book of shadows: blair witch 2 [2000]
released on the eve of a previous momentous & consequential election, on 10/27/2000, this is a cash grab flick made on the heels of the previous summer's smash hit,
The Blair Witch Project [1999]. yet, this movie has nothing to do with contemporary politics. instead, it focuses on a young man, jeff, played by jeffrey donovan [like the previous massive sleeper the characters keep their real names to add, what, i dunno, a smidge of realism?], who we see is a psychiatric patient undergoing what looks like dubious & flat-out cruel treatments. later we see him interviewed by the local news about the blair witch craze overtaking the small hamlet of birkettsville, md., the location of the original movie. jeff is an entrepreneur capitalizing on the public fascination of the blair witch mythos. he sells dirt from the nearby woods, replica stick figures of the kind the alleged blair witch, elly kedward, left in her wake of nefarious deeds etc etc. jeff is also starting the inaugaral
blair witch tour where he will guide his guests into the blair witch mythos including the homestead of the hermit rustin parr who murdered seven children in 1940 under the alleged spell of elly kedward.
that's a mouthful! at any rate, jeff's group includes kim, a goth with supposed psychic abilities, graduate students, & couple, stephen & tristan, who are writing a book on mythology & mass hysteria, & wiccan erica. the first night the group camp out on the ruins of parr's burned down house & party like it's 1999. jeff sets up cameras all over the perimeter & is continuously filming the group [because media literacy, videotaping, & the consumption of digital platforms is part of the blair witch mythos]. when they wake up, they can't remember what the hell happened & everything they brought, including jeff's cameras, & stephen & tristan's research materials, are destroyed. kim, the psychic, tells the group that the videotapes are buried under a wall of the remaining structure. jeff removes a few stones, reached into the earth, & there they are!
did the blair witch cause such havoc? or were these young people too wasted to remember their own destructiveness. jeff guides our group back to his pad, a converted factory bought from the city for only a buck!, to find out what's on those tapes. do they find out? since we are nearly into the third reel & have a bit more movie to go the short answer is kind of. because according to the blair witch mythos she can command & manipulate time, & space & reality. jeff & co. are in for a wild ride.
director joe berlinger keeps the pace tight & the action taut with a budget that was vastly larger than the previous summer's sleeper hit. this film is made in a turn of the millennium style that used a lot of nu-metal & metal bands on the soundtrack, as well as a sort of plasticized sheen in the photography & editing. really, this movie was made before the world turned into whatever we call our present day now. pre-9/11? again, i dunno. but the overall look, sound & feel of this flick reminds me of other like kinds of turn of the millennium movies such as the remakes House on Haunted Hill [1999] & 13 Ghosts [2001] etc etc. this is a fun flick for what it is doing. is it scary? depends on the viewer, of course. but me, i really enjoyed this pic. i have a soft spot for cash grab movies & sometimes the sequels of films can be even more entertaining than the original movies.
but hell, just as this movie was released right before the election of 2000, which means diddly of course, i can't help but note the timing of my watching this movie, again. what the hell does that all mean? nothing. really. for i neither can predict the future or take for my guidance of future days by the movies that i watch. why bring that up? because i am surprised, again, how quickly 24 years have passed since the release of this flick, & how much our world has changed since its release. no more. no less. the lesson? carpefuckingdiem! however, you choose to interpret it.
boo!
