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In today’s news that no one asked for, the found footage horror that established a genre — The Blair Witch Project — is reportedly getting a sequel from Lionsgate. Apparently, British filmmaker Oliver Park will be directing the follow-up, which couldn’t come at a better time in the 37-year-old’s career. Back in 2015, Park’s short film Vicious was voted one of the best horror shorts ever made, winning the Gold Award for Best International Film at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival, the Platinum Award for Best Film at LA Horror Competition, and Favourite Film Award for Best Film at the Northern Frights Film Festival.
Park recently had his feature-film directorial debut with 2023’s The Offering/Abyzou, a horror-thriller based on the Jewish folktale of Abyzou that stars Nick Blood, Emily Wiseman, Allan Corduner, Paul Kaye, Daniel Ben Zenou and Jodie Jacobs.
As for The Blair Witch Project, Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick’s 1999 masterpiece had completely reinvented horror at the time of release, managing to convince entire audiences around the globe that its three protagonists — Heather, Josh and Mike — had actually gone missing. Subsequently, stars Rei Hance, Joshua Leonard and Michael C. Williams were rumored to have actually died in Black Hills forest near Burkittsville, Maryland. “So people definitely believed that the film was real,” Blair Witch star Michael C. Williams told BuzzFeed News. “Even people that knew my family back then.”
Since becoming a global sensation, The Blair Witch Project has spawned countless spin-offs, sequels, books, and video games. Although the cult classic had remained largely untouched since the dawn of the 2000s, nothing ever lasts in Hollywood without an unnecessary remake or sequel, and —nearly 25 years later — here we are. News of the “Untitled Blair Witch Sequel” comes straight from Production Weekly, which reported that Park was aiming for a late summer/fall shoot.
What’s more, the production company helming the sequel is none other than Haxam Films, the crew who worked on the original Blair Witch Project. Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez are even listed as producers, so perhaps we’ll have higher hopes for this sequel than whatever 2016’s Blair Witch was.
Keep your eyes peeled for more news on this as it breaks.