I can’t help but be excited about a new Blair Witch Project movie in the works, but past experience urges me to temper my expectations. While I enjoy both Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 and Blair Witch to varying extents, the original film captured lightning in a bottle — from the innovative found footage concept to its revolutionary viral marketing campaign — that simply cannot be replicated without drastic reinvention.
Hunt a Killer‘s Blair Witch immersive game is arguably the most effective use of the property since 1999. I’ve played other escape-room-in-a-box type games, which can be quite enjoyable but are never as involving as what Hunt a Killer has crafted in conjunction with Lionsgate. Founded in 2016, the company disrupts conventional storytelling and tabletop gaming with interactive mystery games played via subscription-based boxes delivered to your door on a monthly basis.
Respectful to the existing lore while expanding upon it in meaningful ways, Hunt a Killer uses the mythology established in the original film to launch a chilling new tale in the Blair Witch universe. Characters from Bloober Team’s Blair Witch video game are also incorporated. Knowledge of the video game or even the movie is not necessary for the experience, although those with a familiarity are rewarded with Easter eggs.
Upon opening the first of six boxes, I was immediately impressed by the attention to detail of the ARG-style world building. Armed with a blacklight pen, you’re employed by Rosemary Kent to investigate the disappearance of her 15-year-old son who went missing in the rural town of Burkittsville, Maryland. While local law enforcement is quick to write it off as a runaway, Rosemary believes the mystery may be linked to the legend of a witch that is said to haunt the local woods.
I found the perusal of the various paraphernalia Rosemary sends in each mailer — maps, police reports, historical records, handwritten notes, and the victim’s personal artifacts — to be the most engaging aspect of the game. The documents often reveal a cipher to help decode hidden messages. The heavy reliance on this format can border on tedium, but cracking the code is ultimately rewarding.
The self-guided game can be played individually or with a group. (If you’re rolling solo, I recommend amplifying the atmosphere with the eerie sounds of Adam Wingard’s Blair Witch soundtrack and Andy Fosberry’s Blair Witch-inspired Blair, Maryland.) Despite similarly structured gameplay, the boxes are increasingly challenging. Each one includes a QR code with recaps, hints, and solutions presented in an intuitive manner to provide assistance without spoiling the entire experience.
Hunt a Killer originally released the Blair Witch game through a monthly subscription, but the six-part first season has since been collected in a box set. The $150 price tag may seem a little steep, but each box provides at least an hour, sometimes two, of unique gameplay (give or take, largely dependent on the user’s reading comprehension and puzzle solving abilities) plus a bunch of neat tchotchkes.
The completion of each box yields an audio message from Rosemary setting up the next chapter, culminating with a finale as chilling as the original Blair Witch Project. True to the source material, some questions are left unanswered, with the ambiguity serving to amplify the creepiness. The mystery continues to unravel in a second season, also available as a box set.
I’ll continue to approach any new extension of the Blair Witch universe with cautious optimism, but I’d love to see an adaptation of Hunt a Killer’s game. Its inherently episodic format, intriguing mythology, and cryptic mystery could lend itself to a True Detective-esque event series. Either way, fans of the franchise will appreciate being immersed in the woods of Burkittsville and the sinister lore that surrounds it.
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