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Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 film review
BOOK OF SHADOWS: BLAIR WITCH 2
Running time: 90 mins
Starring: Kim Director, Jeffrey Donovan, Erica Leehrsen, Tristen Skyler, Stephen Barker Turner
The Blair Witch Project was the right film in the right place at the right time. A low budget faux documentary which ruthlessly exploited the public's hunger for reality-based entertainment and the supernatural. Book Of Shadows, the inevitable sequel, returns to the ominous Black Hills of Maryland in November 1999.The Blair Witch Project has become a worldwide media sensation and hundreds of curiosity-seekers have descended upon the once peaceful town of Burkittsville - the movie's real life setting.
One of the town's more colourful characters, Jeff (Donovan), a former mental patient with a keen interest in the legend, has turned the public's obsession into a lucrative business, running the Blair Witch Hunt tours.
For his inaugural trip, he is accompanied by an eclectic mix of fans andeccentrics: Erica (Leerhsen), a practising Wiccan who is critical of the film's portrayal of witches, Kim (Director), a sardonic Goth with the power of clairvoyance, and grad students Tristen (Skyler) and Stephen (Turner), who are writing a book on the legend.
After spending a disorienting night in the woods, the group awakes to ascene of destruction with no memory of the previous night's activities. With the help of videotape evidence, intended to capture any paranormal activity while they slept, the group attempts to piece together the missing hours, discovering chilling evidence that they may have been possessed by evil spirits and compelled to murder another group of thrill-seekers.
Documentary director Joe Berlinger abandons the cinema verite camerawork which was a key factor in the first film's success, and shoots Book Of Shadows on conventional 35mm in an effort to evoke classic, mainstream horror movies.
He enhances the atmosphere of unease with sparing use of mixed media such as digital video, 16mm and computer effects (particularly in the scenes of the group looking through the videotape evidence), but the film essentially conforms to stylistic expectations. It's goodbye to motion sickness induced by shaky-cam.
The majority of the action takes place in Jeff's urban-style loft building, where the five characters are plagued by terrifying hallucinations. Theintention is to question whether these people are the latest victims of the evil residing in the Black Hills, or merely susceptible to the mass hysteria seeded by the media.
Unfortunately, a complete lack of tension and shocks, some rather glaring over-acting and a disjointed screenplay preclude any suspension of disbelief. Book Of Shadows isn't remotely scary.
The first film expertly portrayed the devolving psychological state of its central characters and made their fate seem inevitable. In Book Of Shadows, too much is left unsaid. We know very little about any of the central players (excepting Jeff's brief spell in a padded cell) which makes it very difficult to care about their fates as they battle against invisible forces in the woods. Their fear and emotions seem false.
The ending is intentionally ambiguous presumably as a talking point for the pub or journey back home. Viewers will be more concerned, I suspect, with how far the sequel falls short of the hype.
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