Sebastian Mann

At long last, Louis Theroux has finally tackled the controversial Church of Scientology. Or, at least, he has attempted to.

My Scientology Movie is not a conventional documentary about Scientology, that much is certain. Louis begins his first feature-length documentary by outlining his failures in trying to get an audience with the Church itself. It comes as no surprise that they don’t take to journalists too kindly.

But Theroux isn’t deterred. By employing the help of various ex-Scientologists, Theroux and his team set out to cast actors to fill the roles of high-ranking members, such as leader David Miscavige, as well actor Tom Cruise.

We are then given a simulated insight into the inner workings of the Church, including a recreation of a violent outburst from Miscavige himself over keeping members in line. The Church, naturally, has denied this ever happening.

It may sound an odd premise for a documentary, focusing on simulated events, but when it comes to the infamous Church, it would appear that this is the closest any journalist will get to ever learning what truly goes on.

The Church is shrouded as much in mystery as it is controversy, and this ties in with the biggest criticism of Theroux’s documentary. It never provides a proper foundation of what Scientology is. Viewers with no former knowledge of the topic may leave still feeling a little confused.

Theroux does his best to explain things as they go along, such as the bizarre ranking system that dictates how close members are to achieving true enlightenment, as well as how much left they have to pay – which in most cases is far north of two-million dollars – as well as its equally peculiar beginnings with science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard and life under the hard line Miscavige.

Theroux’s work is best viewed as a companion piece, instead of a definitive understanding. It may not provide the best window into Scientology, but it gradually reveals that the Church does indeed have a terrifyingly sinister side.

Theroux and his team of film-makers are repeatedly harassed by members of the Church. They begin to realise they might be the focus of private investigators, and are specifically targeted by letters from solicitors as well as members of the Church themselves in attempts to disrupt the documentary.

Pre-existing fans of Theroux will find enjoyment in his latest piece. There are classic Louis moments, where he asks hard-hitting questions with a deadpan expression whilst never failing to have a genuinely thoughtful response to both questions and insults alike.

My Scientology Movie is a great piece of investigative journalism. Whilst the bulk of the documentary focuses on casting the actors and learning about who they’re portraying through first-hand accounts of equally infamous figures, such as mafia-like ‘enforcer’ Marty Rathbun, Theroux is at his Teflon-like best, confronting current Scientologists, including a genuinely dangerous member of ‘Sea Org,’ an organisation who closer resemble a Stalinist paramilitary group than an off-branch of a religious establishment.

Theroux may not really explain what Scientology is, but he, quite damningly, unveils a glimpse of what may lie under the surface.

My Scientology Movie rating: 7/10

In 1999, The Blair Witch Project changed the face of not only horror, but cinema itself. Whilst not being the first of its kind, it essentially gave birth to a new sub-genre: “found footage”. As the genre has now steadily decreased in quality as well as popularity over the years, it feels apt that we return to its roots.

Adam Wingard’s Blair Witch is both a reimagining and a sequel to the original. It focuses on the brother of prior protagonist Heather, James (James McCune), who sets out to make a documentary that will take us back into the Black Hills Woods to find out what became of his sister.

Extensive searches by police and officials have found no evidence to suggest that a house like the one captured in the original bone-chilling footage exists. The existence of the Blair Witch is once again regarded as nothing more than an eerie local legend.

Horror master H. P. Lovecraft once remarked that it is fear that is mankind’s “strongest emotion”. The strongest of fears is that of the unknown.

It is this fear that makes Blair Witch tick for the most part. It accurately captures the minimalist terror that accompanies the sight of crudely constructed wooden stick figures suspended from trees, and in places has an almost palpable atmosphere of paranoiac dread.

But, in truth, the best way to summarise Blair Witch would be to describe it as the original, but bigger.

It may be a clear reimagining, but at times it feels closer to a beat-for-beat remake more than anything as ambitious or noteworthy as the original.

Every aspect of the original has at least been built on in some way: the film doesn’t focus on a trio, but a group of six; there is not one hand-held camcorder, but several, including GoPro-like POV cameras attached to character’s ears, as well as an aerial drone.

The film’s undoing, however, is that bigger doesn’t always mean better.
Blair Witch boasts a cast twice the size of the original’s, but it feels weighed down by too much going on. Gone is the intimate character study aspect of the original.

Fortunately, the acting across the board is convincing and believable. However, the situations they end up in feel far too scripted and thus lack the realistic atmosphere that made the original just that bit creepier.

The further the film gets from reality, the less scary it becomes. We’ve seen tents rustled in the night, but here they fly up into the sky, before coming crashing down louder, and with more impact than a head-on collision on a motorway.

Worst of all, we see that which should remain unseen. The integrity of the film is undercut; what made the original so effective is debased in favour of a disappointingly cheap jump scare.

In the end, all it comes down to is this: is Blair Witch an effective horror?

It is. It may not be close to the original, nor a renaissance for found footage films, but it more than does the job.

Blair Witch Rating: 6/10