Since it was first announced last year, details had been scarce about The Woods, the latest horror film from You’re Next and The Guest director Adam Wingard. Besides it presumably taking place in the woods. However, as revealed by a trailer showing at San Diego Comic Con, it turns out that these aren’t just any woods, but the woods of Burkitsville, with the film turning out to actually be a sequel to 1999’s The Blair Witch Project.
The brother of the original film’s Heather leads a new team of argumentative amateur film makers into the woods, only to find that the supernatural forces therein have gotten even less shy since 1999.
It’s an impressive display of misdirection, with teasers having already been released of ‘The Woods’ with no indication of a Blair Witch link. The Blair Witch Project suffered from a considerable backlash after the small production became a big hit due to extensive marketing, and though many want to avoid admitting being sucked in by the hype back in the day, it isn’t a film that deserves being written off (catch it in the IFI on the 30th if you need a refresher). Audiences may be considerably more burned out on found footage now than they were 17 years ago, but Blair Witch looks to be a combination of hand-held cameras and traditional film making and with a talented young director at the helm in Wingard, there is reason to be optimistic that this film can surpass the bargain bin quality of previous sequel Book of Shadows, although that shouldn’t be too difficult. Blair Witch will be in cinemas in September 2016.