Product Description

No Description Available.
Genre: Horror
Rating: R
Release Date: 17-AUG-2004
Media Type: DVD

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #36910 in DVD
• Brand: DONOVAN,JEFFREY
• Released on: 2001-09-18
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, German
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .30 pounds
• Running time: 90 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!!

Better than the first, Better than most....
Okay, if I get one person to see this movie and like it as much as I did, I feel like I accomplished something. From the opening credits w/Marilyn Manson's 'Disposable Teens' set to a flurry of autumn colors and blood spatter to the whole 'nothing was what it seems' ending, this movie is classic in almost every way. Forget the fact it's a sequel. Forget anything that annoyed you about the first movie. Think of this as just 'Book of Shadows', not a sequel...Joe B. is a smart filmmaker, and at least this movie offers us something than the usual slasher fare; There are some truly unsettling developments in this movie; The production, art design, and acting are much better than most. I was most impressed with the reactions of the characters during the final 15 minutes of the movie, when things really start to fall apart; One of the last scenes involves a certain character(this is NOT a spolier....)screaming that what he had just saw on tape was not what he had seen himself in person; His reaction was just like mine would have been, and it was pretty intense to say the least. This movie got a raw deal. I'm sure someone out there agrees...

AFTER ALL THE HYPE HAS WORN AWAY...
"Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2" may very well be the most maligned sequel of all time. I have read more positive reviews for "Airplane 2: The Sequel." I have heard more compliments handed out to "Friday the 13th Part 2." There have been far more words of praise lavished like so much lumpy sausage gravy over "The Matrix Reloaded." What gives?

Actually, I think the answer lies in the very hype surrounding the first "Blair Witch" which this film so succesfully spoofs. I mean, think about it. You start out with an unexpected cultural phenomenon on the level of "Star Wars." You wait barely a year before issuing a sequel (not nearly enough time for memories of the first film to become hazy, but plenty of time for the inevitable backlash against it to firmly take root in the popular psyche). Then you have the audacity to release a film that not only pokes fun at the very people who are most likely to rush right out and buy a ticket for the opening night showing, but you make the film in a style completely different from the first film. Whereas the original "Blair Witch Project" was groundbreaking and unique, "Book of Shadows" is groundbreaking and unique... But in a very different way.

Joe Berlinger is more than well aware of his roots and pulls no punches when it comes to honoring and lampooning them all in the same breath. This is not to suggest that ol' Joe has gone the route of McG and is pandering with one hand while he smirks and winks the whole time. "Book of Shadows" is far too subtle and made in too much good faith for that kind of nonsense. Berlinger's point has more to do with questioning reality and fantasy and the complicated dance between the two which most of us take so much for granted. What is the truth of the Blair Witch? If it is only a story then how can it so deeply effect people and at what point is a story not merely a story any more?

This is a question most people (at least in this country) tend to shrug off, but which, ironically, is a question that most people (especially in this country) need to start examining. This is, after all, the native land of one Mark David Chapman who murdered a peace-loving cultural icon because he thought it was prescribed by a J.D. Salinger novel. This is the place where hordes of people came out in protest over "The Last Temptation of Christ" because it was a story that did not live up to the other stories they had been told all of their lives. This is still the same America where Charles Manson founded a faithful cult following willing to kill or die for him based upon a science fiction novel. And this is the same country where three boys were jailed and await execution on the strength of a popular myth that says they look like (and therefore must be) witches.

When is a story not a story? What is the boundary between sanity and insanity? Is it when fantasy begins to take precedence in the mind? Here Berlinger confronts us with a whole town full of characters who have been washed away by a fiction. You have tour groups roughing it out in the middle of nowhere hoping to find... Something... Anything. You have townspeople who find their quiet way of life destroyed. You have a sheriff driven to the point of vigilantism. All in the name of a fiction.

What Berlinger is trying to show us is how none of these responses are appropriate to the situation. You cannot kill a myth simply by deconstructing it. The amount of time and attention means that the myth has already won. It has become just as much an obsession for the naysayer as it has for the fanatic and the results can be just as damaging either way.

Want proof? Well, not so very long ago, in a town quite close to where I reside, there was a little incident known as the Columbine Massacre. In the days, weeks, months and years that followed, everyone began extending their index fingers in the direction of everyone else. The vast majority of these fingers were leveled directly at popular culture. The music of one Marilyn Manson was usually singled out for the greatest abuse. Pundits and so-called experts appeared on television nightly to discuss the relative merits and demerits of Mr. Manson's wailings and shoot off (no pun intended) an opinion as to just how much, if any, blame should be laid at his feet. Only months later did we learn, to our collective shock, that neither of the perpetrators of the Columbine killings was all that big a fan of Marilyn Manson. Oops. By then, however, it was too late. The myth had taken root. The pundits and so-called experts laughed all the way to the bank. Mr. Manson rescheduled his canceled concert dates. The so-called news networks stuffed yet more money in their collective coffers and none of us learned one damn thing. We simply supplanted one fiction with another. And the beat goes on.

For this, if for no other reason, "Book of Shadows" deserves a second look. Despite Mr. Roger "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" Ebert's gripes about how horribly this movie reflects on Berlinger's previous documentary efforts, I think a closer inspection will reveal just how wrong the portly one really is. If you haven't seen it, then do yourself a favor. Now that all the hype has died away, put on a fresh set of eyes and keep your mind open. You're in for a fast-paced, stylish, genuinely scary ride with something more on its mind than simple shock value.