The Long Review:
After being successfully creeped out by the highly anticipated Blair Witch Project, I was ready for Blair Witch 2 : Book of Shadows. Always the optimist, I walked into the theatre with popcorn in one hand and a crude stick formation in the other…you know to get with the programme and all. I then proceeded to sit down and patiently wait to have the wits scared out of me. I waited…and waited…
The movie takes place in the now famed town of Burkitsville, Maryland, with local troublemaker Jeff Patterson leading a Motley Crew of Blair Witch fans through a tour of the Blair Witch's old stomping grounds. Objective - stay up partying all night, set up several cameras, and wait to capture some paranormal activity. Sounds harmless enough, doesn't it? After a night of drinking, trash talking, and 5 hours of unplanned sleep, the group wakes up to find that things have gone terribly awry. (They discover that they've all had sex with one another. Not! Just kidding. They discover that they've all had sex with the Blair Witch. Not! Kidding about that, too. Okay, seriously, they do wake up and find that something's really wrong. -ed.) So they retreat back to Jeff's pad to view some of the taped footage from the night before, not aware of their unexpected guest - the curse of the Blair Witch. What ensues soon after are two days of arguing, strange activity and group hallucinations.
I thought I was hallucinating during some scenes as I winced from the high unbelievability factor during some of the dialogue delivery. As not to place absolute blame on the actors, I am forced to suggest that the director Joe Berlinger needs to extend his vocabulary by a few words i.e. "Take two" or "Great, but let's try that one more time". Instead of the Book of Shadows, I think that Joe should have cracked the spine on a book of directing. (Ouch! The truth hurts! -ed)
The majority of my disappointment from this movie stems from the fact that it simply was not scary. However, thanks to some timely cut-ins and flashbacks coupled with appropriate sound effects, it did contain a genuinely creepy feel. This overall feel was compounded by some daring camera angles and film speed variances. Another saving grace for this twisted tale was the fact that it contained some very funny scenes. Kudos go out to a sparsely presented but exceptionally funny performance by the local Burkitsville Sheriff whose Southern drawl and loud overbearing demeanor provided some comic relief in just the right places.
In a nutshell, if it's scares you're looking for, save yourself the twelve dollars, and just head straight to Aunt Selma's house when it's time for the bi-annual leg shave.
Resting in the shadows of a cleverly original marketing ploy that was The Blair Witch Project, not even a fresh brew of cat's paws, spider legs, and eye of newt could have saved this film from its pre-determined fate of mediocrity.
Z-Man
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