You know now what’s a really strange juxtaposition? As much as I enjoy found footage movies, I’ve never been particularly wild about The Blair With Project.

I know, I know. It’s one of the most beloved horror and found footage properties out there. It was an absolute phenomenon when it came out that took the world by storm, and it still has millions of passionate devotees to this very day. It changed the genre for years in its wake–its effects are still being felt to this day, but more on that in a bit–and is one of the most influential and profitable movies ever made.

And I thought it was… fine. I’m not claiming to have actively disliked it. I just thought it was a touch tedious when I first saw it. A lot of walking around the forest and not a lot of anything happening, you know? It was a bit slow for me. Compared to the other behemoth of the genre (Paranormal Activity), I just thought it was a touch underwhelming.

I probably need to watch it again someday. Maybe I wasn’t in a right mindset to enjoy it when I watched it. I never got around to it until years after its release; maybe I just let it get too hyped up, and so when I watched it, nothing was going to measure up. That’s certainly a possibility. I’ll have to find the time to revisit it.

But I feel like I get to watch several variations of it each year. Every would-be filmmaker with $50 and a camera of some sort has been chasing the magic of The Blair Witch Project ever since it came out. Every so often, there will be another hit. But a lot of times, we just end up with movies that quietly come and go without much recognition.

And some were good! I quite liked Underground and Life Of Belle from earlier this year; I thought they did a very good job with their characters and story. Like I said… despite my ambivalence to the grandaddy of them all, it’s a genre I get a kick out of because it can sometimes do really neat stuff.

Today’s movie is another in the long line of found footage movies looking to make their bones, and it is a German picture called Das Bose Im Wald, or Evil In The Woods. It is not just a basic found footage offering, but it is VERY similar to The Blair Witch Project in that it involves a lot of footage of three people–two men and a woman–wandering around the forest, just looking for shit.

It isn’t long before the young woman of the group, Carla, goes missing, and it’s up to her companions to try to save her. They are able to escape the woods and come back with a reporter to find their friend, but as some truths come out, they find their terror is just beginning…

TWO UPS AND TWO DOWNS

+ The acting, as far as I can tell since I don’t speak German, seems serviceable enough. Nothing really stuck out to me as unbelievably delivered or performed. Like I said, it’s not my native tongue, but I bought what these actors were selling me.

I wish I could be more thorough in my grading of the acting, but I can only go by so much of a feeling for foreign productions.

+ Look, it’s not easy to make a feature length film with professional editing and acting, and it’s got to be even harder with virtually no budget. But they pulled it out, so kudos to them. That’s impressive, and I want to make sure they get credit for that. This was clearly created without a ton of money put behind it, and I appreciate the time and passion it took for them to get it done.

I have certainly never made a full length production. I have only ever made really bad short films, and I can’t imagine how exponentially harder it is to make something of this standard. So that’s an Up in that they achieved their dream.

– The ending here is beyond abrupt. It really plays into the Found Footage aspect of things because it doesn’t have a resolution, but as a film, it’s very lacking in how it just… ends. 

As the movie draws to a close, I kept looking at the time remaining and thinking “How are they going to wrap this up in [4/3/2] minutes?”. Well the answer is that they don’t wrap it up at all. This makes The Blair Witch Project look like it had a thoroughly explained conclusion. The movie is happening… until it isn’t anymore. The end!

– For most of the runtime, this flick is fairly repetitive and boring. The three leads go to the woods, then they go home. The next day, they go back to the woods, then they go home. The next day, they go back to the woods, and at least something kind of happens that time. But this is a lot of the same thing happening over and over. And even after that third trip where Carla goes missing, do you know what happens next? The two guys leave the woods, then come back later!

OVERALL

Das Bose In Wald is a pretty weak effort that looks more “inexpensive” than “authentic”. The story is incredibly boring and tedious, and I just had an immensely hard time staying engaged. It’s all the worst aspects of The Blair Witch Project, without any of the redeeming ones that make that film more tense and evocative. It’s always impressive to make and produce a movie, especially when you have limited funds, but this is a definite pass for me.