MOVIE NEWS – Eduardo Sánchez, who was one of the co-directors of the original Blair Witch Project movie, just shared his thoughts on the surprise horror reboot.

For almost two decades now, the discovered footage obsession became an absolute fixture in the horror genre, thanks to the revolutionary work of directors Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick on 1999’s The Blair Witch Project. Today – almost twenty years after – a sequel is in preparation. While the original directors did not return this time around, Sánchez recently shared some very high-praise for the upcoming Blair Witch reboot.

On a recent episode of the Found Footage Files Podcast, Sánchez shown as a guest and had nothing but good points to say about the new Blair Witch. He clarified that he thinks fans of the original will really like it, and that it also thankfully avoids to be like another tired, run-of-the-mill found footage movie.

“It’s just full-blast ‘Blair Witch‘. It’s really creepy and the last third is just crazy. It’s just all over the place. It just does not let you go, you know? I’m really happy to have been a part of it… it kind of progresses the found-footage genre a little bit which I think is really cool. It’s really, really well grounded in the original. And I think that the fans of the original will get a lot out of it. It’s kind of a recognizable…it’s almost like you’ve been, like kind of a deja vu, but then it turns into just a – like I said, it kinda takes our film and blows the doors off and goes nuts with it, in a really really good way,” said Sánchez.

The Blair Witch Project became one of the most successful and important horror movies of all-time. It produced nearly $250 million at the global box office with a budget of just $60 thousand, and also spawned a sequel and many video game adaptations. The sequel, Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows, was in fact a major disappointment. It was slammed by critics and only made $47 million on a $15 million budget, which achieved to put to sleep the horror franchise – until now, that is. Early information about Blair Witch has been incredibly positive, and having the blessing of the original directors certainly doesn’t hurt anything.

Blair Witch was helmed by Adam Wingard, who worked with Sánchez and Myrick on both of the VHS anthology horror movies. Wingard also directed You’re Next and The Guest, which were both very well received by fans and critics alike. Simon Barrett, who wrote both of those movies, also reunited with Wingard for Blair Witch. Lionsgate had originally been advertising the movie as The Woods, but they pulled a fast one on us all when they revealed that the movie was indeed a sequel to the horror classic during a screening at San Diego Comic-Con. Immediately following the screening, the title was revealed to indeed be Blair Witch, and the cat was out of the bag.

Blair Witch tells the tale of a group of teenagers led by James, who decide to venture into the Black Hills Forest, where they are trying to figure out what happened to Heather from the original Blair Witch Project nearly 20 years ago. As they venture deeper into the woods, they realize all is not right, and things get progressively more strange, and they realize they most definitely are not alone. Blair Witch is set for release on September 16.