Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #78506 in VHS
• Released on: 2001-02-20
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Original language: English, German
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 99 minutes

Customer Reviews

Good idea but Poor execution
When I first heard about about a Blair Witch sequel, I thought why? Here was this little indy movie, that made a ton of cash, was the water-cooler talk for the better part of a year, and was a truly unique film. Why try to top, or equal that? Of course, Hollywood saw a possible cash cow and a big studio jumped in and tainted the Blair Witch name. Now, I have to give the sequel credit in that it didn't just throw another group of kids into the woods and rehash the story from part one. The idea of Book of Shadows is actually a neat idea, but the execution of that idea was horrible. First of all, we are presented with such an annoying group of people to follow in Book of Shadows, I am immediately ready for the killing to begin. Seriously, I was praying Jason would come stumbling out of the woods with his hockey mask and machete to hasten the demise of this cast of characters that no one could relate to. The special effects get ramped up right along with the volume of the soundtrack, and I guess the producer hoped you wouldn't notice the bad acting and lack of story?? I see this movie is listed at under $2 used here on Amazon......Is it worth it? Not really, if you are like me and enjoy watching crappy movies now and again (Texas Chainsaw Massacre The Next Generation anyone?) then pick it up, but be warned...this could be one of those movies where in six months you may ask yourself "Was it really that bad?", pull it out to see and doom yourself to another wasted evening!!

Underated Sequal

First saw this having low low expectations (a feeling warrented, and im sure shared among horror fans when the announcement was made to make a sequal to one of the most NON-sequal friendly movies EVER). Within the first ten minutes I had my foolish expectations thrown in my face as the hellride began (no hyperbole needed, the film has a very fast moving, w/ a paranoid feel to it).

A great psychological film, with a thick but respectable "figure-it-out-yourself" aspect, that lended hand to the film rather than using it as an escape. It compliments the first film well, and without using it as a crutch presents the next logical step in evolution (rather then the usual redundant sequal).

The problem of how to resolve a reality based first person perspective film/pseudo-documentary and parley it into a real movie format (third person) is solved within seconds of the opening of the film... simply enough the first was just a film, they claim, and this is the real deal (and, consequently, about the hysteria the film provided in its opening weeks).

The editing is choppy, scenes change quickly, and the viewer is left with no choice but to stay on the edge of their seat.. in this way, the movie draws you in to it. The editing can tend to be confusing, but thats what makes the second viewing all the more fun ! :) Its horror tactics mostly rely on hallucination, claustrophobia, and asphyxiation (and, of course, I applaud them on all three fronts).

The ending is solid, imho (and thats all im gonna say about that).

My only problem is that I found the acting a bit dry at times, but, of course, that might just be all part of the game the producers are playing with you throughout... a second viewing will shed light on that.

Strongly Reccomended/Two Thumbs Up

What A Waste!
If there were 0 stars, I would give that instead. Standing on its own, it might earn 1 star, but being a sequel to Blair Witch Project (BW1), Book of Shadows (BW2) is a waste. I own BW1 on DVD and have seen it 6+ times. I saw BW1 in the theatres and saw BW2 in the theatre last night. It was a Hollywood-trashed version. It did not surprise me to find out afterward that it was different writers and director (supposedly BW3 is going to have the originals back). The "Freakylinks" TV series, by the original writers, is much better. Another sequel destroyed by Hollywood in their empty-minded view of adding a loud soundtrack, some skin, some glitzy promotions, etc. I will NOT recommend this to anyone. Such a shame.