CS Video: Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett Talk Blair Witch

September 17, 2016

The director and writer of Blair Witch speak in this exclusive video

Blair Witch, the second sequel and first direct follow-up to the classic 1999 found-footage horror film The Blair Witch Project, opened yesterday to divisive reviews (you can read both our positive response here and our less-favorable review here). But no matter your own feelings about the film, there’s no denying that it will draw both the hardcore Blair Witch fans and curious newcomers alike in droves to the theaters this weekend and beyond. As far as horror film franchise movies go… this is a big one.

Blair Witch is the result of yet another creative collaboration between contemporary American indie film darlings director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett. Previously the pair had found critical success with such innovative genre outings like A Horrible Way to Die, You’re Next and The Guest and yet here they opted to break that streak of original filmmaking by taking on the Herculean task of helming a sequel that, ultimately, no one really was crying out to be made. It’s a brave move, one that leaves them open to fan attack. And yet the pair are confident that their considerably more elaborate venture, which sees the brother of the first film’s last-girl-standing, venture into the deep woods with his friends, armed with an array of cameras in search of an ancient evil witch, stands just fine on its own.

We caught up with Wingard and Barrett just days after the film’s sold out Midnight Madness premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.