Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2
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| Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Joe Berlinger |
| Produced by | Bill Carraro |
| Written by | Dick Beebe Joe Berlinger |
| Starring | Kim Director Jeffrey Donovan Erica Leerhsen Tristine Skyler Stephen Barker Turner |
| Music by | Carter Burwell |
| Cinematography | Nancy Schreiber |
| Editing by | Sarah Flack |
| Distributed by | Artisan Entertainment |
| Release date(s) | 27 October 2000 |
| Running time | 90 min |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $15,000,000 |
| Preceded by | The Blair Witch Project |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 is the sequel to the movie The Blair Witch Project. Released on October 27, 2000, it was directed by Joe Berlinger, who previously (and subsequently) had only directed true documentaries.
Although its theatrical release made a profit, it is largely considered a failure, garnering only 13% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Desiring a more "commercial" film, the studio (Artisan) recut the film and re-shot certain scenes to add more "traditional" horror movie elements. Director Berlinger repeatedly states on the DVD commentary that he does not like the changes that were made and that they ruin the ambiguous tone of the plot. The film was nominated for five Razzie Awards, including Worst Picture.
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[edit] Plot
The story is presented through a series of flashbacks, as some of the young adults are questioned at a police station about their time spent in the woods.
The story begins in Burkittsville, Maryland, where the release of the original Blair Witch Project has attracted a group of young tourists. They want to find the Blair Witch, and hire Jeff, who has made a business of leading tours into the Blair Witch's woods called the BlairWitch-Hunt. They venture into the woods to camp for the night.
They wake up the next morning with no real memory of the night before, lack memory of five hours, and videotapes shot during the night seems unclear. Over the course of the rest of the movie, several of the tourists are murdered, and the remaining individuals are suspected as the killers. It is never made clear whether the murders are caused by witchcraft, the still-never-seen Blair Witch, or some other cause. The people left alive claim to have no memory of most of the deaths, and recall instances of possession or suicide, but videotapes taken during the events all show the living tourists killed their friends.
The movie ends with the observation that memories can lie, but that video always tells the truth, implying that the movie itself (Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2) has lied to the audience, and only the videotape at the end of the film reveals the "true" story: that the remaining tourists are the murderers. The film shows Tristan, who has been "possessed" by the witch, shouting out demonic things and threatening to kill them all, so the other tourists kill her; however, the video reveals that the tourists were actually the ones possessed and what they heard was an auditory hallucination. In reality, Tristan was screaming for her life. She had been scared that she was going to be killed by the possessed tourists.
[edit] Cast
All of the characters retain the first names of their respective actors, though their surnames are changed slightly.
- Kim Director - Kim Diamond
- Jeffrey Donovan - Jeffrey Patterson
- Erica Leerhsen - Erica Geerson
- Tristan Skyler - Tristan Ryler
- Stephen Barker Turner - Stephen Ryan Parker
[edit] Soundtrack
The soundtrack was released through Priority Records
[edit] Track listing
- "The Reckoning" - Godhead
- "Lie Down" - P.O.D.
- "Goodbye Lament" - Tony Iommi/Dave Grohl
- "Dragula (Hot Rod Herman Remix)" - Rob Zombie
- "Mind" - System Of A Down
- "Stick It Up" - Slaves On Dope
- "Suicide is Painless" - Marilyn Manson
- "Soul Auctioneer" - Death In Vegas
- "32 Ways To Die" - Sum 41
- "Laichzeit" - Rammstein
- "Old Enough" - Nickelback
- "Feel Alive" - U.P.O.
- "Spirit in Black" - Slayer
- "Arcarsenal" - At The Drive-In
- "Human" - Elastica
- "Feel Good Hit Of The Summer" - Queens Of The Stone Age
[edit] Box office
Book of Shadows was released throughout the world in 2000-2002. In the United States, it debuted at number 2 with $13,000,000. After 8 weeks, it finished with $26,421,314[1] In Australia the film debut at number 6. It eventually made $483,651. Overall, internationally the film made $47,737,094.[2]
