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Post by Tweek on Sept 19, 2016 9:58:05 GMT -6
Thought I'd make a separate thread for this. So what do you think we saw in Blair Witch? Was that Elly Kedward? Or something else entirely?
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Post by Rekti1013 on Sept 19, 2016 10:31:43 GMT -6
Personally, I don't believe it was her. I was discussing this with a friend yesterday.I mean, I suppose this entity can change it's appearance to benefit what is going on. Maybe it did influence Elly in some way. Because if you were left to die in the winter, I could see her making a deal with whatever is out there.
I hate to say it, but I watched a play through of the Rustin Parr game and some of that seemed to make some sense in the bigger picture. I don't mean the cheesy things though. It would, to an extent, make more sense to what is actually going on.
Even then, it leaves a ton of questions.
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Post by Tweek on Sept 20, 2016 5:23:39 GMT -6
Whatever it was, it was way stronger than the first movie. Elly's got some serious roid rage or something.
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Post by Tweek on Sept 20, 2016 10:30:23 GMT -6
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Post by Tweek on Sept 20, 2016 10:34:03 GMT -6
To muddy the waters further, I see this on Facebook:  |
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Post by captainwacky on Sept 20, 2016 12:25:33 GMT -6
All we really know is that it is something. If it is the ACTUAL Witch or THE Evil that embodies those woods, then it begs the question: Why does it suddenly need to chase Lisa up and down stairs? Why are doors and crates suddenly an issue for it?
I mean, we are talking about an entity that has demonstrated almost unlimited power. To change space and time wilfully in an instant. To mess intricately with an individual's perception of reality. To fell trees on top of people at will and use all manner of spells to manipulate objects, things and places. And very clearly, can possess people and make them do her bidding at will (maybe the possession involves some sort of direct interruption from the victim, Josh knocks over the rocks so he is susceptible and maybe Lane disturbing the tree to find the buried tape made him succeptible too.
Either way, the point is, whatever Evil is in the Black Hills, it doesn't NEED to chase you through a house to get the job done. Why is it suddenly constrained by the laws of accepted physical barriers? I think it makes sense if this 'thing' that chased Lisa was nothing more than an expression of the evil. A trick designed to push her into going into the house (maybe ritualistically, the Witch wanted them to die there). I think what she was based on her own perception of what she thought she would see, coupled with the Witch playing with her my mind to induce what she knew Lisa would be most scared of. Lane suggested that he had read the theory about a makeshift rack, Lisa seemed very interested in that, so that is what she ended up seeing...
After all, pretty every description we have ever heard about the Witch is different - hairy from head to toe and wearing a shawl - old woman who floats or doesn't touch the ground - a grey or white misty apparition - a ghostly hand - a stretched ghoul... |
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Post by cradlednotes on Sept 20, 2016 15:45:16 GMT -6
All we really know is that it is something. If it is the ACTUAL Witch or THE Evil that embodies those woods, then it begs the question: Why does it suddenly need to chase Lisa up and down stairs? Why are doors and crates suddenly an issue for it?
I mean, we are talking about an entity that has demonstrated almost unlimited power. To change space and time wilfully in an instant. To mess intricately with an individual's perception of reality. To fell trees on top of people at will and use all manner of spells to manipulate objects, things and places. And very clearly, can possess people and make them do her bidding at will (maybe the possession involves some sort of direct interruption from the victim, Josh knocks over the rocks so he is susceptible and maybe Lane disturbing the tree to find the buried tape made him succeptible too.
Either way, the point is, whatever Evil is in the Black Hills, it doesn't NEED to chase you through a house to get the job done. Why is it suddenly constrained by the laws of accepted physical barriers? I think it makes sense if this 'thing' that chased Lisa was nothing more than an expression of the evil. A trick designed to push her into going into the house (maybe ritualistically, the Witch wanted them to die there). I think what she was based on her own perception of what she thought she would see, coupled with the Witch playing with her my mind to induce what she knew Lisa would be most scared of. Lane suggested that he had read the theory about a makeshift rack, Lisa seemed very interested in that, so that is what she ended up seeing...
After all, pretty every description we have ever heard about the Witch is different - hairy from head to toe and wearing a shawl - old woman who floats or doesn't touch the ground - a grey or white misty apparition - a ghostly hand - a stretched ghoul... That's a very good point about how everyone's description of the Witch is different; she appears as whatever the person perceiving her imagines. |
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eone
crosser of fallen logs
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Post by eone on Sept 20, 2016 17:49:20 GMT -6
That's a very good point about how everyone's description of the Witch is different; she appears as whatever the person perceiving her imagines. That's kind of poetic, seeing as how the first movie literally left the witch as something that exists purley in each audience members imagination |
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drewsko
crosser of fallen logs
Trying to figure out how to build a LEGO version of the BW stick figure
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Post by drewsko on Sept 20, 2016 19:26:49 GMT -6
All we really know is that it is something. If it is the ACTUAL Witch or THE Evil that embodies those woods, then it begs the question: Why does it suddenly need to chase Lisa up and down stairs? Why are doors and crates suddenly an issue for it?
I mean, we are talking about an entity that has demonstrated almost unlimited power. To change space and time wilfully in an instant. To mess intricately with an individual's perception of reality. To fell trees on top of people at will and use all manner of spells to manipulate objects, things and places. And very clearly, can possess people and make them do her bidding at will (maybe the possession involves some sort of direct interruption from the victim, Josh knocks over the rocks so he is susceptible and maybe Lane disturbing the tree to find the buried tape made him succeptible too.
Either way, the point is, whatever Evil is in the Black Hills, it doesn't NEED to chase you through a house to get the job done. Why is it suddenly constrained by the laws of accepted physical barriers? I think it makes sense if this 'thing' that chased Lisa was nothing more than an expression of the evil. A trick designed to push her into going into the house (maybe ritualistically, the Witch wanted them to die there). I think what she was based on her own perception of what she thought she would see, coupled with the Witch playing with her my mind to induce what she knew Lisa would be most scared of. Lane suggested that he had read the theory about a makeshift rack, Lisa seemed very interested in that, so that is what she ended up seeing...
After all, pretty every description we have ever heard about the Witch is different - hairy from head to toe and wearing a shawl - old woman who floats or doesn't touch the ground - a grey or white misty apparition - a ghostly hand - a stretched ghoul... That's a very good point about how everyone's description of the Witch is different; she appears as whatever the person perceiving her imagines. Of course, that begs the question of how the cameras record things that would be presumably based on what the characters are seeing as influenced by their perceptions... though then again, if we're also to subscribe to the theory that "James'" final line to do Lisa in was another trick of the Witch, and her camera recorded that, that could provide fuel to show that the cameras each character is holding is getting influenced alongside their own minds.
Perhaps Jeff was wrong about video telling the truth... but then again, he's only a movie character within the main series's universe (at best), so he's full of shit to start with. |
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Post by captainwacky on Sept 21, 2016 1:08:29 GMT -6
That's a very good point about how everyone's description of the Witch is different; she appears as whatever the person perceiving her imagines. Of course, that begs the question of how the cameras record things that would be presumably based on what the characters are seeing as influenced by their perceptions... though then again, if we're also to subscribe to the theory that "James'" final line to do Lisa in was another trick of the Witch, and her camera recorded that, that could provide fuel to show that the cameras each character is holding is getting influenced alongside their own minds.
Perhaps Jeff was wrong about video telling the truth... but then again, he's only a movie character within the main series's universe (at best), so he's full of s--t to start with. It isn't too much of a stretch really. We already know that the Witch can manipulate their equipment, as evidenced with the radios and the drone camera. Not to mention that the DV tape footage being found and put online before Lisa actually filmed it opens up a fairly big window of allowance as to what the rules are when it comes to the 'footage'.
In that sense, I'm fine with people's cameras being an extension of their own personal experience. It kind of reminds me a little of what Josh said in the original film actually:
"I can see why you like this camera so much. It's not quite reality." Maybe that statement is more true than it seemed... |
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Post by bw.asylum on Sept 21, 2016 5:03:31 GMT -6
I like the idea of it being an ancient evil, and that the evil could take many forms. I want Elly to be tied in somehow, like she could possibly be a victim of the evil. |
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Post by captainwacky on Sept 21, 2016 9:21:16 GMT -6
I like the idea of it being an ancient evil, and that the evil could take many forms. I want Elly to be tied in somehow, like she could possibly be a victim of the evil. Yes. I agree. As I have said, I've always been a proponent of the theory that the Woods itself IS the Evil. At least in some form. It is a living evil, disguised as nature. But once you enter the figurative Labyrinth of the Black Hills, you will never be the same. But I do quite like the idea that Elly herself may have indeed been an innocent scapegoat in some way, at least, at first. |
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Post by Tweek on Sept 21, 2016 10:25:11 GMT -6
Here's a thought. Elly Kedward really was a witch, and after arriving in Maryland from Ireland she encountered the entity in the woods and was able to exert some influence over it. Maybe not control it but direct it to some degree. Perhaps she was keeping it in check. Protecting Blair from it. Until her banishment. Then she went the other way and set it loose, instructing it to avenge her death. And it has been doing that ever since, growing stronger and gaining abilities over time. Taking on whatever form is most effective in striking terror in its victims. And those victims may not necessarily be dead. They could be trapped outside of normal time. In the dark woods with something chasing them forever.
So Elly is long gone. There is no "Blair Witch". But the entity is much worse and is still there with nobody alive with the knowledge to stop it or call it off.
I like the Wendigo idea too. That resembles what we saw. |
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Post by Rekti1013 on Sept 21, 2016 10:49:44 GMT -6
A wendigo could be possible. I mean the the look, yes. Also, if you take the game Until Dawn for example, the wendigo can mimic human movements and voices. So it is possible, I suppose.
But that doesn't explain altering time. Unless that is part of wendigo lore that I don't know about.
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tom96th
crosser of fallen logs
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Post by tom96th on Sept 21, 2016 12:08:35 GMT -6
Here's a thought. Elly Kedward really was a witch, and after arriving in Maryland from Ireland she encountered the entity in the woods and was able to exert some influence over it. Maybe not control it but direct it to some degree. Perhaps she was keeping it in check. Protecting Blair from it. Until her banishment. Then she went the other way and set it loose, instructing it to avenge her death. And it has been doing that ever since, growing stronger and gaining abilities over time. Taking on whatever form is most effective in striking terror in its victims. And those victims may not necessarily be dead. They could be trapped outside of normal time. In the dark woods with something chasing them forever.
So Elly is long gone. There is no "Blair Witch". But the entity is much worse and is still there with nobody alive with the knowledge to stop it or call it off.
I like the Wendigo idea too. That resembles what we saw. That's probably the best theory I've heard. It seems to follow the mythology of the video games to some extent. |
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Post by Tweek on Sept 21, 2016 15:19:53 GMT -6
I have a further theory about Elly's death. Either she died from exposure and the entity followed her instructions, going after her accusers first and then later anyone who enters the woods, or she was killed by the entity and somehow became part of it. Her will directing it's power. |
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Post by Rekti1013 on Sept 21, 2016 15:32:33 GMT -6
I thought that she might've been on the brink of death and made some sort of deal with whatever is out there. Either to stay alive and/or get revenge.
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Post by captainwacky on Sept 22, 2016 4:06:08 GMT -6
Well, I think that the Wendigo idea is simply one element of a much larger evil. But yes, the idea is intriguing.
But, I still think it all ultimately goes back to the forest itself being a catalyst. I like the idea of it actually being sentient in some way.
Here's an idea: maybe the forest is a portal or gateway to a hellish, nightmare realm (maybe not hell itself, but kind of). Maybe Elly with her last ounce of strength and power while tied to the tree cast some sort of hugely powerful spell across the entire area. This created a rift and she opened up a portal to an underworld realm. Maybe the House is some kind of bridge between the two worlds and that is why it is of such importance and cannot always be seen. Maybe that is the significance of the sacrifices in the basement/attic - they are ritual appeasements to the netherrealm.
The dimensional gateway allowed various supernatural entities to cross into the woods - spirits (both evil and benign), apparitions, poltergeists, demons, wendigos and other folkloric entities, etc - this rift created by Elly was so powerful that it 'infected' the trees and the forest itself become sentient also - infused with the evil unleashed.
Once you enter the Black Hills, you can pass freely between realms without obviously perceptively being aware of it, besides the changes in time, light and dark, etc. Maybe there are lots of ways INTO the other realm of the forest, but very few ways out. So if you pass into it, you are almost certainly lost forever.
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arkaine
crosser of fallen logs
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Post by arkaine on Sept 25, 2016 0:15:43 GMT -6
Greetings. This is my first post and, as the mythology around the film series is one of the key things that made me a fan way back in1999, I thought this would be as good as place as any to start. I was always of the thought that whatever lives in the Black Hills Woods predates Elly. I personally don’t even like to call it the Blair Witch. In my mind I separate the two. Elly, or what’s left of her, is the Blair Witch. The more ancient and primal creature that seems to be the main shot-caller I refer to simply as the Black Hills Entity. Dan, Ed and Ben Rock always said that the trouble in the woods predates European settlers and that the trouble in Blair was not necessarily started by Kedward but that she was an easy scapegoat because she was a perceived as a weirdo, (Unwed, Catholic in a Protestant town, an eccentric with a penchant for folk magic, ect.) It could be she knew or sensed this entity and did draw blood from the kids to try and cast protection spells for them so they wouldn’t be taken. Or you could flip that and say she was in cahoots with this entity and was marking the children to be sacrificed to it.
Either way, she became the victim of the town’s fear and outrage at events they couldn’t understand. It’s clear to me that she was tortured, tormented, humiliated and then left to die. This would have been post-Revolutionary Maryland where the status of many things was still on shaky ground and fueling post war anxieties. Once this entity started making itself known in subtle ways to the townspeople of Blair their tensions just mounted. And then when the kids accused Elly of witchcraft they reacted in mob mentality panic and fury. This entity came upon Elly as she was dying and again, for reasons unknown, they bonded. I’m a Resident Evil fan, and I like to think of it more along the lines of what happened to Dr. James Marcus and the Queen Leech in Resident Evil 0. The entity digested, (absorbed? assimilated?), Elly. Her memories, her personality, maybe even her soul. And it used this as a kind of façade. Then I think it became a bit like the Demon Freddy in Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, meaning it started to like our time and space and enjoyed being “Elly”. It liked the idea of being “The Blair Witch” and the fear and terror that the name and image invoked. So it kept it. It appears too that it also absorbed aspects of those who die in the woods at its hands for use later on as well.
Like any good boogy-creature it has ability to tap into either what scares you or what your expectations seem of it seem to be. Lisa saw a projection of Elly based on what Lane had told her he read in the Blair Witch Curse book. Heather and crew experienced phenomena based around the Rustin Parr aspect of the legend due to the Shopkeeper’s tale, (The Ghost-Ship House, Basement-Standing in the Corner, ect.) In many was it resembles the creature from Stephen King’s It. It’s manipulation of the woods reminds me of the Bermuda & Bridgewater Triangles. With the corporal manifestation of the Parr house being the nexus point. Seeing the lightning blasted tree near the house in the new film and brief flash of a fence line makes me believe that the old adage of “The way out is through” may hold true here, and had James and Lisa bypassed the House and made for the fence beyond the tree they may have stepped out onto the trail back to the cars over the hill, ( Kinda like when Vic Marrow sees his buddies outside the bar from the box car at the end of the first episode in the Twilight Zone Movie) However, once they went into that house, this Being’s singularity if you will, they were done. That makes me think the real “Power behind the Stickmen” is actually some form of ancient Elemental Chaos Entity. It could even be that The Powers That Be eons ago stuck it there just because it’s such a, well, pain in the ass. It was isolated, quarantined. A few other quick things too, it’s intelligent, sly and cunning. I agree with the theory that when James thinks he hears and sees Heather and Mike in the attic he really is seeing them. I think this entity just baited the hook and merged their two time periods just long enough to suck James in. Also, the Light. My impression of that was it was to signify that the true “Blair Witch” had arrived and that all the other things we’d seen before it were just the warm-up act. Clive Barker did something very similar with the Cenobites and their arrival in Hellraiser.
Sorry if this rambled a bit but the nice thing about the Blair Witch mythology is that it seems like almost any theory can fit when you look at it. Dan and Ed’s excellent way of paying homage to those great old “based on real events” paranormal potboiler of the 1970s. So, in closing, it’s my personal belief we have yet to see the true “face” of the Blair Witch.
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Post by Tweek on Sept 25, 2016 8:04:37 GMT -6
That makes sense. Generally falls in line with my own theory.
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Post by Tweek on Sept 25, 2016 11:02:57 GMT -6
Here's a theory to chew on. At three times in the film we see a creature (Slenderwitch?), appearing differently each time. Perhaps what we are seeing are transformed versions of Heather Mike and Josh? The "witch" didn't kill them but instead changed them into what we saw? The one in the attic could have been what was left of Heather. And it called out to James in her human voice. And the thing growing up Ashley's leg could have been part of the transformation. Had she lived she would have become one too. Actually we don't know that she or Peter are dead. They were both dragged away. |
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Post by Tweek on Sept 27, 2016 10:22:56 GMT -6
bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3408076/blair-witch-bombshell-completely-changes-ending-movie/There's a link to this board in that article Yay!  Some of our theories are mentioned too. Nice. ‘Blair Witch’ Bombshell Completely Changes the Ending of the Movie!By JonathanBarkan on September 27, 2016 In my review of Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett’s Blair Witch, I explained that I thought the movie was incredibly tense but ultimately left me wanting, the story and execution all to familiar. I felt that too much was revealed in the third act, taking away a lot of mystery from the mythos that has been built over nearly 20 years. However, Barrett dropped a bombshell last week that has gone largely unnoticed, one that completely changes how many might view the film, including myself, as well as adding a new layer of depth and intrigue to the story! In my review, I made note that the third act was, “…magnificent in so many ways, [but] it’s also where it reveals a bit too much,” explaining that I felt them showing the Witch as a gaunt, spindly-limbed entity was a visual we’ve seen a few too many times. Barrett’s big reveal, however, is that we never actually saw the witch in the movie! The strange humanoid creature towards the end of the film isn’t the Blair Witch, meaning we have yet to get any idea of what she looks like! Here’s where things get rather interesting: in the film, Lane and Talia talk about Elly Kedward, an Irish woman who lived in Blair in the 1700’s and was accused of witchcraft. She was tortured and left in the woods, supposedly hung from a tree with rocks tied to her limbs, stretching them out from her joints and sockets. Throughout the films, we’ve been led to believe that she was the Blair Witch. But if who we’re seeing in the film isn’t the Witch, does that mean Elly isn’t the Blair Witch? There are theories on old message boards from The Blair Witch Project days that suggest she was actually innocent and only when she was enduring her horrible fate did she swear allegiance to the power residing deep within the woods. If you want to have your mind REALLY blown, here’s another potential theory: Remember at the end when James and Lisa are standing in the corner and James thinks he hears the voice of his sister, Heather? What if the creature we’re seeing at the end of the movie actually IS Heather, now fully converted into a servant of the Blair Witch? After 20 odd years of being in the woods, who knows what Heather went through, what kinds of horrible things she was a part of and witness to? No matter what, Barrett says that his and Wingard’s, “…DVD commentary will explain a lot, but hopefully without ruining anything…” |
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Post by bw.asylum on Sept 28, 2016 3:27:06 GMT -6
I can't wait until the DVD commentary now.
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Post by Tweek on Sept 28, 2016 15:51:59 GMT -6
I hope there are lots of extras on the blu. Commentary, deleted scenes, alternate endings. The works!
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Some of our theories are mentioned too. Nice.