Review of Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000) by Chris S — 08 Oct 2007

Don't understand why so many people are rating this film so low, while there are so many people who are voting so high for the first film; this is clearly a far superior film. Both are independent, but this actually has some scary scenes, whereas the first just had three stupid teenagers running around in the woods, getting drunk and high, and finally disappearing.

This is far better. The film is about a few people who go into the same woods that the stupid teens went into in the first film; something very strange and apparently unexplainable happens, and they spend the rest of the film trying to figure out what exactly happened.

The plot is very good, it starts out reminding the audience a lot of the first, and then drastically changing style, turning into a mystery-horror piece. The plot immediately takes off, I was pretty much completely into the film from the very first scene, whereas the first almost had me falling asleep during the first couple of scenes.

It also has a great pace, while there constantly is something interesting or exciting going on, to keep you watching, without it getting cheesy, like many new Hollywood-like horror films tend to do. The acting is far better than the first film, at least for most of the characters.

The main characters all seemed perfectly credible to me, which is far more than what I can say about the cast of the first film. Some of the supporting cast did seem a little lacking in acting ability, but these aren't actual actors, after all.

The special effects and various shock effects are surprisingly good; I would be lying if I said I didn't jump in my seat at least three or four times. Now, as for the negative in the film; admittedly, the execution isn't as good as the idea itself, which is a bit unfortunate, because this plot really has potential, or, rather, "had".

Definitely more potential than the film utilizes, unfortunately. I can't complain about any of the scary scenes or special effects, they were all handled extremely well; even things that, had they been done just in a slightly different manner, would have looked ridiculous, and made the viewer laugh out loud rather than send chills down his spine.

This film is about as far away from the original as it could possibly get, without actually using a completely different story. All in all, a very well-made horror film, that far surpasses the mess that was the first Blair Witch film.

I recommend it to anyone who saw the first and was sorely disappointed by it, and any fans of horror in general, as it will please most generic horror fans with it's reasonably vast amount of blood and gore, and the amount of shocks and jumpy moments.

A lot better than the weak, amateurish mess that was the first film.