Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000)

How sad is this?

Absolutely the worst movie.

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

If you enjoyed the original Blair Witch Project and expect Book Of Shadows to follow relatively faithfully in its footsteps, you'll be in for a massive disappointment. Other than the opening 10 minutes or so with all the 'look what the first movie did to Burkittsville' stuff, the rest of the film might as well be a standard spooky horror yarn with nothing whatsoever to do with the Blair Witch lore. Go into it expecting a cheesy B-movie other than a Blair Witch sequel, then, and you may be pleasantly surprised by the bizarre and unexplained goings-on that... um, go on. Please stop making bad sequels like The Descent 2, Hostel 2 , Saw 2 and this one .

This follow-up to the ground-breaking film that introduced many of us to the Found Footage concept is a 'fictional re-enactment of events following the events of The Blair Witch Project.' It starts promisingly, with Burkittsville residents being irritated and financially bolstered by the notoriety their town has attracted. Some dialogue is rank, ("There are always naysayers who come here and say … nay.") and the characters are pretty unlikable and stereotypical (we are introduced to Kim (Kim Director) lying back on a grave, smoking, dressed all in black and daubed with heavy make-up – so she'll be a goth then). Erica (Erica Geerson) is a Wiccan and therefore sensitive to whatever 'curse' may or may not be out there. They seem to be a bit stoned and listen to rock music and might possibly have just stumbled off a catwalk. Text book, picturesque teens. A disappointing development after the realism displayed by Heather, Mikey and Josh from the original.This is a major flaw. Main character Jeffrey (Jeffrey Donovan) has a history of hospitalisation and is victimised by the local Sheriff (who seems to have strolled straight out of 'The Dukes of Hazzard'). And yet because of his uncharismatic, postured playing, it is impossible to sympathise with, or feel anything for him or his plight. Tristine (Tristine Ryler) is really the only sympathetic, or realistic character present … And yet, this sequel is undeserving of the critical drubbing it has received. It has some great unnerving moments: the stuttering doll-like creature Tristine sees in the hospital, the image of her drowning her dead, bloodied baby in a stagnant pond (would anyone who suffered a miscarriage during such an unnerving trip seriously then consider continuing with that trip?), the slow drifting into delirium … and the ending, where the group watch the recording they made of themselves and it contradicts their memory of events is a pretty neat way to wrap things up.The temptation could have been to produce another docu-drama, but events here are deliberately stylised in such a way, the audience is in no doubt it is watching a professional production.The locations are excellent and the whole production is very well shot, but I think 'Book of Shadows' is a (perceived) failure because while it is good, it isn't brilliant – and it needed to be brilliant to match the virtually insurmountable success of the first."She's a witch, maaan!"

Trying to recreate a tour of the original witch, a group of friends in the Burkittsille Woods experience a series of strange visions and encounters they can't explain and drive themselves to madness trying to piece the clues back together to understand what happened to them.This one was quite an improvement over the original and offered up a lot to like. This one works here when utilizing the potentially supernatural happenings to build its mystery about their night together, which gives this such a fine, chilling atmosphere here. The visions we get of their party are fun enough, but the next day aftermath is where it gets good with the shredded paper, the paranoia about their equipment and the realization that the bloodied dream really happened as depicted which really comes off rather well here. The later scenes here in the warehouse are even better as not only does the tape-viewing uncover a series of enjoyable parts as they're tormented in fine fashion with erotic dreams that result in nasty, brutal wounds on all involved, the strange crying or howling wails heard throughout the building, the flashes of ghost children throughout or the strange reactions to the videotapes where it shows the group performing completely foreign acts from Wiccan ceremonial rituals to carving themselves up or even performing nude strip-dances around the fire all comes off as perfectly chilling for what's attempted in that style of tormenting that occurs in here. Even the final half here where everything comes out in true form where what really happened is revealed, the fates of the group is given and the psychological tortures are far more impressive and chilling that really takes the mind-games and tormenting to another level of intensity throughout here. These here the positive points that do hold this one here is pretty much dependent on the mind- games throughout the later half here indeed makes it pretty chilling, but it's also rather confusing in that what happens isn't going on as we see it and makes it all untrustworthy and pointless as to why it should be watched. This one never makes it seem like there's a twist or anything happening with what they're doing, it simply goes around doing one thing and then switches it around with the videotape reveals at the end which shows what really happened. In the end that makes the whole thing pointless twisting it around as it does without any warning at making the previous antics redundant. The other fact against this one is the completely irresponsible storyline here about the cop and his harassment of the group which is quite full of overkilled moments and completely uncalled for storyline segment just to make its point. Otherwise, this one was quite fun.Rated R: Graphic Language, Violence and Nudity.

A film best described as an "interesting failure", this sequel didn't have me holding my hopes up very much - seeing as just about all reviewers gave it negative marks. In my mind, THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT was one of the scariest films I've ever seen, and any film following that is going to look bad in the process. So I kept my expectations extremely low and went to see this sequel on Halloween. It's a film that borderlines on genius and very nearly manages to be extremely scary, but loses all credibility with a cast of poor performers and some cheap shock tactics. Indeed it's easy to be alarmed by the "jump in your seat" shots of objects smashing through windows or instead be disgusted by some gruesome hallucinations our friends have - a woman rips a man's stomach open with her nails, another girl is seen to eat a dead bird - but the underlying themes in this film are the ones that make it interesting.Looking beyond the obvious shock/gore tactics, this film's main theme is that of perception - and whether we (the audience) or they (the people in the film) are truly seeing what's going on. Clever editing is used to build up to the chilling revelation and the ending was, for me, a very good one. Sadly the true horror of the situation is underplayed in favour of a high dosage of unwanted comic relief, poor acting and a whole slew of supposedly disturbing/horrific moments which actually turn out to be unintentionally funny.Whereas the first film established a back-to-roots documentary approach, this film in turn goes overboard with the exploitation tactics to appeal to a young audience. One character wanders around naked for much of the film while repeated clips of a bloody murder are shown throughout the film. The one interesting character in this film is the tour's guide, an ex-mental patient who finds his sanity breaking down as the film progresses. Played by Jeffrey Donovan, the acting is spot on and he turns in an excellent portrayal. It's just a shame that the others don't live up to his standards. The actress playing the pregnant woman is forced to do a lot of humiliating things and her acting skills are frequently laughable - of course this is not helped by inane dialogue like when she sprouts about dead children looking up her skirt. Her husband is not much better, being as he is a bland puppet, while the Wiccan character in this film I found to be extremely irritating. Finally, the actress playing the goth shows glimpses of a real talent, but for the most part she's simply obnoxious. And don't get me started on the intrusive music used at every opportunity.While it simply cannot live up to the first film, this is more interesting to watch than your typical mindless slasher or gorefest. The film is based around some real deep-seated fears of madness and chaos and with a better execution, I think this may have been as good as the original. Just enjoy all the general weirdness going on as the film messes with your head and let it suck you in. My favourite parts of this film were when the camera footage was being pieced together and revealing some pretty bizarre stuff. The shock ending is powerful too. As a follow-up, BOOK OF SHADOWS: BLAIR WITCH 2 sucks, but it almost stands on its own as a complex, partially successful piece of psychological horror.