Not all horror movies, even those that were both a critical and commercial success, need or deserve a sequel. Don’t believe me? Well Book Of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 has been made to prove that point.
Book Of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 picks up the story of a group of people that are following the fictional story of the original Blair Witch. They hike off into the hills of Burkittsville MD to see the areas that were explored in the first movie. They spend one night at “the foundation”. Earlier in the night everyone is drinking, smoking out and having a good time. A rival “tour group” shows up looking to do the same thing they are and a fight is narrowly missed by sending group 2 off to “coffin rock”. The first group plans to party all night and then proceeds to pass out.
First thing the next morning the group discovers that everything has gone horribly wrong. Cameras are smashed, years of “research” is destroyed and none of them can remember what happened. That is, until they discover the tapes from the broken cameras cleverly hidden in the exact spot where the tapes were found from the first movie. The tour leader then takes the group, as well as the tapes, back to his place to look them over. What they find on the tapes is (meant to be) disturbing and tells a story none of them can believe.
Book Of Shadows was made to capitalize on the hype surrounding the original movie. Truth be told, I think the original Blair Witch may have been the last time I was actually “scared” during a horror movie. It was completely original and done in such a way that it totally caught me off guard. I love it. Shadows, however, attempts to recreate that same feel but never successfully does so. Many of the movies scenes were done with the same “shaky cam” footage, but none of them felt real. The acting is some of the worst I have seen in a big budget horror movie.
While I liked what the film makers were attempting to do with some of the more psychological scenes, they are all flat and evoke no emotion what so ever. Making a movie like the original is not something that is easily reproduced. Also, I was never really sure what the characters believed. The original Blair Witch was portrayed as a documentary that went horribly wrong and the footage found was the result. Book Of Shadows talks about The Blair Witch Project, but never makes it clear if the characters know it was fake or if they live under the delusion that it was all completely real. The few notable actors in the film are the main character “Jeffrey Patterson” played by Burn Notice’s own Jeffrey Donovan, and the Sheriff Cravens played by little known actor Lanny Flahtery. The sheriff is notable for being one of the most over acted characters in the movie. Obviously Donovan went on to do a success full television show, but the real mystery is where is Flahtery? The world may never know. (Actually that’s not true at all, he has been a pretty prolific character actor for years.)
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