As
a fan of the horror genre, I find it increasingly discouraging that no one can
seem to put a decent scary picture together. A couple of years ago, I was completely
delighted by the innovation of The Blair Witch Project, a film that I actually
felt delivered the goods. Many were put off by it's hand held camera technique
and it's lack of explanation. These are two qualities that I felt made the film
work. After huge hype, brilliant marketing, and gigantic box office, a sequel
seemed inevitable.
Enter
Book of Shadows, yet another horror film sequel that can't seem to cut it. This
time out, the director is documentarian Joe Berlinger (the brilliant Paradise
Lost films). Original Blair Witch film makers Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez
merely serve as Executive Producers but will apparently return with a Blair Witch
prequel.
On a
plus side, this sequel doesn't rehash the first, but rather creates a new sort
of phenomenon in the Burkittsville woods. Of course it's all done in a post modern
fashion as Burkittsville is constantly bombarded by gawkers who are obsessed with
the events that took place in the first film. This compels a young man name Jeff
(Jeffrey Donovan) to form Blair Witch Hunt, a tour that takes it's customers into
the heart of the woods to hopefully get a glimpse of the nasty beast that did
away with the victims of the last installment. So our band of one-dimensional
characters decide to take the tour but don't get what they bargained for. As they
awaken the next morning, five hours of their lives are unaccounted for. This is
to say that they can't remember what happened, and although Jeff was videotaping,
his footage seems to be missing. Through the course of the film, Jeff and his
unsuspecting crew try to piece together what went on the night before.
The
bottom line is, Blair Witch 2 isn't scary, and you come to expect a few jolts
or an unsettling vibe in a film of this nature. The premise itself is actually
a somewhat interesting one, but the film plays more like a weak Tales from the
Darkside or Twilight Zone episode. As in the first film, we never actually see
the supernatural force in the woods nor do we get any explanation. In the first
film however, that actually made the story work. This sequel by comparison, is
so dull, that you find yourself clamoring for an explanation. In Book of Shadows,
this creature of the night likes to psychologically torture it's prey as it did
the first time around, but it never really adds up to anything.
Berlinger
sets up some nice shots but doesn't have much of a cast to work with. He also
seems a bit lost in the realm of conventional storytelling. If this really were
a documentary, perhaps it would of been more interesting. What we're left with
is a low-rent Scooby Doo episode in which our meddling kids don't solve the riddle.
Hopefully the proposed Blair Witch prequel will be more effective, because Book
of Shadows was so boring--I feel like two hours of my life are unaccounted for.
