Blair Witch (2016) made camping a whole lot more interesting yet isn't the best

One night after a hurricane I had fled to the mountains. Deep in the Tennessee Smoky Mountains, I lay down in an old cabin tent my dad gave me. It leaks a little, but it's clear tonight. A few campsites away, a baby cries. The mother soothes the baby with a low humming rendition of "What A Wonderful World." And then a thing ate it. That's the Blair Witch.

    Turns out the kids from the first movie had families that gave a shit about them. Who knew? At least Heather did, so her brother… Heather's brother goes out in the woods to make a documentary about looking for his sister based on some footage some rednecks found. The rednecks in question are also there and are super suspicious until they vanish. Time goes nuts, night falls, a creature thing hunts them and they end up at a house.

    Not gonna lie, I don't think this is a great movie. I love the director's first few works (The Guest and You're Next are amazing). Mostly what hurts the film are the trappings of the first movie. Found footage as a genre, even in a solid director's hands, can't be made better. The shaky camera adds nothing but cheap scares, something that modern horror does not need more of. That being said, I did have a lot of fun watching the movie and wish I had been with an audience.

    I did like the way the movie played with characters and time. The movie really gets going when the rednecks run off or get sent off (who can keep track?). When they pop back in saying they've been gone for five days, I got super excited. There's a lot of excellent Lovecraftian horror here, something that really is missing from modern horror. No explanations, no reasoning thing to talk over its motives with, and no ending for the evil thing. Just a creeping horror and knowledge that the world contains some dark intentions.