Consider the pitch: A group of college students uproot and plot course for their nearby woodland for a camping trip only to discover they are not alone. Toss in POV camerawork and it’s all but certain that said project will draw comparisons to The Blair Witch Project, Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick’s micro-budget masterstroke that ushered in a new genre of horror back in ’99 – that is, unless said project has been in the works as a Blair Witch sequel all along.
Pulling that rug out from just about everyone was director Adam Wingard (The Guest, You’re Next) who, along with screenwriter Simon Barret, had been toiling away at an eerie new horror flick known as The Woods. Unlike, say, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Wingard’s bait-and-switch actually involved rolling out a full-blown trailer for The Woods, which really makes this reveal all the more satisfying.
It’s accompanied by a new poster, too, teeing up a plot that draws audiences back to the Black Hills woods, where an uncovered tape sparks one brother’s quest to find his missing sister. Cue the nerve-shredding terror.
Snuck under our noses like a rickety Trojan horse, Blair Witch will open nationwide on September 16. On board for Wingard’s sequel are James Allen McCune, Callie Hernandez, Brandon Scott, Valorie Curry, Corbin Reid and Wes Robinson.
