a terrifying mind-bending experience that will send chills up your spine and leave your nerves tangled.
Blair Witch revolves around a group of college students venturing into the Black Hills Forest in Maryland to explore the mysteries around James Donahue’s sister, Heather’s disappearance in 1999. Many believe that Heather’s disappearance is connected to the legend of the Blair Witch. The college students had hoped at first while venturing through the woods, but as the night progresses, they begin to feel an evil presence and realize that they made a mistake because the legend is absolute.
James (James Allen McCune - The Walking Dead (2011-2012), Shameless (2014-2015), This Is Me (2016)) is on a mission to find the truth behind his sister Heather’s disappearance in the woods of Burkittsville, MD. Heather went off into the woods with several filmmaker friends to make a documentary. James saw a video online that he thinks Heather is in and asked a few friends to help him find the house she was seen in last. The group realizes that they made the wrong decision to enter the woods as they find out the legend is real and is now left to find a way to escape the sinister woods.
I was amazed that we were treated to who the Blair Witch was and was also treated to more explanation about the forest, which made me more paranoid. I am not a big fan of found footage, and there may be a handful that I like, but Blair Witch is one that I will add to my found footage collection because it was an entertaining, frightening watch that will make me think twice about walking through the woods. There was a lot of shaky cam running action that I could care less for because the footage gave me a headache ninety percent of the time, but it was something I overlooked as the premises of the film was interesting. I get dizzy watching my husband and kids playing video games, so if you are like me, you will get slightly dizzy watching this movie. Blair Witch was relentlessly creepy, frightening, spine-chilling, tension-filled, suspenseful, and had a great storyline.
Sources Used to Shape This Review
Insights in this review are drawn from director interviews, fan commentary, production notes, and long-form breakdowns across genre-specific platforms. Content is written uniquely and reviewed for accuracy.
- The Woods Rating Scores
- Our Score: 8/10
- Overall Score: 5.73/10
- IMDB: 5.0/10
- MetaCritic: 4.7/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 3.8/10
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