Nigel P 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!"

utgard14 Crappy sequel to the hugely successful low-budget Blair Witch Project takes a different approach than its predecessor in every way. Instead of being done in found footage style, it's done as a traditional horror flick with a little documentary-style stuff thrown in. Instead of believable characters, creepy atmosphere, and not being afraid to leave some things up to the imagination, we get unlikable clichéd characters, bloody violence, nudity, and an obtrusive heavy metal soundtrack. As soon as the movie started with a Marilyn Manson song I could tell I was in for a stinker. The acting is mostly mediocre with a couple of exceptions. Jeffrey Donovan is absolutely terrible, hamming it up like he thinks he's Jack Nicholson or something. Of course he later went on to success with Burn Notice but even most viewers of that show could tell you how often he displayed the limitations of his acting ability there. Kim Director is the only one of the cast who seems to stand out in any positive way. It's a poor excuse for a movie that is everything Blair Witch Project was not -- loud, predictable, and utterly 'Hollywood' in every way that can be used as an insult. A lazy cash-grab sequel that is as awful now as it was then.

BA_Harrison After the incredible success of indie found-footage horror The Blair Witch Project (1999), it was hardly surprising when a sequel was rushed into production—so quickly, in fact, that the creators of the original weren't quite ready to make another movie, hence the appointment of Joe Berlinger as writer/director. To his credit, Berlinger doesn't go down the obvious route, churning out an uninspired rehash of the first film; instead, he takes a different path through the woods, delivering a self-aware piece revolving around the hysteria created by the original Blair Witch Project. OK, so it doesn't work all that well, but he definitely gets points for trying.Berlinger's film opens in documentary style, with interviews from fans of The Blair Witch Project, as well as the residents of Burkitsville, who have taken to exploiting the film's success by marketing rocks and stick-men as souvenirs, and offering guided tours of the locations. It is one such tour into the Black Hills that provides the basis for Berlinger's movie: local entrepreneur Jeff (Jeffrey Donovan) leads a group of four Blair Witch enthusiasts to the house of infamous child killer Rustin Parr, where they set up camp for the night. When the group wake up in the morning, they are shocked not only to find their equipment trashed, but they have no recollection of the previous evening. Finding Jeff's video cassette's buried in a hole, the gang return to their guide's home—a disused factory—to review the tapes, hoping to piece together the events of the night before. While doing so, they suffer a series of scary supernatural events. Meanwhile, the bodies of a rival tour group are found disembowelled on nearby Coffin Rock…Book of Shadows received quite the critical mauling upon its release, but I think that there is actually a decent idea underneath all of the spooky shenanigans: a group of people suffering from amnesia desperately trying to understand what has happened to them, but horrified by what they discover. What makes the film less than successful for me is its glossy, MTV-style editing and the thoroughly unlikeable characters: I hated the flickery, grainy imagery, but not nearly as much as I disliked every single person in the film, from mentally unstable tour guide Jeff, to tough goth chick Kim (Kim Director), to sexy Wiccan Erica (Erica Leerhsen)—although she at least had the decency to take off all of her clothes.As a rock/metal/alternative music fan, I at least enjoyed the excellent soundtrack, which features Marilyn Manson, Death In Vegas, System Of A Down, P.O.D., Queens Of The Stone Age and Rob Zombie, but I can't help but think that with just a little more care in the character development department, and with a little less of the showy stylisms, this could have been a whole lot better.

begob Yeah, this is entertaining, but it takes on too much and ends in a muddle.The characters are clear, the acting is good - I like the goth particularly - and the mix of satire and parody works great in the first half.But then we switch to a different location, and it becomes a paranoid, haunted house story with a comedy element thrown in. Also too tame and prudish.Add on top of that self-conscious cleverness with cameras and "perception is reality", and it really loses its sting. A couple of laughs, but in a Josh Wheedon way.Overall - all things to all men, but still a dog.