Highlights

• Blumhouse's Blair Witch should draw inspiration from Book of Shadows for a more creative and engaging remake.
• Utilizing a meta narrative could provide a clever and compelling approach for the new Blair Witch Project.
• Incorporating social media, iPhones, and fans exploring the filming location could add a fun and engaging storyline.

When horror fans saw The Blair Witch Project in theaters in 1999, they assumed that it was a true story. Thanks to the documentary-style, found footage filmmaking, it seemed like the college students really did find a dangerous and mysterious entity in the woods. Although Blumhouse's Blair Witch Project will miss the original's point since everyone knows the movie was actually fictional, it's still intriguing to imagine what the remake could be like. Knowing the background of the original Blair Witch makes this news even more interesting.

Blumhouse should find inspiration in Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2. While the horror sequel has been criticized and has a 14% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it does one interesting thing that Blumhouse's new movie should consider. The remake should definitely be more creative than a straightforward retelling or a more traditional sequel.

Blumhouse's Blair Witch Project Should Copy The Book Of Shadows Sequel's Meta Narrative

Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 has a meta narrative of an in-universe movie, which would be a clever and compelling approach for Blumhouse's Blair Witch Project. In the horror sequel, The Blair Witch Project is a real movie that the main characters have seen and obsess over. Kim Diamond (Kim Director), Tristen Ryler (Tristine Skyler), Erica Geerson (Erica Leerhsen), and Stephen Ryan Parker (Stephen Barker Turner) go on a tour of Burkitsville, Maryland where the original movie was filmed. The sequel is set in November 1999, which is a little while after the scary ending of The Blair Witch Project.

Blumhouse's Blair Witch should also take place after the events of the first movie. It should also focus on fans of the original 1990s horror movie who are looking to find out more about the terrifying figure at the heart of the story. While many would say that Book of Shadows was a horror sequel that was unnecessary, copying this aspect of the sequel would make for an engaging and cool narrative.

Since Blumhouse's Blair Witch will take place in current times, the existence of iPhones and social media could be incorporated into the story. Fans of the original movie could make their own documentary or reality series about visiting the place where the Blair Witch was filmed. Perhaps they will go viral for what they discover, which would be a fun storyline. There's a lot of opportunity for smart social commentary here.

While not everyone agrees that horror sequels, remakes, or reimaginings should happen, Blumhouse's Blair Witch will be successful if it copies Book of Shadows because it will remind fans of what made the original movie special. Instead of telling a straightforward story about the Blair Witch monster, which wouldn't be that scary or make much of an impact, it should lean into the excitement and hype surrounding the original film. The marketing and discussion of how the found footage movie seemed to be real is what made it so enjoyable to watch.

In an interview with Yahoo! Entertainment, director Joe Berlinger discussed why he was interested in making the sequel Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2. He explained that he was inspired by the fact that Blair Witch became a topic of conversation in pop culture. He said:

"Heather, Josh and Mike [stars of the first movie] were on the cover of Time - how can you continue the found footage technique? I pitched my own idea of doing a sequel to the phenomenon itself because I was fascinated that some people walked out of the theatre and, despite seeing all the press coverage that this was a hoax, still went down to the woods to see if it was real. Instead of doing a found-footage sequel, I wanted to imbue it with a documentarian’s concerns.”

What Is Known About Blumhouse's Blair Witch Project?

While there are no details about Blumhouse's Blair Witch Project movie at this time, Variety reported that Blumhouse and Lionsgate are teaming up for the film. Horror fans should know that the companies plan to make several other remakes of popular horror movies. Considering how beloved many Blumhouse movies are, these new versions sound intriguing.

According to Variety, Adam Fogelson, the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chair, talked about working with Blumhouse and Jason Blum. Fogelson said:

“I have been incredibly fortunate to work with Jason many times over the years. We forged a strong relationship on ‘The Purge’ when I was at Universal, and we launched STX with his film ‘The Gift.’ There is no one better at this genre than the team at Blumhouse. We couldn’t be more pleased to be working with them on this and other projects we look forward to revealing soon.”