The mystery behind 2016’s Blair Witch ending will never be revealed, says its director, Adam Wingard. The film marked the third sequel in a lucrative horror franchise that first began with the spectacular success of 1999’s The Blair Witch Project by Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick.
Made for an estimated budget of $60,000, The Blair Witch Project was unlike anything that came before or has arrived since, in that it completely revolutionized the possibilities for independent cinema. At the time, affordable options for filmmakers weren’t anywhere close to what they currently are, and the fact that a group of young filmmakers was able to make a blockbuster that grossed over $200 million was an inspiration to everyone and anyone who had ever wanted to make a film but lacked the funds. Yet aside from the enormous profits that The Blair Witch Project brought in, it also proved that a horror film could be genuinely frightening without gore or CGI or even really ever showing its antagonist. The formula was so successful that it brought about books, comics, video games, and three feature films.
With Blair Witch, fans of the franchise were treated to the first sequel in nearly two decades. Opinions remain divided over the film, and its finale – which is similar to but still quite different from the original – remains a point of much speculation among many. However, fans shouldn’t look to Wingard for clues to what really went down in the film’s final tense moments. During an interview with Dread Central, the 38-year-old filmmaker confirmed that he has no plans to tell anyone just what happened in the Black Hills Forest:
“I just have to kind of reiterate, if I was going to reveal what happened I would have revealed it in the movie. That’s part of the Blair Witch: I have my own interpretation of what’s going on there but the mystery of Blair Witch is what is so interesting. The Blair Witch Project, that’s what I always loved: there’s never definitive answers. I think it’s always important that the filmmakers have an answer, that we’re not just like J.J Abrams. I think he’s a very talented director, don’t get me wrong, but you always feel like he does this thing where he tees up all these mysteries and he doesn’t really have an idea what the mysteries are. He just kind of comes up with really cool ideas and they never quite pay off, and it’s always a little disappointing. I do have an idea what was going on in Blair Witch; there are definitely definitive concepts there, but I think unless they were explored in another movie it will just always have to be a mystery.”
For many fans of the franchise, Wingard has hit the nail on the head when he praises the uncertainty involved in the Blair Witch’s legend. The ending of the first film arguably amplified the terror that audiences felt, exactly because it was very simple, yet held so much unknown possibility. Whether or not that same degree of fear was captured in Blair Witch is largely down to a matter of opinion, but judging by the critical response to the sequel, it wasn’t at all on par with the same degree of horror filmmaking found in its predecessor.
One problem with Wingard’s recent statement, however, is that while he praises the idea of leaving things open for interpretation, he seems to lash out at J.J. Abrams for doing exactly that. Wingard’s belief that he understands what was going on in Blair Witch doesn’t mean that audiences share that sense of clarity, in which case his criticisms of Abrams come off rather hypocritical.
Source: Dread Central