It's difficult to explain what this sequel is.  In what I recall, there wasn't HALF the hype around it as the first film.  I saw it in the theatre some afternoon with a very scarce audience, very scarce.  In retrospect, it seems like it slid by a great many people.  It is nothing at all like the first one, and really didn't warrant much hype at all.  Though, there's something I just happen to gravitate towards in this movie.  I watch it every Halloween as a mandatory viewing, but it's nothing great.  It is a very different horror movie, and quite a stark opposite to the original Blair Witch.  Perhaps it's all the unaswered mysteries that plauge this film that I try to find some answer to every year?  In all actuality, this script seems like it was never finished.  Like the screenwriters came up with all these clever little psychological plot twists, but never had the time to conjure up any answers to them.  The film is certainly creepy, kind of like a massive hallucination.  I really don't know what it is about it.  My mind is working right now, and I'd hate to break up my thoughts to give a plot synopsis.  So, bare with me for a few more moments.  You see there's a good number of surreal events in this film.  It's like a very large dream that no one wakes up from until the very end.  And it's not about perspective, it's about the illusion of reality - did it really happen that way or not?  Everyone swears that it happen like this, we saw it happen right there on the screen, but then, we have undeniable proof that it happened completely differently.  Now, I can break my thought process.

The movie starts out documenting the phenomenon that was The Blair Witch Project.  Television clips of movie reviewers, news casts, and fans talking about the film.  One of these fans is Jeffrey Patterson (Jeffrey Donovan).  Jeffrey is an ex-mental patient, but never do we know WHY he was committed to a mental institution.  Jeffrey now runs the "Blair Witch Hunt," a tour guide of everything "Blair Witch" - including merchandise.  He gets four people to sign up for his inaugural tour - Kim Diamond (Kim Director), the hot goth chick, Erica Geersen (Erica Leerhsen), the real-life witch, a student of Wicca, and Tristen Ryler (Tristen Skyler) and her boyfriend Stephen Ryan Parker (Stephen Barker Turner).  The five venture out into the wilderness, and spend a night on the foundation of Rustin Parr's house.  Strange things happen that night, and when they wake up, they have no knowledge or memory of those events.  Though, it is only the beginning, and things are going to get much more bizarre and surreal before it is all over.  We learn that Jeffrey is not a fan of Burkittsville, and they are no fans of his - especially Sheriff Cravens (Lanny Flaherty).  The two seem to have some sort of history with one another, but that, like many things in this movie, is never explored, just implied.  As the movie goes on, each character's sanity unravels in unqiue fashions.  Some are paranoid, some are hysterical, some are in denial, and some become very, deeply disturbed.

Sometimes in the film, you become a bit disorientated simply by the flashbacks, flashforwards, and flashes back to the present.  It took me several viewings to figure out the linear placement of one scene, actually.  The latter half of the film takes place in Jeffrey's isolated warehouse of sorts in the woods where he lives and works.  That's where all of the hallucinatory and reality bending hysteria takes place.  Everyone suffers from it with some horrifying imagery, and there are a few revelations, but only one that really explains anything at all.  What this movie gives us is a shit load of strange questions without so much as an attempt or even a hint at an answer!  After you've finished watching this film, you're gonna be left out on SUCH a limb asking "What the FUCK?!"  Now, this isn't a bad film, but is really unsatisfactory.  We end this movie with Stephen basically saying "That didn't happen!  I know what happened!"  At least HE'S got some clue as to what happened here, even if he's in denial of reality.  No one who has seen this movie could even conjure up such denial.

This movie was directed by Joe Berlinger.  The same man who brought us the Paradise Lost documentary.  That, and it's follow-up, Revelations: Paradise Lost 2, really hit me hard.  Berlinger captured every bit of emotion there was to capture, and allowed the audience to come to their own conclusions regarding this crime and the three youths that have been convicted of it.  Berlinger seems to have done the same here.  He has presented everything rather objectionally, and allows the audience to come to their own conclusions on what they have just witnessed.  Unfortunately, there is such a lack of information or theory presented to us on HOW things happened or WHY they happened to form any sort of conclusion as to WHAT happened.  We have absolutely every reason to believe what these characters are saying because we've seen it, but then, the video tape evidence comes in and 100% contradicts everything we've seen them do.  Both are 100% viable evidence, yet both contradict each other.  One HAS to be the truth, yet both are equally, undeniably true.  It's like hearing two equally viable, yet completely different stories about the same events from two different, yet equally reliable sources without discovering which is the truth, if either story actually is.  Quite confusing, isn't it?

Though, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 is well acted, well directed, and very well shot.  Though, it is not a frightening film or a splatter film, it's a creepy, erie film.  It's got atmosphere and tone to spare, and the production values and design are quite engaging.  I think that's part of my intrigue for the film.  It's got a distinct autumn look and tone to it all, including the tall afternoon shadows.  It's just a dead-on look, and the look and tone of the season really permiates throughout the entire movie.  It really fits in well with the month of October here in the northern half of North America.  Though, as I said before, there's just so much left unanswered, it heavily hurts this movie.  If we had gotten some even halfway decent answers, things would've been much better.  In a film like this, the revelation of the answers can be so startling and dramatic that it can scare the shit out of you!  There's no drama or tension in being left hanging with a question you cannot even GUESS at an answer for!  Imagine The Usual Suspects with the last five minutes cut out, or the last ten minutes of Se7en cut out!  It's like a joke without a punchline - it turns into a waste of everything good that was put into it.  You build everything up, and then, you just let it hang their at the top of the peak.

Don't get me wrong, I really do like this movie, but it just leaves you with nothing at the end.  You are presented with an even LONGER list of questions in the final minutes, but then, the credits roll.  You are left hanging in a most unsatisfying position, and not even Joe Berlinger's audio commentary offers a haven for a single answer.  The film is presented too objectionally, and that's its only flaw, too bad it practically overshadows the entire movie.  As I said, the movie is very well made, and the cast is filled with some very fine acting (I do get a kick out of Lanny Flaherty as "Sheriff Cravens).  It had a lot going for it, but it failed to provide a pay off.  Any great mystery requires a great revelation (The Usual Suspects, Scream), but there isn't one here.

Also, the title Book of Shadows refers to a book of Wiccan spells used by witches.  Anyone who watches the TV series Charmed could tell you that.  And finally, yes, I do believe the three young men featured in Joe Berlinger's Paradise Lost documenatries, the "West Memphis Three," are innocent, and have been falsely accused and convicted of this horrible crime.  You can learn everything about them, and the fight to free them at WM3.org.