Just perfect...

Don't listen to the negative reviews

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

This follow-up to the ground-breaking film that introduced many of us to the Found Footage concept is a 'fictional re-enactment of events following the events of The Blair Witch Project.' It starts promisingly, with Burkittsville residents being irritated and financially bolstered by the notoriety their town has attracted. Some dialogue is rank, ("There are always naysayers who come here and say … nay.") and the characters are pretty unlikable and stereotypical (we are introduced to Kim (Kim Director) lying back on a grave, smoking, dressed all in black and daubed with heavy make-up – so she'll be a goth then). Erica (Erica Geerson) is a Wiccan and therefore sensitive to whatever 'curse' may or may not be out there. They seem to be a bit stoned and listen to rock music and might possibly have just stumbled off a catwalk. Text book, picturesque teens. A disappointing development after the realism displayed by Heather, Mikey and Josh from the original.This is a major flaw. Main character Jeffrey (Jeffrey Donovan) has a history of hospitalisation and is victimised by the local Sheriff (who seems to have strolled straight out of 'The Dukes of Hazzard'). And yet because of his uncharismatic, postured playing, it is impossible to sympathise with, or feel anything for him or his plight. Tristine (Tristine Ryler) is really the only sympathetic, or realistic character present … And yet, this sequel is undeserving of the critical drubbing it has received. It has some great unnerving moments: the stuttering doll-like creature Tristine sees in the hospital, the image of her drowning her dead, bloodied baby in a stagnant pond (would anyone who suffered a miscarriage during such an unnerving trip seriously then consider continuing with that trip?), the slow drifting into delirium … and the ending, where the group watch the recording they made of themselves and it contradicts their memory of events is a pretty neat way to wrap things up.The temptation could have been to produce another docu-drama, but events here are deliberately stylised in such a way, the audience is in no doubt it is watching a professional production.The locations are excellent and the whole production is very well shot, but I think 'Book of Shadows' is a (perceived) failure because while it is good, it isn't brilliant – and it needed to be brilliant to match the virtually insurmountable success of the first."She's a witch, maaan!"

The real treat in this film is the presence of the talented, beautiful, and mesmerizing Kim Director. Under the expert direction of Joe Berlinger, Ms. Director gives a fantastic performance and saves this movie from being the typical lackluster sequel. It is very unfortunate that the screen writers didn't expand her role in the film once it was realized the magnetic power and intensity of Director's work. This was a star making turn, to say the least, but somehow she was not utilized as she should have been. Her talent has never really received the recognition it deserves, except by those in the film industry who used her in creative project after project. Another outstanding performance by Director was in an episode of Law and Order: Criminal Intent, involving fan conventions and a seductive con woman. She is dynamite in that part as well and it is obviously a tongue-in-cheek tribute to her work in Blair Witch II. Kim Director is an artist, a master of her craft, and the true star of this film. It was an act of genius to cast her and she is the only reason to see this movie. A very significant reason.

Released in 2000 and directed by Joe Berlinger, "Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2" begins amidst the hysteria of the found-footage of the first film. People from around the world curious about the Blair witch phenomenon overrun Burkittsville, Maryland, wherein an entrepreneurial dude named Jeff (Jeffrey Donovan) leads a 'Blair Witch Hunt' tour involving four clients, a Wiccan, a Goth girl and an academic couple. After camping at the ruins of the home of an executed murderous hermit (who was evidently possessed by the spirit of the witch in the 1940s) the group has a rude awakening when they can't remember what happened the night before. They go to Jeff's nearby pad—a curious factory-turned-house—to review the video tapes for answers and discover something horribly macabre.Atmospherically, "Book of Shadows" is quite effective as a haunting ghost/witch flick and the writing is actually smart—the entire play on hysteria, delusion & perception is quite clever. The screenplay was written by director Berlinger, who's best known for the great "Paradise Lost" trilogy of documentaries about the "West Memphis three," youthful outcasts accused of a hideous 1993 triple murder in Arkansas based on dubious evidence (and who were finally released in 2011). Anyway, "Book of Shadows" starts satirically and amusing, but gets increasing serious and sinister. The acting is good too, with Kim Director's powerhouse performance as the Goth girl standing out. Erica Leerhsen is also a highlight as the Wiccan babe with several alluring scenes, but they coulda done more with her.The reason so many people call this flick "the worst movie ever made" (Why sure!) is obviously because it's a knee-jerk reaction to it being a sequel to the mega-popular "The Blair Witch Project" (1999), which was an altogether different kind of movie, being a found-footage flick, not to mention the herd-mentality of an over-critical feeding-frenzy. Since I'm not a fan of found-footage films—seeing as how they're about as entertaining as watching home movies for an hour and a half—I find "Book of Shadows" far more interesting than the first film.There's a secret message in the movie that you can discover in (***SPOILER ALERT***): the FIRE, the GRASS, the factory WINDOW, the GRAVESTONE and the RUG, which all-together spells: "Seek me no further or...". This combined with reversing Tristen's backward words in the last act reveal the secret of 'ESREVER': "Seek me no further or... the children will again walk free," meaning: the Blair witch would loose the spirits of the murdered children to torment the invaders of her domain. (***END SPOILER***) As for the complaints of there being no Book of Shadows, it's simply not true. The character Jeff is a movie enthusiast with ambitions of being a filmmaker and "Book of Shadows" is the name of one of the scripts he put together and intends to shoot. So it's not something totally out of nowhere that Artisan dubiously added to the title, as most people think. Yes, they added it, but it had relevance to the movie. Furthermore, the actual 'Book of Shadows' is a Wiccan spell book and is figuratively used in the movie in that the group obviously falls under the spell of the Blair Witch after entering her diabolical terrain.The film features a creative score by Carter Burwell and a rockin' soundtrack with quality cuts by the likes of Marilyn Manson ("Disposable Teens"), Godhead ("The Reckoning") and many more.After Berlinger finished his version of the movie the studio complained that there weren't enough conventional horror elements and so additional scenes were shot & edited into the picture. What else is new? It has been thus throughout cinematic history. For me, the added scenes beef-up what might've otherwise been too low-key for a horror flick. True, this route was taken with the first film, but "Book of Shadows" is the antithesis of that movie, and it's the better for it IMHO."Book of Shadows" is a dense horror flick and therefore worthy of repeat viewings for gems to mine. (One aid in helping to understand the picture is Jeff's statement at the camp: "Film lies; video tells the truth"). Unfortunately, this is evidently too much for some dullards. Yes, it's a slow-build with meandering aspects, but the movie's laden with subtext and the climax is pretty horrific, even while it's somewhat predictable. You never see the witch, but her nefarious presence is palpable nevertheless and the ambiance fittingly oozes Gothic. As for the doofuses who argue that the pic has too little to do with the first one, nothing could be further from the truth. Lastly, Jeff's factory-turned-house is almost iconic; a great location for a ghostly horror flick.The film runs 90 minutes and was shot in Baltimore, Maryland.GRADE: B

A formula for a movie this bad only comes around a few times, and it should definitely be studied and observed to prevent future tragedies of it's kind.What happens when a studio wants to cash in on a wildly successful movie but can't get the original director? Then hires someone known only for making documentaries with no experiencing directing narrative-driven fiction? And that director doesn't even like the first movie? And then that director makes the exact opposite of the movie they want out of pure spite for them and original film?You get a cinematic 30-car pileup like "Book of Shadows." Whereas the first film was a fake documentary that showed a group of people fall to pieces in a realistic situation and at the end only hinted at something supernatural, Book of Shadows is a more generic horror movie that makes no attempt to seem like a documentary at all. Staffed by a team of insufferable, banal characters with no interesting or redeeming qualities. They are all apparently based on people who all serve as a metaphor for the people "effected" by the first film, like Wiccans, Goths and people who thought the movie was real. The director put so much thought into what they were supposed to represent, he forgot all about how to make them compelling character in the actual film.The movie is laden with subtext and hidden meaning, but that doesn't justify it's existence. Now, not only is the film a mindless, generic, incoherent and totally unentertaining mess, it's also extremely pretentious and smugly satisfied with itself. Like an especially dimwitted dog who takes a poop on your carpet because he's mad at you and grins at you like he actually accomplished something. But at the end, you're going to have to clean the carpet, he has to sleep outside, and nobody won here.One half of this film is motivated by greed, the other half is motivated by wrath. You put the two together and it's like mixing nerve gas, everyone in the room dies horribly.The director apparently blames the studio in some regard for the movie's poor reception due to the heavy editing they did. But honestly? Even just from watching the footage that actually made it into the film, it's easy to see there wasn't much to salvage.It's rare to see a film that's cheap cash grab AND insanely pretentious, but Book of Shadows pulls it off. It's one of my top ten worst movies of all time.And no, "Book of Shadows" doesn't mean anything.