Director: Joe Berlinger
Starring: a bunch of people of whom you’ve never heard of before. Don’t worry; you’re not missing much.
Fear and uncertainty prevail in our modern world. The suspense of unforeseen
consequences and unknown options lurks behind every action. Even the most
commonplace, predictable routines can lead to terror. It should come as some
relief, then, that the anticipated sequel to 1999’s indie horror hit, The
Blair Witch Project-namely, Book of Shadows-is not a horror film.
That should make you feel better.
The film follows the exploits of “The Blair Witch Hunt,” a tour group run
by a Burkittsville native (recently released from a psychiatric clinic), whose
guests consist of: a writer and his girlfriend, seeking to document the massive
hype surrounding The Blair Witch Project; a Wiccan, trying to repair the
reputations of witches which the film did a lot to tarnish; and a Goth psychic,
looking for alcohol (seriously - she drinks like a lumberjack).
Already, a perceptive audience will be suspending their disbelief with an
industrial-strength winch. Why would a writer need to go to the site of the
Blair Witch filming in order to write a book about the film’s hype-especially
since he believes that the original documentary was fiction? Why would a Wiccan
think she could save the reputation of witches by visiting Burkittsville? And,
of course, every character is a straight-faced stereotype, fresh out of a comic
book or a Pat Buchanan ad.
The film spends a great deal of time ridiculing the original movie’s hype
(in the form of interviews with Burkittsville natives and inside jokes on the
original Blair Witch Project). Most horror films intersperse light scenes
with scary ones, in order to make the horror more “shocking.” Book of
Shadows steps off the beaten path here, electing to make its horror scenes
very tame and clichéd. A clever option, sure, but not one that’ll appeal to
today’s hip, young audience.
Book of Shadows doesn’t know how to be scary. While admitting to be
a fictionalized account-and while admitting, within the film, that the original Blair
Witch Project was fictitious-all of the main characters use their real names
(the character of “Jeff” is played by Jeffrey Donovan, etc). I guess it’s
a real-life commentary on a fictional recreation of real-life events following
the release of a fictional documentary that was pretending to be real. And if
you followed that, I have a Lorentz-Fitzgerald contraction function for you to
solve.
At times, the film cuts to five days after the main events, with the sheriff
interrogating some survivors-thus eliminating all suspense over who gets killed
(as I said above, suspense is a bad thing in a horror film-right?). The
original Blair Witch Project offered us some guesses for what happened to
the filmmakers, in the form of historical background. Book of Shadows
offers nothing. Everyone-the police, the survivors, the audience-remains
confused.
Who would enjoy Book of Shadows? People who got disgusted at the
overwhelming, undeserved hype of the first film; Book of Shadows pokes
fun at itself, sometimes without trying. Everyone else will be disappointed by
this sequel. Keep the cameras off, put the stick figures down, and stay out of
the woods.
