MovieChat Forums > Blair Witch (2016) Discussion > Explanation SPOILERS

Explanation SPOILERS

posted 8 years ago by ZaZeus
10 replies | jump to latest

For as much of a mundane retread as this film was, albeit with a decently suspenseful climax, I did like how it effectively tied this film to the original and essentially explained everything in a not very "in your face" sort of way.

So, once you spend the night the witch is able to trap you in a sort of time loop. However, this time loop varies from person to person, depending on what the witch wants to do with you, and you could have been stuck in the same night for YEARS whereas others have only been going through it for one night.

The girl we see at the beginning of the film in the footage found by Lane is Lisa. The witch presumably flung the camera into the woods, out of the time loop, for Lane to find and thus lure everyone into the woods.

The people Heather sees in the corners in the ORIGINAL film are these new characters, including her brother, from 2014. Time is not linear in this section of the woods, and everyone coexists during different timelines. This makes sense because only these 2014 characters understood the concept of facing the corner to avoid looking at the witch. Heather sees her brother there, standing in the corner.

Likewise, James does in fact see his sister wandering around the house. He sees the version of her who has been wandering around that house for over a decade, lost in time. Then, at the end when he turns around because he thinks he hears heather, he DOES in fact hear her. Heather from the 1990s is there, seeing her brother standing in the corner. Time is not linear. They are both there in that moment at the same time.

While this could be confusing for some, it was an interesting way of tying the films together as well as giving a fundamental explanation of the witch and the goings on in the woods. The only other alternative for this film was to fully explain the witch, in a very blatant way, and, what, have Lisa "fight" the witch? That's even more ridiculous than some would consider this time loop scenario to be. Not to mention cliche. Again, the film as a whole was just alright, nothing new in terms of scares or general plotting. But the time twist was a good way to go about this story.

[–] cutieboydmx 8 years ago

Stupid plot and stupid movie

All just to make that money.

[–] cbkaufman 8 years ago

Wow. What insight.

Yes, movie making is a business for profit. Expecting otherwise is not only naive it's a stereotypical fanboy complaint.

[–] Wartle 8 years ago

The people Heather sees in the corners in the ORIGINAL film are these new characters, including her brother, from 2014. Time is not linear in this section of the woods, and everyone coexists during different timelines. This makes sense because only these 2014 characters understood the concept of facing the corner to avoid looking at the witch. Heather sees her brother there, standing in the corner.

What are you talking about? There ISN'T a bunch of people that Heather sees in the original film. There's one person standing in the corner, and it's very obviously Mike. Wearing the exact same outfit that Mike wears and everything. And it's a reference to information they learn about Rustin Parr earlier in the film. It has nothing to do with these characters from this new film, and that retcon would make no sense whatsoever.

[–] usmc8408 8 years ago

That's what I thought too. In the original, the girl Heather i guess her name was, only saw one person standing in the corner, her friend. And if I remember right they said the reason for that was because the witch would make her students or whatever stand in the corner to await their punishment, not some Medusa type thing like this new one says.

If your theory is right it makes it a 2 star movie to me instead of 1. ?

[–] dflerch-40800 8 years ago

Exactly

[–] pecinqa 8 years ago

I implore you to keep thinking about the time logic in the film.

You will go from thinking it's interesting, to making no sense at all.

As pointed out numerous times on the board, the film falls into the boot strap paradox.

There's no way the footage of Lisa (which I'll remind you is the entire motivation of the film) could exist, there's no point of origin for it.

Just like most of the other things in the film, we're just chalking up all these holes with "witch powers". Also, unfortunately you find it interesting because they tied the first film to this one with time logic, but you are incorrect.

As others have pointed out, only Mike appears in the corner of the first film, I hate to say it, but you're building this up to be clever from a false memory.

[–] ferencegrizzal 8 years ago

I think the shot of what the brother thinks may be Heather from the outside could be used in the defense of tying the first and last films together. I do like the concept of time limbo. it's like he was back to the future part 2ing the first film and seeing heather running around the house frantically from another pov. but once he went inside he never crossed paths with her because why would he? the witch already got him inside. as for heathers POV, yeah it was definitely just mike in the corner. but the concept still works because once you're in the house you're not getting out so there's no need to cross paths with anyone else.

what I'm curious about is what the local guy was doing in the basement for FIVE MONTHS. why is he still alive? or how many be the better question.

[–] nicholast1990 8 years ago

That's a good point about the local guy. He was going buckwild down there in the basement for 5 months? Why is it the witch didn't do anything to him for that huge amount of time?

[–] skyflyerjen-53-760737 8 years ago

You have some good points here. I think time manipulation is a real thing in this story. The legends say that the townspeople burned down Rustin Parr's house for his murders of seven children.
I guess the witch sent everyone back in time just so she could use the house?

[–] imalwaysright666 8 years ago

I think it's easier to think of the woods as some sort of purgatory/alternate dimension rather than some sort of bridge to the past or any other point in time. The witch or whatever evil force is in the woods, whether it was the creature we saw at the end of the 2016 sequel (Elly) or some other demonic entity not seen, is able to transport it's victims to this purgatory where it tortures, manipulates, and eventually kills them all. Every seperate experience is controlled by this force, which is why lane and talia had such a drastically different experience than james, lisa and ashley. This is also why Heather, Josh and Mike from the first movie were able to continuously follow a compass reading south all day and yet somehow end up back at the same downed tree at the some point at the creek where they began. The woods are some sort of parallel dimension or lacuna that is controlled by the witch/entity. You could even argue that since every character has a different experience and sees/hears things that only he or she sees/hears, that the whole things might just be projected in their heads. That would explain how they're able to each see and enter a house, which we're told in both movies, burned to the ground in the 1940s. This also holds true for the perpetual night they experience. Also, if you watch closely in the end, when James first enters the house after thinking he hears Heather, he runs to a room where he briefly sees Peter standing in a corner, then begins to run up stairs and through a hallway. During that same sequence, without going back the other way, he then runs up the same set of stairs and through the same hallway again before locking himself in a room. That house obviously does not follow any of the rules of physics or architecture that govern our world. I think the whole idea of the woods being a gateway and once you enter you don't leave is absolutely terrifying. I agree with what the general consesus of the new movie seems to be, in that, it was a bit of rehash of the first for the first hour or so. However, it did pick up dramatically in the end, and some of the questions it raises, especially in regards to role of time manipulation and alternate realities, make it worth watching.