Book of Shadows - Blair Witch 2

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Average Customer Rating:	3.0
Release Date:	2001-09-18
Publisher:	Lions Gate
Actors:	Jeffrey Donovan; Stephen Barker Turner; Erica Leerhsen; Kim Director; Tristine Skyler
Aspect ratio:	1.85:1
Audience rating:	R (Restricted)
Format:	Color; Dolby; DVD; Widescreen; NTSC
Language:	Original Language: English; Original Language: German;
Writer	Joe Berlinger; Daniel Myrick; Dick Beebe; Eduardo Snchez
Weight:	0.3 pounds

Product Categories

Loder, Kurt; Skyler, Tristine; All Lionsgate Titles; ( B ); American Film Institute Series; Movies & TV on DVD and Blu-ray Disc Trade-In; Amazon.com Movies & TV: Special Feature 9; DVD; Widescreen; R; US & CA DVDs: Region 1; 2000 & Newer; English; DVD

Product description

No Description Available.
Genre: Horror
Rating: R
Release Date: 17-AUG-2004
Media Type: DVD

This thoroughly second-rate follow-up to the groundbreaking (and highly profitable) horror flick The Blair Witch Project--produced by Blair Witch directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez--plays with the notions of reality and fantasy that surrounded the hype of the original movie, and attempts to throw in some scares along the way. A year after the release of the original film, a group of five Blair Witch aficionados--four out-of-towners led by one seriously unhinged "tour guide"--venture into the woods outside Burkittsville, Maryland, on a tour of the sites made famous by missing documentarians Heather, Mike, and Josh. After a drunken night of camping out in hopes of communing with the spirit of the Blair Witch, the five wake up to find that their seemingly innocent sleep may have been disturbed somehow. But what exactly happened? If you're expecting suspense of the first degree and a horrifying payoff similar to the one that climaxed the first film, you'll be sorely disappointed. After retreating to an old, run-down broom factory (get it? Broom factory? Blair Witch? Oh well...), the five go over their videotapes of the night in question to get some answers, and basically wind up screaming at each other for the remainder of the film, and shedding some blood along the way. Documentary filmmaker Joe Berlinger (of the highly acclaimed Paradise Lost and Brother's Keeper) proves that he should definitely stick to nonfiction filmmaking, and the entire cast is grating and unpleasant, aside from a scene-stealing turn by Kim Director as a goth chick with attitude to burn and a no-nonsense approach to this Blair Witch stuff. Strictly for hard-core Blair Witch fans only, and even then this sequel may prove to disappoint. --Mark Englehart

Customer reviews

« "You're not making a believer out of me!" »

"The Blair Witch Project" owes a lot to its manipulative marketing scam (a scam that sadly worked due to the lack of Wikipedia in the early internet age), and while it is very overrated in retrospect, it does have certain merits. It had good atmosphere with natural sounds, it relied on what it doesn't show the audience to scare them, and it was nice touch that each camera are shot differently due to color and contrast; for better or worse, the faux-shockumentary had verisimilitude. Bad news comes to play when the people who were not involved in the first movie and made a sequel that went completely in the wrong direction. "Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2" is a mockery existence to the overall premise.

Fairly enough, this sequel was off to a interesting start. It showed a montage of actual clips based on MTV, late night shows, and critics praising about the first project, and afterwards showed a town that the film was apparently shot in that's backing in its success, with the locals chatting about how much attention they had. As fake as the latter may be, the sequel could've worked from that: a faux-documentary displaying the aftermath of "Blair Witch Project" and the people's doubts of its authenticity until similarly strange occurrences happen to some of them; it would maintain its verisimilitude to a somewhat-creative direction. But instead, it ignored all of its prior elements to make a boilerplate theatrical reenactment; aka 'based on real events', the same purported schlock that "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" pulled.

The 'real' story was about a gang on a road trip to see the site of the Blair Witch, the leader being that guy from "Burn Notice". The fool around at the site, making jokes, doing what stereotypes in horror films usually do when nothing scary happens and this is a mix of the '90s variety: the goth chick, the punk rebel, the concerned girl, the serious guy, and the Wiccan in lieu of the token black character but she follows the same pattern ("it's because I'm a Wiccan, right?"); the only thing is missing is the jock. All's well and stupid during a drug/alcohol binge, until the next day weird stuff and mysterious forces are messing with their heads.

Right then and there, the sequel followed the post-"Scream", pre-remake attitude of horror (and none of them were good): frequent heavy metal/hardcore punk songs blasting on the soundtrack, edgy brooding emos and goths, and characters referencing existing movies and calling out on the fakeness of their situations. "Book of Shadows" follows the typical formula to an incongruous degree, given that it demanded authenticity. Actually, it didn't even follow the typical scare factors, the film relied heavily on psychological torture like abrasive violent clips that pop up on occasion. The effect was interesting at first, but it's used so much that it got old; I don't even see the point of those outside of tomfoolery. There's too little action to have any genuine scares, and it's too random and show-offy for it to be effective psychological horror; it didn't work on both sides.

I was annoyed at how irrational the cast are, and how vague and undermined the story is (why is the goth chick clairvoyant and how come certain 'live footages' have cuts to certain angles?); for all I know that's happening in this movie, the drugs and alcohol they used drove them crazy. Since the term "Book of Shadows" is more of a marketing subject since it was never mentioned in the film, and it's connections to the Blair Witch happened in intervals so the sequel is largely self-contained, the movie might as well be called "Generic Late '90s Horror no.10-10-321". There's no purpose to be had in itself, except to perverse.

Rating: (2 out of 5) @ 2010-07-01

« pretty good »

i'm gonna have to say that this is alot better than the first one. the acting is better and it's not made like a documenaty. if you have not seen it then you should

Rating: (5 out of 5) @ 2010-05-20

« at least it tried to be something new... »

4.8 THE FILM ITSELF
7.8 VISUALS
8.5 SOUND
7.0 PACKAGING
4.0 EXTRAS

What can I possibly say about Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 that hasn't already been said? Probably nothing, so I'll keep to short review that tracks the ENTIRE product.

The film itself isn't very good. Good potential, but badly put together. Nothing like the first film, and while I'm very thankful they didn't just rehash the story, this story is terribly clumsy. None of the characters are enjoyable and you don't feel bad for any of them. But at least the film starts off well. The film opens with another "true story" about the town and the legend, but this one is true! It's an interesting beginning that shows the hype and chaos over art passed as truth. I liked this alot, but the movie quickly loses its luster.

The scares aren't very scary, the drama isn't really present and the psychological terror only slightly shows itself off as something done right. Maybe if this wasn't a sequel to (what I believe) is a fantastic documentary / horror movie, it would've scored higher. But it didn't. A letdown to say the least.

The special features are extremely disappointing - minus the exceptional director commentary. The commentary adds great insight into production of the film and Joe Berlinger's fight with the studio over how the movie ended up being pieces together. It's great to hear him talk about how much he hates the version that has been released, especially because his name is still attached. Even though it is just one man in the commentary, he always has something to say and offers alot of great details about the making of the film.

The rest of the special features are short bursts of wasted time. "The Secrets of Esrever" is a three minute blob of cliches as you figure out 'clues' placed in the movie. Nothing more than that. The rest (aside from some music audio with commentary for some scenes) is mundane reading in the forms of production notes and cast and crew notes. The DVD claims that you can flip the disc and listen to the entire soundtrack, but that's not true anymore. The disc cannot be played this way because it is not a double sided disc anymore. I guess it's too much work to redo the cover... but it is a pretty bad film so I understand why they didn't.

If you're a fan of horror movies or collect the films (like I do) then you might find some solace in this film. Or maybe you just want to have the sequel to a terrificly haunting beginning (The Blair Witch Project), but for everyone else, avoid. Nothing memorable here, nothing that stands out. Fell well below my already low expectations. I curiously wait for a director's cut, which sounds much better than this mess.

4.5/10 "POOR"

Rating: (2 out of 5) @ 2009-11-05

« very underrated judging by the critical reaction »

I just watched this movie for like the 3rd or 4th time. I remember renting it after it came out, since I had liked the first, and I wasn't impressed. But then I bought the first and second a little while ago, and in watching it again, I found that it really grew on me, and for some reason actually scared me more the second or third time. I just watched it again, and was still scared. I don't understand the harsh criticism, I will say that the movie has only okay acting really, apart for a few scenes, but it is still pretty adequate. There are a few things that may make you want to immediately turn it off though, like how the people act and talk, and especially that sheriff, who for some reason seems pleased that the horrible things happen at the end. Although I just read that the movie company re-edited the movie, so that may be why it is so poorly received, im not sure. Some of the editing is oddly sequenced. However, definitely give it a chance, and when you watch it again you will pick up what those quick creepy edits are throughout the movie. I definitely think it is a good creepy, psychologically scary movie, although much different than the original. If the director had his way maybe it would have been 10 times better too. Even if you hate the movie, the plot and concept are still pretty original, you have to admit.

Rating: (5 out of 5) @ 2009-11-01

« underrated movie »

book of shadows is not as bad as people make it out to be. the problem was everyone expected another blair witch project. lost in the woods, creepy sounds, stick figures, children attacking tents. instead what you get is a wicca/black magic film about a group of fans of bw1 taking a tour through the woods hoping to get a glimpse of the blair witch herself, who after a night in the woods they cant remember spend the rest of there time at the tour guides home. thats all i can say cause anymore and ill will ruin some of the plot and the ending. all you need to know really is while its not the blair witch project 1 it can stand on its own as a good movie.

Rating: (4 out of 5) @ 2009-10-18

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