Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2

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I’m just going start this off by saying that I’m not exactly the biggest fan of the Blair Witch franchise to begin with. I think the first one is overrated, and not deserving of the hype that was built around it. I did think the third (and most recent one) was pretty solid, despite it’s flaws. That brings us to Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, the movie in the franchise I hadn’t seen up until this point. The film follows a tour group after the success of the original Blair Witch Project film. Along the way, something starts messing with their heads. I guess the best place to start would be looking at the film’s direction. It’s not very good, though that may not necessarily be director Joe Berlinger’s fault. The man went on record to say that his original vision for the film was supposed to comment on mass hysteria and deal with a more meta tone. Glimpses of the original idea seem to be there, but far less well thought out. Now, I can’t speak to exactly how true this actually is, but I thought it was worth noting, especially because of just how much the movie jumps around, making this incredibly confusing when you watch the film. It also wouldn’t surprise me if it was true—especially thinking about the final product that we were given, but I’ll speak on that later. At this point, I think it would be  important to discuss the film’s editing, especially as it heavily ties into the film’s direction, and feels like the logical next step. As I said, the film really moves around, and is incredibly confusing. The film jumps around in its timeline a lot. I’m not criticizing the film for being nonlinear (The Usual Suspects, Pulp Fiction, and Memento are some of my favorite movies). It just feels more like the filmmakers didn’t know what should be left to the imagination, and what should be spelled out. Every time the movie tries shifting around in the timeline, it feels jarring. Remember how I said I wanted to touch on the film’s backstory more. Well, it’s the film’s story (and overall writing) that makes me wonder if Berlinger’s side of the story actually has some truth to it. The script makes little to no sense, and feels incredibly hackneyed. This also feels true of the film’s editing. The film tries to throw twists and turns in there, but they never feel earned (mostly because the film just sucks). If there is one thing about this movie I don’t utterly hate, it’s honestly the acting. OK, it’s not exactly going to win any awards, but it isn’t horrible. Unfortunately, the actual characters themselves fucking suck. They have little to no development, and leave absolutely no impact. There were legitimately points where I would forget who they after they disappeared for five minutes. Yeah, think about that. But, this film’s biggest sin is that it isn’t even remotely scary. The whole thing is dull and plodding. I reached a moment where I shook my head because I though I was further into the movie, but I was only 20 minutes in. I honestly don’t even know if the film was trying to be scary ( if it was, it really did a bang up job at it). Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 has built up a reputation over the years as one of the worst horror movies—and sequels of all time. Having seen the film for myself, I can easily see why. There’s little to nothing about Book of Shadows that actually works. It tries throwing everything at the screen (expect the book of shadows) and hardly any of it sticks. 

0 / 10