Movies
‘Blair Witch’ Bombshell Completely Changes the Ending of the Movie!
In my review of Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett’s Blair Witch, I explained that I thought the movie was incredibly tense but ultimately left me wanting, the story and execution all to familiar. I felt that too much was revealed in the third act, taking away a lot of mystery from the mythos that has been built over nearly 20 years.
However, Barrett dropped a bombshell last week that has gone largely unnoticed, one that completely changes how many might view the film, including myself, as well as adding a new layer of depth and intrigue to the story!
In my review, I made note that the third act was, “…magnificent in so many ways, [but] it’s also where it reveals a bit too much,” explaining that I felt them showing the Witch as a gaunt, spindly-limbed entity was a visual we’ve seen a few too many times. Barrett’s big reveal, however, is that we never actually saw the witch in the movie! The strange humanoid creature towards the end of the film isn’t the Blair Witch, meaning we have yet to get any idea of what she looks like!
Here’s where things get rather interesting: in the film, Lane and Talia talk about Elly Kedward, an Irish woman who lived in Blair in the 1700’s and was accused of witchcraft. She was tortured and left in the woods, supposedly hung from a tree with rocks tied to her limbs, stretching them out from her joints and sockets. Throughout the films, we’ve been led to believe that she was the Blair Witch.
But if who we’re seeing in the film isn’t the Witch, does that mean Elly isn’t the Blair Witch? There are theories on old message boards from The Blair Witch Project days that suggest she was actually innocent and only when she was enduring her horrible fate did she swear allegiance to the power residing deep within the woods.
If you want to have your mind REALLY blown, here’s another potential theory: Remember at the end when James and Lisa are standing in the corner and James thinks he hears the voice of his sister, Heather? What if the creature we’re seeing at the end of the movie actually IS Heather, now fully converted into a servant of the Blair Witch? After 20 odd years of being in the woods, who knows what Heather went through, what kinds of horrible things she was a part of and witness to?
No matter what, Barrett says that his and Wingard’s, “…DVD commentary will explain a lot, but hopefully without ruining anything…”
@idiot_teen don't want to get too spoilery but it's just the root moving deeper, and you don't see the witch onscreen, that's someone else!
— Simon Barrett (@Simon_Barrett) September 20, 2016
@vinsclortho our DVD commentary will explain a lot, but hopefully without ruining anything, as do we want to leave some elements mysterious
— Simon Barrett (@Simon_Barrett) September 20, 2016
A contemporary reimagining of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story Herbert West: Reanimator is on the way, and Deadline has unveiled the first look at the new Herbert West and the pathologist drawn to his orbit.
Adam Simon (The Haunting in Connecticut, “Salem”) and Tim Metcalfe (The Haunting in Connecticut, Kalifornia) penned the script. The original screenplay and storyline come from Jade Sandberg Wallace.
Michael Grossman (“The Originals”, “Pretty Little Liars”) directs.
The new images introduce star Joseph Morgan (“Vampire Diaries“), who plays “brilliant surgeon and scientist Herbert West, who is obsessed with creating a serum to reanimate the dead.” Katie Cassidy (Speed Demon) stars opposite as the pathologist with a troubled past who joins his efforts.
Together, they prove that conquering death may be the ultimate sin against life itself.
The film’s official synopsis: “As a child, Herbert West watches his father Peter reanimate his dead mother Judith in a secret basement lab — only for Judith to mortally wound Peter and nearly kill Herbert before Peter shoots her. The trauma leaves its mark on Herbert, but so does one final image: his mother’s finger, twitching after death. Thirty years later, Herbert West is a brilliant, secretive surgeon still chasing his father’s obsession.
“Pathologist Kate Locke arrives in town and is drawn into his orbit — first through a spark at a hospital fundraiser, then through his secret lab, where he reveals a serum capable of reanimating severed tissue. Kate, hiding a dark past of her own, is thrilled rather than horrified, and moves into West’s mansion to work alongside him. Their early experiments on a cadaver succeed only briefly. West concludes that dead tissue is the problem — they need something fresher.”
Supporting cast includes Scott Aiello, Ira J Amyx, Randall Newsome, Emma Reinagal, James D. Bryce, Kathryn A Bentley, Jack Lancaster, Amy Holland Pennell, John Pierson, Mindy Shaw, Eric Dean White, Tristan Wilder Hallet, Adrienne Lamping, Aaron Crippen, and Drew Patterson.
Makeup artist Jeff Lewis (“Star Trek: Voyager,” “Star Trek: Enterprise”) and cousin Roger Lewis are heading the production via their newly established Woodlake Entertainment.
Lovecraft’s short story, first serialized in Home Brew magazine in 1922, is the first among his works to mention the fictional Miskatonic University. It was most famously adapted into a 1985 horror movie from Stuart Gordon, starring Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West.
Herbert West: Reanimator is set in Alton, Illinois, where production is now underway.
Herbert West: Reanimator. Photo credit: Matt Lief Anderson
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