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Blair Witch was Hiding in The Woods All Along

Horror films are filled with magical transformations, ranging from the subtle to the hilariously over the top. But people who attended Friday night’s advance screening of Lionsgate’s film The Woods at Comic-Con were treated to the most horrifying transformation of all: the very film they were seeing changed before their eyes into a sequel to 1999’s The Blair Witch Project, Deadline reports. Lionsgate had more or less kept the film’s status as a revival of the long-dormant series a secret, helped by the fact that, although the teaser trailer for The Woods clearly showed a found-footage film about young people being terrorized in the woods, the original Blair Witch Project spawned so many terrible rip-off found footage films that there was no compelling reason to make the connection. During the screening, the posters for The Woods in the theater lobby were swapped out for ones for the new film, simply titled Blair Witch. Lionsgate bought Artisan Entertainment, which produced the original film and its sequel, in 2003.

From the trailer, Blair Witch, directed by Adam Wingard, seems to hew pretty closely to the original’s much-copied formula: a mock documentary pieced together from footage supposedly shot by a group of filmmakers investigating the Blair Witch legend. In this case, one of them is the younger brother of one of the characters in the original film. In fact, the trailer plays like a greatest-hits reel, echoing the original’s apology scene, the stick totems, and, of course, the abandoned house with handprints on the wall (and a corner to stand in). What’s missing is the ultra-low-res production values that were part of the original’s charm, and, along with the film’s straight-faced website presenting documentary “evidence” of the Blair Witch, fueled rumors that the film was real. The difference in look can be chalked up to the fact that an iPhone looks better than the Hi8 camcorder used for much of the original, though the new film’s honest website is inexplicable.)

It seems like a long shot that a slicker, fan-servicey reboot of a concept from 1999 could really represent “a new beginning for horror fims,” as one of the trailers blurbs proclaims, but audiences will have a chance to judge for themselves on Sept. 16. Despite any pessimism in this article, no offense is intended to any Blair Witches or other sorts of witches reading this. Slate has the utmost respect for you and your stone cairns, so please limit your feedback to the comments section below.