Paranormal Activity: Why a franchise isn't always a good idea.

Aside from The Blair Witch Project, one movie that one would likely think of when you discuss the Found Footage genre is Paranormal Activity. And this is no surprise, as it's one of the genre's most successful films. Like Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity started out as an independent production that debuted at film festivals, before being picked up by a large studio, Paramount, for a wide scale release. And it acted as something as a foil to Blair Witch. Whereas that film made people scared of the woods, Paranormal Activity made the viewer scared of their own home, as most of the strange activity happened only when all of the characters were asleep, and it slowly built up as time went on. The tagline that went with it "What happens when you sleep?" likely caused a lot of insomnia for many viewers for a long time.

What really helped propel the movie, however, was the advertising campaign. By using the service "Eventful" people could Demand where the film would go during it's initial limited screening, thus creating more buzz around the film. A wide distribution only took place once the Eventful campaign reached one million demands, which represented how big the film had become by that point. Well, time for a sequel at that point, innit?

Paranormal Activity 2 shows why the demon had started going after the first film's protagonists, Katie and Micah, by showing the point of view of Kristi, Katie's sister, and how she started getting haunted following the birth of her son, Hunter. The film suggests that an ancestor of the two made a deal with the demon for wealth, in exchange for the first male to be born on that bloodline, that being Hunter. To save their own skins, Kristi and her husband end up using a ritual to have the demon target Katie and her husband instead. This ends up backfiring hard as the demon's original plan is still in effect, so a possessed Katie arrives at their home the day after the events of Paranormal Activity, kills them both, and walk off with Hunter, never to be seen again.


Paranormal Activity 2 is an interesting sequel, as it helped to expand the universe that the films take place in. Even so, It doesn't feel entirely necessary. The first film could've easily worked as a standalone film, had they kept the original ending where Katie is shot dead by police investigating the home after Micah's death, but Paramount had it changed to make it more open ended, likely to keep the door open for a continuation. Also, there are a few plot holes in this sequel, such as why the ritual to make the demon go away worked at all, if the only reason it was there was to claim its dues. Even so, it still does its job well enough, and feels almost like an extended prologue to the first film, as it takes places directly before, and then directly after, that film's events.


Paranormal Activity 3 was another interesting idea for a sequel, showing Katie and Kristi as kids, as the demon first begins to show its ugly head after their Grandmother, part of a coven of witches, summons it. Unfortunately, there are quite a few issues that start to become apparent here. It's supposed to take place in the late 80s, but the camera quality feels way too crisp and high end to be believable, and not very typical of a VHS camera, which is what the footage is supposed to have been shot on. This pretty much spoils the feel of the film, and although the rest of the film can be interesting for anyone wanting to know more about the franchise's main characters, this is the point where it began to feel, even slightly at first, like the franchise was beginning to get milked for all that Paramount could get out of it.


Paranormal Activity 4 confirms this suspicion, for essentially being the first film in the franchise that for all intents and purposes, doesn't need to exist. It follows an entirely new family, as they realise their new neighbours are quite odd, not realising that they are actually Katie and Hunter (now called Wyatt) from the first two films, finally resurfacing after vanishing for 5 years following Paranormal Activity 2.


What really kept most of the Paranormal Activity sequels from being as good as their predecessors was their extensive use of CGI. Gone were the days of minimalist filming and production, now the producers were able to show whatever they desired on camera, and the films began to resemble any ordinary horror film that one could come across. Another thing that made the series worse over time was its over-reliance on jump-scares. These can be well executed, if not done in excess, but many Found Footage films have simply gone for scaring the viewer momentarily rather than building up a sense of lingering fear and dread.

Even so, however, there is still an audience for these sorts of horror movies. A lot of horror enthusiasts are not looking for massive amounts of realism, and are instead looking for an experience that will get their heart racing at every little noise. And for that, the Paranormal Activity series certainly delivers. It's just a pity that it steadily becomes less and less believable and more gimmicky as it goes on. Still, the first film is pretty good, and the second one is still just as watchable, so feel free to make up your own mind.

You can watch the trailer for the first movie here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_UxLEqd074

You can buy it here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Paranormal-Activity-Katie-Featherston/dp/B07N16RD7F/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3TRFUGO06TQNE&keywords=paranormal+activity&qid=1566868938&s=gateway&sprefix=paran%2Caps%2C165&sr=8-1

Blair Witch: The Sequel TBWP Deserved

On my last post, I talked about The Blair Witch Project's first sequel, Book Of Shadows. As I talked about, it was a rushed production that felt more like the films that TBWP was trying to move away from. What the franchise needed, if it were to continue at all beyond the smatterings of video games produced for the PC, was another Found Footage film. And in 2016, we got it, with Blair Witch.

The promotional roll-out for the movie was similar to the 2008 film Cloverfield, in that no one actually knew the film's true nature until it was first screened at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con. For the longest time, all the promotional material was presented under the faux title The Woods, and even the posters that were at Comic-Con showed this title. It wasn't until after the screening, in which the audience realised it was a Blair Witch Project sequel that they were changed to reflect this. This was mostly done to prevent perceptions by reviewers and internet commentors that this would be a reboot of the franchise, and also to boost talk about the project with an unexpected twist, thus generating way more interest and excitement with the film then would've taken place otherwise. The film would later premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival that September.

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The plot of the film shows Heather's brother, James, finding apparent evidence that his sister may still be alive, and following a lead by a local near the woods where she disappeared, takes a search party in order to find her. The paranormal force that stalks the woods, however, is still waiting, and ready to strike upon the unsuspecting group.

The thing that most people will recognise upon watching this film is that the scope of the Blair Witch's powers is much more overt and clearly shown on screen in places. Whereas the first film takes place over the course of eight days, Blair Witch only lasts around two from James' perspective. This is skewed, however, as several characters seem to have time pass much differently for them when compared to the others, to the point where the guide they had been following appears towards the end, seemingly having been in the woods years for him, which has driven him insane by that point. Once one of the characters is killed after a stick figure with their hair is snapped in half, everything goes downhill, and everyone is dead within the next half an hour of run time, right up to the end.

Another detail that people picked up on when the film came out was that the Blair Witch seemingly appears on screen more than once, appearing as a thin, tall white figure. In fact, the film's creators have clarified that this creature is not the Witch, it's supposed to be Heather Donahue herself, who has apparently been turned into something akin to a Wendigo since the events of the first film. The Blair Witch is, however, shown to enter the same room as the last two survivors, who deduce that looking at her would kill them, so they attempt to back out of the room using the cameras as mirrors to see where they're going. The Witch, however, is able trick them into looking behind them by mimicking the voices of their friends.

One final detail worth mentioning is the fact that the original camera footage that James was sent that he thought had been filmed by Heather was in fact filmed by Lisa, a Film Student that had gone into the woods to look for her. This means that James had seen the footage before any of the group had even filmed it, heavily implying that the Blair Witch has the ability to warp time to their will, and has trapped the group in something of a time loop.

With all these details in mind, the film certainly sounds more exciting and fast paced then The Blair Witch Project. However, this can be considered the film's biggest flaw. The ambiguity of what was really following the film students in the first film was what made it scary and unique among the horror films of the time. Depending on how you interpret the film, it's possible that nothing actually paranormal is happening at all, and Heather and her friends are being tormented by something more tangible, perhaps a cult that worships the Blair Witch legend, or a group of locals are trying to mess with them. Here, though, everything that takes places is undoubtedly paranormal, thus removing any doubt that what inhabits the woods is anything less than an eldritch horror.

The more strange events and imagery also go against the original film's intent on delivering its plot through simplicity, which made it work. In recent years, however, films like Paranormal Activity have come along and have slowly inserted more threats and jump scares for viewers to sink their teeth into, and Blair Witch definitely feels like it took a leaf out of those kinds of Found Footage movies, and as such partially loses sight on what made the first film work so well.

At the end of the day, however, Blair Witch feels like a much more faithful sequel to The Blair Witch Project, and if you wanted some more of an idea of what the Blair Witch was actually capable of if it wanted to, then this movie is alright. I enjoyed it enough when I first saw it, as the acting was pretty good and nothing really felt forced or shoehorned in. There's actually a short moment of contemplation when James and Lisa first find Rustin Parr's old house, where the first movie had ended, and they realise they're going to have to go inside. There are certainly worse found footage movies than this one, and it has some pretty good scares for all it's worth, so Blair Witch is definitely more worth a watch if you're a fan of the first movie and looking for a good continuation of the story.

You can get the movie on DVD here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blair-Witch-DVD-Corbin-Reid/dp/B01LTHLFK6/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=blair+witch&qid=1564846231&s=dvd&sr=1-2

Watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=girSv9UH_V8

Why Book Of Shadows Didn't Work Like It Was Meant To.

Just like the last post, cast your mind back to the monumental success of The Blair Witch Project. Considering the money that raked in, it's only natural that plans for a sequel were soon made, to capitalise on that success as much as possible before it faded away. And from that idea that Artisian, the original films' distributor, had, the world was given Book Of Shadows: Blair Witch 2.

On paper, it seemed like an interesting idea from a sequel. Deviating from the found-footage style of the first film, this was supposed to be a reenactment of a true event that took place after the success of The Blair Witch Project, with a group of tourists travelling up to the filming site of the film as part of a tour, unwittingly becoming tangled up in the influence of the Blair Witch in new, and significantly gorier, ways.

Unfortunately, it didn't work in practice. First of all, Haxan Films, who made The Blair Witch Project, were not involved. Artisian were eager to make a sequel, but Haxan wanted to wait until the buzz of the first movie had died down. This prompted Artisian to proceed without them, enlisting director Joe Berlinger, who had never directed a horror movie before, and in fact had exclusively worked in Documentaries before this. Not to mention, Artisian made a bunch of changes to the Director's Cut that Berlinger produced from the 45 days worth of film, including adding an entirely new scene, in order to make it a more commercial horror film and break the bank like its predecessor, in direct contrast to Berlinger's wishes to have an ambiguous feel similar to the first movie.

And alas, that commercial edge that Artisian wanted is all over the final product. Book Of Shadows has much less of the charm of the original movie and instead feels much more like a standard horror film from the late 90s and early 2000s, which was precisely what The Blair Witch Project was made to counter. As such, it almost feels cliche and by the books. It didn't help that removing the found-footage style of the original removed much of the realism that had made The Blair Witch Project famous, as a professionally shot and composed film with carefully angled camera work is much harder to trust as fact.

This isn't even mentioning the fact that the movie was rushed into production to capitalise on The Blair Witch Project's success, and as such the plot is unrefined and full of plot holes, with some events and hallucinations the protagonists experience either never being picked up again or never properly explained in a satisfying way, the characters are generally quite unlikable and hard to relate to, and the camera work, despite being a professional production this time around, is sometimes barely an improvement on the first film, with a lot of the movement and post-production editing being fast paced and shaky.

As such, critics and audiences alike hated Book Of Shadows at the time, calling it a terrible example of a by-the-books horror film, although some recent reassessments have begun to argue more to its merits, with some calling it a deconstruction over the dishonesty of The Blair Witch Project. With this in mind, I'll leave the final assessment on this movie up to you.Who knows, you might get a kick out of it, whether or not it's bad. It's also possible that the director's cut still exists out there, and if so, may make the movie a much more enjoyable experience if it's ever unearthed.

As for the more recent sequel, Blair Witch, I'll likely cover that soon, as it's arguably a much more faithful sequel. But that's another story...

You can check out the trailer for Book Of Shadows here. It's kinda cliche, but pretty hilarious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WtrIgbvsWU

The DVD is available here (region 1 only): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Book-Shadows-Blair-Jeffrey-Donovan/dp/B00UGP7CKA

Why The Blair Witch Project's Soundtrack Helps To Add To the Experience Of The Movie.

So, if you were around when The Blair Witch Project came out, you'll likely be aware of the huge amount of tie-in material that went with it. These include a selection of mockumentaries, the movie's website, and the endless advertising campaigns that aimed to convince the average viewer that the movie was real footage of an actual disappearance. One of these items that was made as a tie-in was the movie soundtrack, which went by the name: The Blair Witch Project: Josh's Blair Witch Mix.



If you've watched the movie and didn't know it had a soundtrack, you're probably confused why it exists. The only song in the entire thing is the end credits score by Antonio Cora. So where did the other 11 tracks come from? Is this just an excuse to sell a compilation of unrelated music?

Well, yes, but it is in fact linked to the film in more ways than sharing its name. According to the liner notes, the contents of the Disc were originally on a mixtape found in the car of Joshua Leonard, one of the students that went missing in the film. Obviously, this is a bit of a stretch, but not entirely implausible. Thankfully the choices of music is not just a collection of popular music from 1994, when the movie is set. Instead, a selection of murkier picks were chosen, including Industrial, Post Punk, and Gothic Rock, many of which are rather obscure. This definitely makes the album stand out more from other soundtrack albums that exist.

Also included is the previously mentioned end credits score by Antonio Cora, and a deleted scene from the film in an enhanced section of the CD. On a couple of tracks as well, sound clips from the film appear. This does slightly break the immersion of it being the original mixtape, but it thankfully doesn't ruin it.

As promotional material for The Blair Witch Project goes, you can go way worse than this. This, at the very least, is able to tie into the film and make it feel a bit more real. Then again, nowadays, this isn't really as effective anymore, but eh, what can you do.

You can buy the album here: https://www.discogs.com/Various-The-Blair-Witch-Project-Joshs-Blair-Witch-Mix/release/835030

A special mix of an included Public Image LTD was also released as a single, but not included in that form on the main album, the original is on there. If you'd also like the single mix, it's also available here: https://www.discogs.com/Public-Image-Ltd-The-Order-Of-Death-The-Blair-Witch-Mix/release/542326

Trailer for the movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x9iMtfPZA8