Blair Witch

Plot

In 2014, James Donahue finds a video on YouTube containing an image of a woman he believes to be his sister Heather, who disappeared in 1994 near Burkittsville, Maryland while investigating the legend of the Blair Witch. Believing she is still alive, he heads into the woods, accompanied by his friend Peter Jones, Peter's girlfriend Ashley Bennett, and film student Lisa Arlington, who wants to film James' search as a documentary, The Absence of Closure.^[11][12] Locals Talia and Lane, who found and uploaded the video, join them.

While walking through the woods and upon setting up camp for the night, Lane and Talia discuss the disappearance of Heather and her film crew, the 1940-41 murders by Rustin Parr, and other mysterious occurrences, which they ascribe to the Blair Witch. They hear noises during the night, then awaken at 2 p.m. to find strange stick figures hanging from the trees. When Lisa notices twine in Lane's backpack, he and Talia admit to creating the figures in order to convince the group to believe, but also point out that there is no explanation for the strange noises during the night and sleeping through the day. James and his friends banish Lane and Talia from the group and head out of the woods.

After hours of walking, the four surprisingly arrive back at their original campsite. Lisa pilots a drone to obtain their location, but it malfunctions. Ashley becomes sick due to a wound on her foot, forcing the group to camp again. When Peter inspects Ashley's wounded foot, he notices what he thinks may be a parasite inside the wound. Peter leaves the camp for firewood, and is chased by an unknown entity; a tree falls on him, then he disappears.

Lane and Talia appear in the night, claiming they have been wandering for five days without a sunrise. Lane believes the camp is a hallucination and runs off, leaving the disheveled and ravenously hungry Talia. The next morning, James and Lisa are stunned to find that it is still dark outside at 7am and discover larger stick figures. Talia sees clumps of her hair tied to one of the figures. Ashley accuses Talia of crafting them and snaps the figure with Talia's hair in half; Talia herself is then snapped in half. An unseen force lifts their tent and the group is separated. Ashley finds the drone and climbs a tree to recover it, but is knocked out and falls from the tree, the unknown entity dragging her away.

A rainstorm ensues as Lisa and James stumble across Rustin Parr's house, which James had previously stated to have been burned down after his execution. James hears someone he thinks is Heather scream upstairs, enters the house and sees Peter standing in the corner. He chases after the figure he believes to be Heather, confronted by a teleporting disheveled figure;^[b] upon its vanishing he barricades himself.

Lisa spots a tall, pale, long-limbed creature moving through the trees, and she runs into the house's basement. She finds a hostile Lane who traps her in a tunnel, saying, “you have to do what she tells you.” She crawls through the tunnel to a different part of the house, where she stabs and kills Lane when he attacks her. Lisa flees when the long-limbed creature emerges from the tunnel and chases her through the house. Lisa runs up to the attic with Lane's camcorder, creating the paradox video that lured them all to the woods.^[c]

She reunites with James in the attic and they try to barricade the door. A bright light shines from outside the building. James tells Lisa to face the corner of the room and desperately apologizes to her before something enters the room. James is tricked into turning around, believing that he hears Heather's voice, and vanishes from sight. Lisa uses Lane's camcorder to view what is behind her and begins walking backward. However, hearing James' apology again, she turns and vanishes, with a flash of a yellowed arm, before her camera falls to the ground. After a few moments, the camera gives out.