Surprise 'Blair Witch' Sequel!

Lionsgate managed to pull off filming a Blair Witch Project sequel in secrecy, releasing a trailer and screening the film, titled Blair Witch, at Comic-Con. The movie was filmed last summer under a false title called The Woods. I'm always fascinated how something like this can stay secret in the age of social media. Screening the entire movie for people who thought they were seeing a different horror film is the type of genius move that will grant them plenty of publicity.

The Blair Witch Project was released in 1999 and became a major phenomenon, also thanks in part to clever marketing, which utilized the Internet as a form of viral marketing in a major way for the first time. The website used fake news clippings & police reports which caused people to debate whether the movie was a real documentary or fake. The rookie actors were also listed as "missing" on IMDB to keep up appearances, and the movie was filmed using the "shaky cam" technique. It gave birth to the found footage horror genre, which has died down in recent years after endless mediocre Paranormal Activity sequels.

Blair Witch is actually the third film in the franchise, as a disappointing sequel titled Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows was released to poor reaction in 2000. The third film has gotten a positive reaction at Comic-Con, and the trailer, which you can watch below, already makes it look much improved over Book of Shadows.

Scream 4 Review

This will be a short, and spoiler free review of Scream 4. Some spoilers if you click on "read more" down at the bottom. This new Scream movie takes the idea of the original into the modern world, spoofing the Saw franchise and the recent love affair with horror remakes. As someone who hates the Saw movies, I appreciated the spoofs. Scream 4 probably has the most comedy of the four films.

The film brings back Sydney (Neve Campbell), Gail Weathers (Courteney Cox) and Dewey (David Arquette) and introduces a bunch of new characters, all set in the town of Woodsboro, the location of the first movie. It is once again directed by Wes Craven.

The movie as a whole is not as good as the first Scream or Scream 2, but I would definitely put it ahead of Scream 3. The opening is clever and lives up to the other films' memorable openings. The new cast members are alright, with Hayden Panettiere as Kirby being the stand out character.

You'll find references to the first three Scream films throughout this one. It's definitely worthy of going to see and at times it's as clever as the first. Scream 4 is a solid addition to the franchise, and one of the better horror films of recent years. Just remember the main rule of remakes courtesy of Sydney: Don't fuck with the original! Some spoilers below, so stop reading if you don't want to know: