_Book_of_Shadows:_Blair_Witch_2_ (R) no stars (out of ****)
Much like how _The_Exorcist_ begat _Exorcist_II:_The_Heretic_, last year's shock success _The_Blair_Witch_Project_ has spawned a baffling and altogether atrocious follow-up, _Book_of_Shadows:_Blair_Witch_2_. Less a sequel than an extremely loose spinoff--which has just about nothing to do with either part of its title, I might add--this film won't win over the original's many detractors, and it is certain to incense the first's cult of ardent supporters.
Director Joe Berlinger has described _Book_of_Shadows_ as an "anti-sequel," and the premise he and writing collaborator Dick Beebe (_BWP_ writers-directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez only take an executive producing credit here) does hold some potential for an interesting deconstruction of not merely the first _Blair_Witch_, but the pop culture phenomenon it created. _BW2_ doesn't take place in the same "universe" inhabited by the original's characters of Heather, Mike, and Josh; it takes place in the world of the here and now--that is, a world where _The_Blair_Witch_Project_ is a blockbuster movie that has sent tourism soaring in the filming location of Burkittsville, Maryland. The film opens with a witty faux-documentary segment that succinctly covers the media frenzy around the film and fans' obsession with all things Blair.
Once the nominal plot kicks in after the credit roll, _BW2_ begins is big downhill plunge. Among the many _BWP_ fans who have flocked to those familiar woods is the "Blair Witch Hunt" tour group: Jeff (Jeffrey Donovan), the tour organizer and former mental patient; Erica (Erica Leerhsen), a practicing Wiccan who wants debunk the negative perception of her religion; Stephen (Stephen Barker Turner), a supernatural skeptic who is writing a book on the Blair Witch myth with his pregnant believer girlfriend Tristen (Tristen Skyler); and Kim (Kim Director), token Goth chick. They set up camp at the ruins of the house featured in _BWP_'s finale, and after a night of hard drinking, everyone wakes up the next morning to find all their video equipment destroyed--and their memory similarly damaged; no one has any recollection of all that went on that night, let alone falling asleep. Perhaps holding the answers are their mysteriously untouched videotapes, and the five retreat to Jeff's abandoned warehouse home to study them.
Given that _The_Blair_Witch_Project_'s ambiguous, debatable ending was a major reason for the film's cult status, it was perhaps a wise move on the part of Berlinger and Beebe to not offer any explanation about what exactly happened. I don't think anyone goes into _Book_of_Shadows_ expecting to find any specific answers about the first film's doomed trio, anyway; however, I'm sure the common expectation is for some additional background on the Blair Witch. Alas, what the audience gets is a repetitive and incredibly tedious chain of events where the five have strange hallucinations when not watching playback of their videotapes. A few oblique references are made to the Blair Witch legend, but they will be largely incomprehensible to anyone who hasn't done extensive pre-viewing research at the Blair Witch website. Unlike the original film, where the expanded backstory works as an enhancement to a stand-alone film, it's practically required reading if one wants to make sense of whatever place _BW2_ has in the larger mythology--though even Blair Witch fanatics may have difficulty sorting it all out as well.
But ties to the bigger Blair Witch picture are secondary to the casual viewer, who simply wants to be scared. Not only is there anything remotely spooky to be found in _Book_of_Shadows_, no sense of suspense is ever generated due to a self-defeating storytelling choice: flash forwards. In haphazardly jumping back and forth in time, Berlinger indiscreetly gives away who exactly will survive and who will die, not to mention the exact fate of these survivors; throughout the film he even drops not-so-subtle hints--visual ones, no less--of what went down during those missing hours. With all its secrets and would-be shocks more than telegraphed far in advance, there is a dull inevitability attached to what should have been the film's "climactic" moments.
So, for most of _Book_of_Shadows_, one wonders what Berlinger's intentions were, he clearly didn't set out to make the simple scary movie everyone wants and expects. The answer finally comes in the film's final moments, which indeed reveals an aim "above" standard genre satisfaction: to address the zeitgeist question of popular entertainment's connection to real-life crime. It's an admirable goal within the context of a horror film, but there's a fine line between "ambitious" and "pretentious." By not offering anything fresh nor particularly insightful on the subject, and without going about it in an entertaining nor convincing way (the abysmal acting--or, rather, yelling--sends any foundation in reality out the window), Berlinger and his empty _Book_of_Shadows_ end up on the wrong side of that line.
©2000 Michael Dequina
Michael Dequina twotrey@juno.com | jordan_host@sportsmail.com | mrbrown@iname.com Mr. Brown's Movie Site: http://www.mrbrownmovies.com CinemaReview Magazine: http://www.CinemaReview.com on ICQ: #25289934 | on AOL Instant Messenger: MrBrown23
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