Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2

Joe Berlinger set out to make a film with a different feel than what the studio twisted Book of Shadows into, but the end result is nothing to throw in the trash bin. I would love to experience a true Director's Cut and wonder if it would have been as memorable, because Book of Shadows, as it is, is a fun little flick that deserves better than some of the ratings it's garnered by those wanting more Blair Witch Project.

After Blair Witch how would it be possible to continue to suggest the possibility of real footage and lost documentary videos falling into the hands of a movie studio? Viewers have now latched onto found footage as a style, but at the time following the release of the first film the idea was simply seen as a gimmick to get people to pay to watch a movie with zero budget.

Book of Shadows is a great horror film, not quite as ambitious as the director set out to convey in his final cut, but tons of fun for horror fans. Turn off the lights, turn off your phone, enjoy the show.

Attracted by the film `The Blair Witch Project' hoards of film fans have been pouring into the small town of the film. One such group books onto a `Blair Witch Hunt' tour to camp in the woods and see the sights. When they awake the next morning to find their camera equipment smashed, 5 hours unaccounted for and their film hidden in the same spot as the film from the original movie they are unsure what happened. However as they replay the video tape they notice some very weird things.

Undeterred by bad reviews I decided to watch this film on television the other night. Initially I was impressed by the idea, instead of following the original movie, the sequel twists the idea of the original as a documentary and presents it as a film but then uses the film to present another story that is `in the real world'. Conceptually this was quite clever and I was drawn in by it. Sadly this didn't last very long and it wasn't long before it became quite an ordinary film that wasn't creepy in any way and was actually quite dull.

The plot is interesting – interesting enough to keep me watching anyway. The twists are the end are meant to be horrifying and perhaps surprising but by then all they got out of me was an `oh' of vague interest. For most of the film it is noisy chat and fake surprises and creepy goings-on. They didn't work as the film felt very trashy and uninvolving. The gore and flashed edits of violence were supposed to keep us guessing I think but they only served to numb me to the film, as did the occasional dream/fantasy sequence. It was a shame as it was a clever idea and had some good bits in it but the delivery let it down.

The direction is very plain and doesn't manage to build an air of suspense anywhere near as well as in the original, resulting in a rather boring series of scenes punctuated by `scares' that don't work. The cast don't really help either, they don't come across as real people and it is hard to care for such as self important group of people who are walking stereotypes – the goth, the witch, the college boy etc. At least in the original we got to see them break down and become more afraid during the film – here they could be the cast from any teen horror movie.

As you may have guessed I'm not a big fan of teen slasher movies but Blair Witch was much more than that and traded on atmosphere – that was it's strength. By throwing in gore from the very start and having tonnes of little imagined scenes of horror, Book of Shadows loses that strength and becomes a movie that lives and dies on it's ability to scare. Sadly the originally good idea doesn't scare and remains `interesting' and nothing more. It is a shame that they had to make this film as it won't satisfy those who like their horror creepy or those who like it bloody.

Wow, I really don't get all the bad reviews. It's not a blockbuster movie or is it anything like the original Blair Witch Project. It's more like playing off of it with a set storyline about a group so fascinated and intrigued by the original Blair Witch movie, they all decide to go search for it. That is until they find something worse than the Blair Witch.

The twist to the story is unexpected and the acting is pretty tolerable for a movie like this. As a matter of fact, i'd say the acting is pretty damn good for a horror movie.

This movie is one of my favorite movies to watch during Halloween. I saw it when it first came out and was surprised how good it actually was.

People expecting to see some top notch production, direction, acting, plot, storyline, etc is going to be let down big time because that it is not. It's a simple horror movie playing off another that was hyped up with it's own story. That's it.

Just go in with no expectations and intentions to enjoy a horror movie. You will enjoy it.

The first Blair Witch was both a phenomenon commercially and creatively. Book of Shadows had the same potential, but was ultimately was let down by its high aspirations. The director could not decide if he wanted to make a straight documentary or a straight movie. In my eyes, the combination of the two cost this movie. The choppy editing had a huge factor in this as well. If only the first hour had been as carefully assembled as the last half hour, this would have been a true masterpiece. All in all this is not a super bad movie and is worth a viewing - just not multiple times. Bottom line: Good story, poor execution. My score: 4/10!

I loved the blair witch project and would have much rather they make a sequel that continued with the original story then made a sequel like this.

I liked this movie but it would have been a lot better had it been by itself and not part of the Blair Witch Project original movie. The plot was a bit hard to follow but I managed.

It was almost nothing like the original but I found it scary and a reasonable movie.