434: Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2

[00:00:00] Alright, let's get to the sequel, Book of Shadows Blair Witch 2. This one came out in 2000, one year later, directed by Joe Berlinger, stars Jeffrey Donovan, Stephen Barker-Turner, Erica Leeson, Kurt Loder, Chuck Scarborough. The synopsis is a group of tourists arrive in Burkittsville, Maryland after seeing the

[00:00:24] Blair Witch Project to explore the mythology and phenomenon, only to come face to face with their own neuroses and possibly the witch herself. I didn't even realize that this one existed until I decided to go back and watch the first film.

[00:00:41] I knew that the 2016 film existed, and that was it. I didn't think that there was this one at all, and I can see why, because I read on Letterboxd and a lot of reviews, this one was just panned across the board, it felt like

[00:00:54] such a cash grab and completely lost the luster and originality and thrills of the first film, which, spoiler, I fully agree with. I think the movie is terrible, it is by far the worst.

[00:01:08] I really like Jeffrey Donovan, I first saw him in Burn Notice, I love Burn Notice and he's done a lot of interesting character work over the years. I didn't even realize that he was in movies and shows this early on.

[00:01:21] Joe Berlinger as well, the director, he did the Ted Bundy film with Zac Efron and he also did the documentary series I believe. He's done some interesting things, things I really like. I can understand someone like him, since this was at the beginning of his career, like alright

[00:01:38] hey you want to do a sequel to Blair Witch? Sure. I would feel the same way. I don't blame him fully for just making do with what he can in order to be a part of it. However, the direction is not very good.

[00:01:53] The overall story, like the concept where it's about people who watch the first movie, I think that's clever, but there's so little done with it in the long run. And one of the most frustrating things is you think when the movie starts it's this

[00:02:11] group of people going back into the woods to explore things and then you think alright so it's going to be in some ways a repeat of Blair Witch, not that I want that inherently but the concept is what I want in some ways.

[00:02:24] You think that's going to be the majority of the movie and then after about 20-25 minutes you come to a standstill at this warehouse loft place of Jeffrey Donovan's character in the woods and you're basically there for the entire movie.

[00:02:39] And nothing is really explored, both physical locations but also ideas. Most of the quote-unquote scares and horror aspects of the movie come from characters watching video camera recordings of different areas around the location.

[00:02:57] Like oh this tree moved, where did this person come from, how did that get there? And it's all just after the fact scares like oh my god what is this, what's going to happen, how did that happen? It's really lame and lazy and there's just nothing to it.

[00:03:12] It feels, talking about sequels to big films where there doesn't need to be a sequel, this feels towards the very bottom in terms of cash grabs, laziness, alright here this one was a huge hit what can we do to make some more money off of this?

[00:03:27] And I don't mind them making a sequel inherently but this is a great example of studios saying alright just what the hell, do what you can with it. So really the only redeemable things about this movie are the lead performances are alright actually, they're really not that bad.

[00:03:47] I think Jeffrey Donovan is good and the other friends of his are decent I think for a movie like this but the writing is bad, the direction does not hold up as much as I like Joe Berlinger now.

[00:04:00] The transitions and early 2000s special effects and camera tricks and gimmicks are really lame at this point and probably were not that good to begin with but especially now over 20 years later it does not look good, the direction is poor, it's this kind of faux

[00:04:18] MTV-esque style and it really does not look good. The ideas are not there, the scares are not there, the originality or creativity isn't there, it's really a complete failure across the board aside from just having characters

[00:04:35] that are not super unbearable performances that are okay, there's really not much else to go on or to cling to, it's not one I would ever rewatch. And if you're interested in watching the Blair Witch movies to be transparent, to be blunt,

[00:04:51] unless you are like me where you kind of get OCD about watching everything in a franchise, I want to see every movie in a franchise or a cinematic universe or a world because that

[00:05:02] just helps me get a better perspective of things whether it's an amazing movie or it's a complete train wreck, I want to watch everything and so I'm kind of OCD in that way.

[00:05:11] So unless you are like that, like me, I would skip this one because this one doesn't feed into the meanings or concepts or depth of the first one and it doesn't do anything for the Blair Witch film afterwards.

[00:05:25] There's really no connections and I can see why after watching this because it does feel completely standalone and not in a good way. It's really bad, would not recommend, and I fully, fully agree with the overall reviews and ratings of this movie. It's terrible.

[00:05:43] So that one is a 1.5 out of 5.