Blair Witch (also known as Blair Witch 3) is a 2016 found footage supernatural horror film directed by Adam Wingard and written by Simon Barrett. It is the third film in the Blair Witch series and a direct sequel to the 1999 film The Blair Witch Project, while ignoring the events of its 2000 follow-up film Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, given the events of that film being a film within a film. Blair Witch stars James Allen McCune, Callie Hernandez, Brandon Scott, Corbin Reid, Valorie Curry, and Wes Robinson. The film, shot in a found footage style, follows a group of college students and their local guides who venture into the Black Hills Forest in Maryland to uncover the mysteries surrounding the prior disappearance of Heather Donahue, the sister of one of the characters.
Development of the film began in September 2009, when creators of the franchise Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez announced their intent to produce a third Blair Witch film. The film was a sequel to the first film, would potentially contain the actors from the first film in some context, and would not refer to any of the events from Book of Shadows. In 2011, Sánchez remarked that further development on a sequel depended on getting Lionsgate to approve the idea and for his and Myrick's schedule to match up.[citation needed] The film went into development hell, and later the script was thrown aside. In 2013, a third Blair Witch film was again in talks, with Wingard and Barrett being hired to work on a new script.
Initially, the film's connection to the Blair Witch franchise was kept secret, with the film having been shot under the fake title The Woods. In July 2016, it was revealed at the San Diego Comic-Con that the film marketed with the faux-title The Woods actually turned out to be the sequel Blair Witch.
The film premiered at San Diego Comic-Con on July 22, and was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, before being theatrically released in the United States on September 16, by Lionsgate. Blair Witch received mixed reviews, with critics noting it as an improvement on Book of Shadows while criticizing the writing and special effects. While the film grossed $45 million against a budget of $5 million, it was considered a box office disappointment, given that the original film had grossed nearly $250 million in 1999 against a budget of $60,000.
Plot[]
In 2014, James Donahue finds a video on YouTube containing an image of a woman he believes to be his sister Heather Donahue, who disappeared in 1994 near Burkittsville, Maryland while investigating the legend of the Blair Witch. He decides to travel to the woods to find out the truth, accompanied by his friend Peter Jones, Peter's girlfriend Ashley Bennett, and film student Lisa Arlington, who wants to film James's search as a documentary, The Absence of Closure. Locals Talia and Lane, who found and uploaded the video, say they will show the group the location that they found the tape, on the condition they can join them.
While walking through the woods and upon setting up camp for the night, Lane and Talia discuss the disappearance of Heather and her film crew, the 1940-41 murders by Rustin Parr, and other mysterious occurrences, which they ascribe to the Blair Witch. Specifically, Lane explains that the witch was not just left tied to a tree to die, instead tied high up in the tree with weights on her arms and legs to act as a makeshift torture rack. They hear noises during the night, then awaken at 2 p.m. to find strange stick figures hanging from the trees. When Lisa notices twine in Lane's backpack, he and Talia admit to creating the figures in order to convince the group to believe, but also point out that there is no explanation for the strange noises during the night and sleeping through the day. James and his friends banish Lane and Talia from the group and head out of the woods.
After hours of walking, the four surprisingly arrive back at their original campsite. Lisa pilots a drone to obtain their location, but from its vantage point they can see no way out of the forest. Ashley becomes sick due to a wound on her foot, forcing the group to camp again. When Peter inspects Ashley's wounded foot, he notices what he thinks may be a parasite inside the wound. Peter leaves the camp for firewood, and is chased by an unknown entity. A tree falls on him and his body then disappears.
Lane and Talia appear in the night, claiming they have been wandering for five days without a sunrise. Lane believes the camp is a hallucination and runs off, leaving the disheveled and ravenously hungry Talia. The next morning, James and Lisa are stunned to find that it is still dark outside at 7am and discover larger stick figures. Talia sees clumps of her hair tied to one of the figures. Ashley accuses Talia of crafting them and snaps the figure with Talia's hair in half; Talia herself is then snapped in half. An unseen force lifts their tent and the group is separated. Ashley finds the drone and climbs a tree to recover it, but is knocked out and falls from the tree, an unknown entity dragging her away.
A rainstorm ensues as Lisa and James stumble across Rustin Parr's house, which James had previously stated to have been burned down after his execution. James hears someone he thinks is Heather scream upstairs, enters the house, and sees Peter standing in the corner. He chases after the figure he believes to be Heather, confronted by a teleporting disheveled figure; upon its vanishing he barricades himself.
Lisa spots a tall, pale, long-limbed creature moving through the trees, and she runs through the house. While running she passes a mirror that shows Heather, revealing that the tape found by Lane is actually the one being recorded by Lisa. She runs to the basement where she finds a hostile Lane who traps her in a tunnel, saying, “You have to do what she tells you.” She crawls through the tunnel where she stabs and kills Lane. The long-limbed creature emerges from the tunnel and chases Lisa. She runs up to the attic with Lane's camcorder, creating the paradox video that lured them all to the woods.
She reunites with James in the attic and they try to barricade the door. A bright light shines from outside the building. James tells Lisa to face the corner of the room and desperately apologizes to her before something enters the room. James is tricked into turning around, believing that he hears Heather's voice, and vanishes from sight. Lisa realizes she will die if she turns around so she uses Lane's camcorder to view what is behind her and begins walking backward. She thinks she hears James's voice and turns to look whereupon she is snatched away. Her camera falls to the ground. After a few moments, the camera gives out.