The Movie Fans Of The Blair Witch Project Agree Is A Spiritual Sequel
By the time it made its way to theaters in July 1999, "The Blair Witch Project" was already a bit of a cultural sensation thanks to a groundbreaking marketing campaign that had many convinced the film was more a legit documentary than an inventive found-footage thriller. Once it actually debuted, "The Blair Witch Project" became a cinematic phenomenon and an instant horror movie all-timer, confounding and enthralling movie fans to the tune of nearly $250 million in worldwide ticket sales (via Box Office Mojo).
Over the past two decades, dozens of films have tried and mostly failed to mimic both the style and blockbuster success of "The Blair Witch Project," with even Adam Wingard's divisive sequel "Blair Witch" falling short in the eyes of many (via Rotten Tomatoes). There's at least one film out there, however, that horror fans believe matches "The Blair Witch Project" in both tone and intensity: the 2017 atmospheric creeper "The Ritual."
Directed by David Bruckner, "The Ritual" follows a tight-knit group of friends who get lost in the woods on a camping trip and discover a supernatural presence stalking them. Given the obvious narrative similarities between it and "The Blair Witch Project," "The Ritual" is clearly a film cut from similar cloth, though it also goes about its beastly business in dramatically different fashion. Even still, many fans of "The Blair Witch Project" have taken to Reddit to proclaim "The Ritual" a spiritual sequel to the landmark 1999 thriller.
Many feel The Ritual is a sinister successor of The Blair Witch Project
Reddit user u/Cade28Skywalker kicked off a Reddit thread off declaring "The Ritual," as "the best non-sequel to 'The Blair Witch Project" since it's "based on atmosphere, not jump scares."
While some commenters didn't feel the same way, many were quick to agree that the films have a great deal in common. Redditor u/Muldyonionsauce was among the first to share their thoughts, posting, "I've never heard this perspective, but I completely agree. Both of these movies absolutely soak in the 'fear of the unknown' mixed with the fear of 'nature overcoming man.'" Fellow Reddit user u/horrorworthwatching chimed in with, "I actually thought it felt a lot like 'Blair Witch Project.' I mean they have very different stories and themes, but I just rewatched 'Blair Witch' this weekend and my wife and I turned to each other about 30 minutes in and said, 'This feels a lot like The Ritual.'"
In a vividly detailed retort to the naysayers, user u/Spurioun sought to quiet all by detailing out the films' glaring similarities, closing their argument with, "This legit felt like almost a spiritual successor to 'The Blair Witch Project.' Obviously it isn't the exact same (not found footage, the mystery of what's going on is more or less all revealed in the end of this) but that's what makes this movie worth watching and enjoying. It's very fair to compare them."
Whether you agree with that "spiritual successor" claim or not, "The Blair Witch Project" and "The Ritual" are both modern horror masterworks worthy of adoration — and they'd make for a supremely sinister double feature.