Blair Witch 2
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2'' is a 2000 American
horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...
directed and co-written by
Joe Berlinger Joseph Berlinger (born October 30, 1961) is an American documentary filmmaker and producer. Particularly focused on true crime documentaries, Berlinger's films and docu-series draw attention to social justice issues in the US and abroad in such ...
and starring
Jeffrey Donovan Jeffrey Donovan (born May 11, 1968) is an American actor. He has played Michael Westen in the television series '' Burn Notice'', and appeared in films such as '' Hitch'', '' Believe in Me'', ''Changeling'', and '' Come Early Morning''. He play ...
, Stephen Barker Turner, Kim Director,
Erica Leerhsen Erica Lei Leerhsen (born February 14, 1976) is an American actress. She first gained recognition for her leading part in the moderately successful horror sequel '' Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2'' (2000). Her work led her to take on a recurring r ...
, and
Tristine Skyler Tristine Skyler (born July 27, 1971) is an American writer, playwright and producer. Born and raised in New York City, Skyler graduated cum laude from Princeton University. Early life and education Skyler was born and raised in New York City, whe ...
. A sequel to the
original film Original Film is an American film and television production company founded by Neal H. Moritz. Notable films the company has produced include the '' I Know What You Did Last Summer'', '' Cruel Intentions'' and ''Fast & Furious'' franchises, the ...
, its plot revolves around a group of people fascinated by the mythology surrounding ''The Blair Witch Project'' who venture into the
Black Hills The Black Hills is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black Elk Peak, which rises to , is the range's highest summit. The name of the range ...
where it was filmed and experience supernatural phenomena and psychological unraveling. Unlike the original film, it is presented in a traditional narrative format rather than found footage. Originally conceived by Berlinger and co-writer Dick Beebe as a
psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a Film genre, genre combining the thriller (genre), thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting ...
and meditation on mass hysteria, ''Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2'' was significantly altered in postproduction, which Berlinger would later claim compromised his original vision. Among the changes were a new soundtrack, additional editing, and the integration of entirely new sequences. The film was released in theaters in North America and the United Kingdom on October 27, 2000 and was panned by critics, but grossed a worldwide total of $47.7 million against a budget of $15 million.


Plot

In November 1999, tourists and fans of ''
The Blair Witch Project ''The Blair Witch Project'' is a 1999 American psychological horror film written, directed, and edited by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez. One of the most successful independent films of all time, it is a " found footage" pseudo-docume ...
'' descend on the small town of
Burkittsville, Maryland Burkittsville is a historic village in Frederick County, Maryland, United States. The village lies in the southern Middletown Valley along the eastern base of South Mountain (Maryland and Pennsylvania), South Mountain. Burkittsville is a resident ...
, where the film was set. Local resident Jeff, a former psychiatric patient and obsessed fan, orchestrates a group tour of locations featured in the film. Among the group are
graduate student Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of Academic degree, academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by higher education, post-secondary students who have ...
s Stephen and his pregnant girlfriend, Tristen, who are researching mythology and mass hysteria; Erica, the
Wiccan Wicca (), also known as "The Craft", is a modern pagan, syncretic, Earth-centred religion. Considered a new religious movement by scholars of religion, the path evolved from Western esotericism, developed in England during the first half ...
daughter of an Episcopal minister; and Kim, a
goth Goth or Goths may refer to: * Goths, a Germanic people Arts and entertainment * Gothic rock or goth, a style of rock music * Goth subculture, developed by fans of gothic rock * ''Goth'' (2003 film), an American horror film * ''Goth'' (2008 f ...
with
psychic A psychic is a person who claims to use powers rooted in parapsychology, such as extrasensory perception (ESP), to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance; or who performs acts that a ...
proclivities. They camp for the night in the ruins of Rustin Parr's house, where Jeff has placed surveillance cameras, hoping to capture supernatural occurrences. Jeff becomes unnerved when he notices a large tree located in the center of the house's foundation, claiming it was not there before. That night, another tour group arrives to camp at the ruins, but they are misdirected to Coffin Rock by Jeff and Stephen. After drinking and smoking marijuana all night, the group awakens in the morning to find Stephen and Tristen's research documents shredded and strewn through the woods and Jeff's cameras destroyed; his damaged tapes are uncovered beneath the house's foundation, the same spot the ''Blair Witch Project'' tapes were found in 1995. Tristen suffers a
miscarriage Miscarriage, also known in medical terms as a spontaneous abortion, is an end to pregnancy resulting in the loss and expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the womb before it can fetal viability, survive independently. Miscarriage before 6 weeks ...
, and they rush her to the Burkittsville hospital. In her hospital room, Tristen sees a young girl walking backward. After she is discharged, the group retreats to Jeff's home, an industrial building that was once a factory. While Tristen rests, the group reviews Jeff's tapes, which uncover an image of Erica circling around a tree, nude. Distraught, Erica claims she has no memory of such an event and goes to pray in another room. When Kim tries to console her, Erica reveals rash-like symbols covering her body and proclaims the group has been marked for death. Kim borrows Jeff's van to pick up coffee and alcohol in town. At the country store, she gets into an argument with the cashier. While driving away, she swerves to avoid a group of children in the road and crashes the van into a tree, denting the fender. The children disappear when she exits the van. Later, Kim finds a bloody nail file stuck among the bottles of beer she purchased. The following morning, Jeff looks outside and sees the front end of his van entirely caved in, to the point that it is undrivable; Kim insists that the accident was minor. The group realizes Erica is absent and searches the house. They attempt to call her father at his office but are told by his secretary that he has no children. Meanwhile, Tristen's disposition grows increasingly bizarre. The county sheriff, Cravens, calls Jeff, informing him the other tour group was found disemboweled on Coffin Rock, and threatens him. Later, while searching through a drawer, Kim finds a set of surveillance dossiers on herself and the others. She confronts Jeff, but he denies knowing the source of them. Shortly after, the group discovers Erica's corpse in a closet. Tristen begins chanting about
widdershins Widdershins (sometimes withershins, widershins or widderschynnes) is a term meaning to go counter-clockwise, anti-clockwise, or lefthandwise, or to walk around an object by always keeping it on the left. Literally, it means to take a course opp ...
and speaking backward; this leads Kim to suggest they play Jeff's tapes in reverse. Upon doing so, they find the footage shows the high and drunken group descending into a demonic ritual and frenzied orgy led by Tristen, culminating in the murder of the other tour group at Coffin Rock. When they confront Tristen, she alternately pleads and goads them. Jeff, convinced Tristen is
possessed Possessed may refer to: Possession * Possession (disambiguation), having some degree of control over something else ** Spirit possession, whereby gods, demons, animas, or other disincarnate entities may temporarily take control of a human body *** ...
by the Blair Witch, begins filming the confrontation, attempting to elicit a confession for Erica's death. The three follow Tristen to the second floor, where she ties a rope around her neck and taunts Stephen, daring him to push her. In a fit of rage, he pushes her over the balcony, killing her. Later, Jeff, Stephen, and Kim are arrested and interrogated by police. Each claim that a possessed Tristen was responsible. Their accounts are contradicted by various video footage: Security cameras captured Kim murdering the store cashier with her own nail file, while Jeff's home monitors show him, nude, hiding Erica's body in the closet; the DV footage Jeff filmed during Tristen's confrontation shows her pleading for her life as they accuse her of being a witch, ending in Stephen mercilessly pushing her to her death. Meanwhile, as Jeff, Kim, and Stephen are shown this footage by police, funeral mourners arrive in the woods to remember the other tour group that was murdered.


Cast

Additionally, Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams and Joshua Leonard appear in archival footage as fictionalized versions of themselves. Additionally,
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
,
Jay Leno James Douglas Muir Leno ( ; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, and writer. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Tonight Show'' from 1992 until 200 ...
,
Conan O'Brien Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, actor, and producer. He is best known for having hosted Late-night talk show, late-night talk shows, beginning with ''Late Night with Conan O'B ...
, and
Andy Richter Paul Andrew Richter (born October 28, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and talk show announcer. He is best known as the sidekick for Conan O'Brien on O'Brien's talk shows: '' Late Night'' and ''The Tonight Show'' on NBC and '' Cona ...
are shown in archival news and media footage pertaining to the release of the original film.


Production


Development

After the massive success of ''
The Blair Witch Project ''The Blair Witch Project'' is a 1999 American psychological horror film written, directed, and edited by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez. One of the most successful independent films of all time, it is a " found footage" pseudo-docume ...
'',
Artisan An artisan (from , ) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art, sculpture, clothing, food ite ...
was eager to produce a sequel while the film's popularity was still at its peak. However, Haxan Films, who created the original film, was not ready to begin work on a follow-up, preferring to wait until the initial buzz had died down. In late 1999, Artisan decided to proceed without them, organizing script competition with four writers—
Jon Bokenkamp Jon Bokenkamp (born September 9, 1974 in Kearney, Nebraska) is an American writer and producer best known for his role in writing the screenplays for '' Taking Lives'' and '' The Call'', and creating the NBC series ''The Blacklist'' along with ' ...
, Neal Marshall Stevens, Robert Parigi and an unknown writer—to separately write four different scripts, planning to choose the best one or combine them together.
Joe Berlinger Joseph Berlinger (born October 30, 1961) is an American documentary filmmaker and producer. Particularly focused on true crime documentaries, Berlinger's films and docu-series draw attention to social justice issues in the US and abroad in such ...
, known for his work on true crime documentaries, was shown scripts. He rejected them due to not being interested in making found footage movies. Instead, he presented Artisan his own treatment focusing on new characters and omitting series mythology. Artisan continued developing other scripts before greenlighting the Berlinger treatment. Berlinger hired his previous collaborator Dick Beebe to co-write the script, which became more mythology-centered than originally pitched. In 2018, Robert Parigi revealed the plot of his script on a podcast, which was inspired by a real story of a person wrongly convicted of murder. After his release he takes a camera and records everything around him in case he would be suspected in any crimes again for proof of his innocence: Heather reappears with witch symbols all over her body in front of two teens in a tent in the woods. She becomes a suspect in Mike and Josh's disappearances, develops PTSD and starts to take her camera everywhere. In hopes of proving her innocence and finding out what happened with her in the woods, she goes back there with a group of people. In the style of a
whodunit A ''whodunit'' (less commonly spelled as ''whodunnit''; a colloquial elision of "Who asdone it?") is a complex plot-driven variety of detective fiction Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an criminal ...
, people in the group start disappearing and everyone becomes a suspect. Part of the group is revealed to be a cult trying to create a new Blair Witch through a ritual in an underground chamber using Heather and the male character. While developing the screenplay, Berlinger spent time in the real town of Burkittsville (the setting of ''The Blair Witch Project'') undertaking research and interviewing locals on how the release of the film had impacted their lives. Many of the individuals Berlinger interviewed served as direct inspirations for the characters featured in the film. His core theme when composing the screenplay with Beebe was that the evil attributed to the Blair Witch may "be human in origin as opposed to supernatural". According to Berlinger, the character of Erica represented an aspect of this, specifically the frustrations that the
Wicca Wicca (), also known as "The Craft", is a Modern paganism, modern pagan, syncretic, Earth religion, Earth-centred religion. Considered a new religious movement by Religious studies, scholars of religion, the path evolved from Western esote ...
n community voiced after the release of ''The Blair Witch Project'', which some felt misconstrued the tenets of Wicca and showed their religion in a negative light. Berlinger was also inspired by the "lazy consumption of media" that led many to accept ''The Blair Witch Project'' as a true documentary; specifically, "how readily he public iswilling to accept that something shot on video is real". He elaborated: "On one hand, ''Blair Witch 2'' works as a standard horror movie...but it also is a meditation on violence in the media, and the nature of fanaticism and obsession...and the dangers of blurring the lines between reality and fiction". Additionally, Berlinger incorporated elements of real-life subjects and places featured in his 1996 true crime documentary '' Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills'', as well as narrative components of the stage play ''
Six Characters in Search of an Author ''Six Characters in Search of an Author'' ( ) is an Italian play by Luigi Pirandello, written and first performed in 1921. An absurdist metatheatric play about the relationship among authors, their characters, and theatre practitioners, it p ...
'' by
Luigi Pirandello Luigi Pirandello (; ; 28 June 1867 – 10 December 1936) was an Italians, Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer whose greatest contributions were his plays. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his bold and ...
.


Casting

Berlinger based his casting decisions largely on group chemistry between the actors, as the film was anchored exclusively in their collective experience. The casting period, according to Berlinger, only lasted for six weeks, in New York City. Originally, Tristine Skyler auditioned for the role played by Erica Leerhsen, while Leerhsen auditioned for the role played by Kim Director. Upon casting Leerhsen, who in reality was a short-haired blonde, Berlinger fitted her with hair extensions and had her hair dyed red for the part. Jeffrey Donovan had also originally auditioned for the role played by Stephen Barker Turner, but Berlinger felt him a better fit for the leader of the group.


Filming

Principal photography of ''Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2'' occurred over a period of 44 days in the spring of 2000 on location outside of
Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...
by cinematographer Nancy Schreiber. The exposition scenes featuring the characters camping were filmed on location in Gwynns Falls Leakin Park, and the stone ruins of the Rustin Parr house were constructed there out of styrofoam. The scene featuring Tristen in the hospital was shot at an abandoned sanitarium in Baltimore. Jeff's loft house in the film is actually the Clipper Mill, located on the edge of Baltimore. The documentary footage that opens the film features interviews from real residents of Burkittsville, Maryland. Because the original film had been parodied so much since its release, Berlinger deliberately avoided using any
shaky camera Shaky camera,Jonas Mekas, Mekas, Jonas. "A Note on the Shaky Camera." ''Film Culture'', issues 24-27, 1962. shaky cam, jerky camera, queasy cam, run-and-gun or free camera is a cinematographic technique where Image stabilization, stable-image tech ...
work and "the tylisticclichés of bad documentary filmmaking", opting to maintain an aesthetic at odds with the documentary form.


Post-production

Stylistically, ''Book of Shadows'' was the direct opposite of its predecessor: though the film occasionally utilizes the
point of view Point of View or Points of View may refer to: Concept and technique * Point of view (literature) or narrative mode, the perspective of the narrative voice; the pronoun used in narration * Point of view (philosophy), an attitude how one sees or ...
camcorder/
pseudo-documentary A pseudo-documentary or fake documentary is a film or video production that takes the form or style of a documentary film but does not portray real events. Rather, scripted and fictional elements are used to tell the story. The pseudo-documentary, ...
format used in the first movie, ''Book of Shadows'' more closely resembles the glossy, big-budget special effects-laden horror films that ''Blair Witch'' was a counter to. Berlinger has stated that he originally made the film with more of an ambiguous tone that focused on the characters' psychological unraveling after their night spent in the Black Hills, but Artisan forced him to re-cut the film and re-shoot certain scenes to add more "traditional" horror movie elements, thus creating what they saw as a more "commercial" film. Namely, the footage of the main characters murdering the foreign tourists was shot in Berlinger's backyard mere weeks prior to the film's release date, and was incorporated in the film as flash cuts to add more visual violence. Furthermore, expository footage showing Jeff in a psychiatric hospital was also shot at the request of Artisan executives; these scenes were filmed at the Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center on
Randall's Island Randalls Island (sometimes called Randall's Island) and Wards Island are conjoined islands, collectively called Randalls and Wards Island, in New York City.
in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. Berlinger later stated that he felt the gory sequences incorporated into the film "fought against the ambiguity etried to nurture". Additionally, the interrogation sequences which are intercut throughout the film were, per Berlinger's director's cut, arranged as a single eight-minute-long sequence bookending the film. Instead, the studio requested Berlinger cut the sequence into isolated vignettes and intercut them throughout the film. This compromised Berlinger's original vision of a "linear" narrative that begins "as a lighthearted romp in the woods...almost as a spoof of the
lair Witch Lair may refer to: __NOTOC__ * ''Lair'' (novel), a 1979 novel by James Herbert * ''Lair'' (video game), a 2007 video game * ''The Lair'', a 2007–2008 American gay-themed vampire television series * ''The Lair'' (2022 film), a 2022 action horro ...
phenomenon" before descending into a "downward spiral". The original cut of the film also featured
Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...
's "
Witchcraft Witchcraft is the use of Magic (supernatural), magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meanin ...
" during the opening credits, but was replaced by the studio with " Disposable Teens" by
Marilyn Manson Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), known professionally as Marilyn Manson, is an American rock musician. He is the lead singer and the only original member remaining of the Marilyn Manson (band), same-titled band he founded in 1989. Th ...
.


Music

Carter Burwell Carter Benedict Burwell (born November 18, 1954) is an American film composer. He has frequently collaborated with the Coen brothers, having scored most of their films. He has also scored films by other directors such as Bill Condon, Todd Haynes ...
composed the film's
original score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cue (theatrical), cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the ...
, which was released on October 24, 2000. Additionally, a
soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...
was released through
Posthuman Posthuman or post-human is a concept originating in the fields of science fiction, futurology, contemporary art, and philosophy that means a person or entity that exists in a state beyond being human. The concept aims at addressing a variety of ...
and
Priority Records Priority Records is an American distribution company and record label known for artists including N.W.A, Ice Cube, MC Ren, Eazy-E, Master P, Snoop Dogg, Mos Def, Silkk the Shocker, Jay-Z, Paris, Mack 10, 504 Boyz, Brotha Lynch Hung, ...
on October 17, 2000, featuring songs by several
alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...
groups.


Release


Marketing

Though ''Book of Shadows marketing campaign made no attempt to present the film as a "true story", a promotional "dossier" for the film, compiled by D.A. Stern, was released, including fabricated police reports and interviews surrounding the events in the film as if they were fact (a similar "dossier", also by Stern, was released as a companion piece to the first film). Additionally, similar to the first movie, each of the main characters retain the first names of their respective actors, though their surnames are changed slightly. On September 29, 2000, the film's teaser trailer was released on the internet, available for streaming exclusively on ''
Yahoo! Yahoo (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web portal that provides the search engine Yahoo Search and related services including My Yahoo, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, y!entertainment, yahoo!life, and its a ...
''. The trailer shows a half-naked woman with a twana symbol behind her back, discovering Book of Shadows in the woods, before she is attacked by an unknown man. Beginning on October 18, a three-day online "Blair Witch Webfest" was launched, which included involvement from artist
Marilyn Manson Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), known professionally as Marilyn Manson, is an American rock musician. He is the lead singer and the only original member remaining of the Marilyn Manson (band), same-titled band he founded in 1989. Th ...
, whose music was featured on the film's soundtrack. The cyber-convention included a contest whose grand prize winner received tickets to the opening of Manson's tour in
Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
, as well as a private screening of ''Book of Shadows'' with Manson in attendance. On October 22, the Sci-Fi Channel premiered ''Shadow of the Blair Witch'', a
pseudo-documentary A pseudo-documentary or fake documentary is a film or video production that takes the form or style of a documentary film but does not portray real events. Rather, scripted and fictional elements are used to tell the story. The pseudo-documentary, ...
following ''Book of Shadows''s protagonist, Jeff and others who are transfixed by the Blair Witch phenomenon. The documentary recontextualizes ''Book of Shadows'' as being a Hollywood film based upon actual events that happened in the Blair Witch universe. The fictional documentary charts both the mythology of the Blair Witch alongside Jeff's criminal prosecution for the murders depicted in the film.


Home media

Artisan Home Entertainment released ''Book of Shadows'' on
VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...
on February 20, 2001. Also on March 13, a double-sided
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
+ CD package was released; the disc was marketed as being the "first ever DVD+CD". Side one (DVD) included the feature film along with audio commentaries, production notes, a live music video, and the " Secret of Esrever" featurette as bonus materials. Side 2 (CD) featured three tracks from the official soundtrack, as well as Carter Burwell's full musical score. Additionally, Artisan released a media package called "The Blair Witch Experience", which included the original film on DVD, the ''Book of Shadows'' DVD+CD, the three-piece ''
Blair Witch ''Blair Witch'' is an American horror film, horror media franchise created by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez (director), Eduardo Sánchez, distributed by Artisan Entertainment (now Lionsgate) and produced by Haxan Films that consists of thr ...
'' PC game series, and a necklace of the stickman figures featured in the films. A
Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
version of the film has yet to be released in the United States, but versions have been released in
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
and
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, in a double feature with the first film. The Spanish disc debuted on September 30, 2020 in a retro-themed VHS package. The disc contains only a handful of the extras found on the DVD. The Australian disc was released through Imprint Films on October 30, 2024 and contains new and archival extras.


"The Secret of Esrever"

Much like the first ''Blair Witch'', ''Book of Shadows'' also featured a marketing
gimmick A gimmick is a novel device or idea designed primarily to attract attention or increase appeal, often with little intrinsic value. When applied to retail marketing, it is a unique or quirky feature designed to make a product or service "stand out ...
, although this one centered on the film's video release, fully exploiting video technology. Both the DVD and VHS releases came with a featurette detailing "The Secret of Esrever" ("Esrever" is the word ''reverse'' spelled backwards), a number of near-
subliminal message Subliminal stimuli (; ' literally "below" or "less than") are any sensory stimuli below an individual's threshold or limit for conscious perception, in contrast to stimuli (above threshold). Visual stimuli may be quickly flashed before an indiv ...
s in the form of hidden words and images that were placed throughout the film. The featurette encouraged viewers to watch certain scenes in reverse and/or frame-by-frame in order to decode the "secret", and, through scrambled letters flashed throughout the program, offered five clues to where they could be found: "door", "water", "mirror", "rug" and "grave". These images were not included in the theatrical cut of the film, and were rather added specifically for the original home video releases. Subsequent releases, particularly in digital formats, did not have the clues. An example of these messages can be seen in a scene early in the film where the main characters are in a graveyard, standing behind a tombstone inscribed with the word "Treacle". The shot briefly cuts away and then cuts back, though the same tombstone now reads "Further". This is seen for approximately one second until it cuts away again, and the tombstone once again reads "Treacle" for the remainder of the scene. When all of the clues were identified, the hidden words, when put in the correct order, spelled out "seek me no further", plus an extra hidden word, "or". Viewers could then go to the official Blair Witch website and type the words into a special search box: typing "seek me no further" would play an extra scene from the film, and typing "seek me no further or" would enable them to add their name to a list of people who had also decoded the message. When complete, the full message is "seek me no further or die". As of 2008, this function is no longer available.


Reception


Box office

''Book of Shadows'' had its world premiere at the
Grauman's Chinese Theatre Grauman's Chinese Theatre, known as the Chinese colloquially and officially billed as TCL Chinese Theatre for sponsorship reasons, is a movie palace on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, Unite ...
in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
on October 24, 2000. It was released theatrically on 3,600 screens in six countriesincluding United States, Canada, and the United Kingdomon October 27. In the United States, the film debuted at number 2 at the box office, earning $13 million during its opening weekend playing on 3,317 screens. After eight weeks, it finished with a total domestic gross of $26,421,314. Overall, internationally the film grossed $47,737,094.


Critical response

''Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2'' was poorly reviewed by critics. Audiences polled by
CinemaScore CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data. Background Ed Mintz, who ...
gave the film an average grade of "D−" on an A+ to F scale. In a review published in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'': "Everything—and I mean everything—that made ''The Blair Witch Project'' a little indie masterpiece has been falsified and trashed in this spectacularly bad sequel".
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
, who gave the first film four stars (out of four), gave ''Book of Shadows'' two stars, calling it "a muddled, sometimes-atmospheric effort that could have come from many filmmakers" and "not a very lucid piece of filmmaking".
Owen Gleiberman Owen Gleiberman (born February 24, 1959) is an American film critic who has been chief film critic for '' Variety'' magazine since May 2016, a title he shares with . Previously, Gleiberman wrote for ''Entertainment Weekly'' from 1990 until 2014. ...
of ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
'' awarded the film a C−, calling it "a flat heebie jeebies thriller". Alternately Kirk Honeycutt of ''
The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' wrote that the film is "better made than the original, and its writing contains a subtlety and wit the original film lacked". Anwar Brett of the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
rated the film three out of four stars, calling it "a chilling, highly effective journey made with intelligence and a handful of effective, goose-bump-inducing moments". Gene Armstrong, writing for the ''
Arizona Daily Star The ''Arizona Daily Star'' is an American daily newspaper based in Tucson, Arizona, and owned by Lee Enterprises. It serves Tucson and surrounding districts of Southern Arizona in the United States. History 1877–1925 L. C. Hughes was the ...
'', described the film as inventive and praising it for its exploration of themes such as individual perception and the psychological effects of popular
folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...
. Shawn Levy of ''
The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the West Coast of the United States, U.S. West Coast, founded as a weekly by Tho ...
'' wrote that there are moments of pleasure, humor, and terror in the film, adding that it has "some clever things to say about the media and pop culture." Luke Y. Thompson of the ''
Dallas Observer ''Dallas Observer'' is a free digital and print publication based in Dallas, Texas. The ''Observer'' publishes daily online coverage of local news, restaurants, music, and arts, as well as longform narrative journalism. A weekly print issue circ ...
'' said the film "deserves points for creativity" but is "not entirely successful". Margaret McGurk of ''
The Cincinnati Enquirer ''The Cincinnati Enquirer'' is a morning daily newspaper published by Gannett in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. First published in 1841, the ''Enquirer'' is the last remaining daily newspaper in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, altho ...
'' noted prominent documentary influences present in the film, comparing elements of the psychiatric hospital sequences to
Frederick Wiseman Frederick Wiseman (born January 1, 1930) is an American filmmaker, documentarian, and theater director. His work is primarily about exploring American institutions. In 2017, ''The New York Times'' called him "one of the most important and origina ...
's ''
Titicut Follies ''Titicut Follies'' is a 1967 American direct cinema documentary film produced, written, and directed by Frederick Wiseman and filmed by John Marshall. It deals with the patient-inmates of Bridgewater State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, ...
'': "Even well-versed moviegoers may not catch some of the most interesting aspects of ''Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2''. That's because they refer to, draw upon and mimic documentaries, which as a genre represent the least-seen movies in America. No surprise there". Chris Kaltenbach of ''
The Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local, regional, national, and international news. Founded in 1837, the newspaper was owned by Tribune Publi ...
'' noted that the film "gets credit for avoiding the easy path. Too bad the path it chooses doesn't lead us anywhere we want to be taken". Jack Mathews of the ''
New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...
'' panned the film, awarding it a one-and-a-half star-rating and writing that "the characters are boring, the violence generic, the suspense nonexistent".
Wesley Morris Wesley Morris (born December 19, 1975) is an American film critic and podcast host. He is currently critic-at-large for ''The New York Times'', as well as co-host, with J Wortham, of the ''New York Times'' podcast '' Still Processing.'' Previou ...
of ''
The San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and has been published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst and the flagship of the H ...
'' called the film "throwaway megaplex fodder", while Melody Moss of
Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
's '' The Stranger'' wrote: "This film is so bad, no amount of high-priced marketing tools—glitzy trailers, live webcasts, star-studded soundtrack CDs—can save it. And the motivation behind this dreck is all too clear: pure and simple greed". Web reviewers such as Berge Garabedian of JoBlo.com gave the film a favorable review, calling it a "decent psychological mystery filled with paranoia and delusions, which messes with your head and demands that you keep thinking about it, even after you've left the theatre". Laura Clifford of ''Reeling Reviews'' also praised the film, writing: "It's a surprisingly intelligent and welcome addition to a genre that's usually a dumping ground for low budget efforts".


Accolades


Retrospective assessment

Contemporary reviews of the film have been more positive. In a 2016 article published by ''
Bloody Disgusting Bloody Disgusting is an American independent multi-media company, which began as a horror genre-focused news website specializing in information services that covered various horror media. The company expanded into other media including podcast ...
'', Brendan Morrow defended the film, calling it "an excellent 'descent into madness film'" and noted the studio's intervention in post-production: "In ''Book of Shadows'', Berlinger took his hatred of the first movie's dishonesty and made an entire film out of it, commenting on the danger of blurring the line between fiction and reality. Had Artisan stayed out of the edit bay and let the man do his job, perhaps ''Book of Shadows'' could have been something truly special". Another retrospective published by ''
Collider A collider is a type of particle accelerator that brings two opposing particle beams together such that the particles collide. Compared to other particle accelerators in which the moving particles collide with a stationary matter target, collid ...
'' noted: "One can see interesting ideas about possession, filmmaking, and belief littered throughout, but the ilm'snarrative is overworked to the point that no concept or storyline really gains much momentum". In ''Movies in American History: An Encyclopedia'' (2011), film scholar Phillip Dimare notes: "While the film's premise of self-consciously examining the concept of cult films in general is an interesting example of intertextual play, the sequel lack the aesthetic minimalism of the first film; instead, it tried to make the Blair Witch more tangible and sensationalistic... the horror of ''Book of Shadows'' was just too imagistically present".


Sequel

In September 2009, Ed Sánchez and
Daniel Myrick Daniel Myrick (born September 3, 1963) is an American film director, most famous for horror films, especially for co-directing and writing the 1999 psychological horror ''The Blair Witch Project'' with Eduardo Sánchez (director), Eduardo Sánch ...
announced their intent to produce ''Blair Witch 3''. The film would be a direct sequel to the first film, would potentially contain the actors from the first film in some context, and would not refer to any of the events from ''Book of Shadows'', given the film's status as a
film within a film A story within a story, also referred to as an embedded narrative, is a literary device in which a character within a story becomes the narrator of a second story (within the first one). Multiple layers of stories within stories are sometimes ...
. In 2011, Sánchez remarked that further development on a sequel depended on getting Lionsgate to approve the idea and for his and Myrick's schedule to match up. The film went into
development hell Development hell, also known as development purgatory or development limbo, is media and software industry jargon for a project, concept, or idea that remains in a stage of early development for a long time because of legal, technical, or artistic ...
. At
San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book convention and multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Founded in 1970, originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fant ...
in July 2016, a film ''The Woods'' turned out to be the sequel to ''The Blair Witch Project'', entitled ''
Blair Witch ''Blair Witch'' is an American horror film, horror media franchise created by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez (director), Eduardo Sánchez, distributed by Artisan Entertainment (now Lionsgate) and produced by Haxan Films that consists of thr ...
''.


Notes


References


Sources

* * * *


External links

* * {{Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel 2000 films 2000 horror films 2000s psychological horror films 2000s supernatural horror films American horror thriller films American psychological horror films American self-reflexive films American supernatural horror films American sequel films Artisan Entertainment films 2 English-language horror films Films about films Films about witchcraft Films based on urban legends Films directed by Joe Berlinger Films scored by Carter Burwell Films set in 1998 Films set in 1999 Films set in Maryland Films shot in Baltimore Films shot in New York City Films with screenplays by Joe Berlinger Golden Raspberry Award–winning films Haxan Films films Lionsgate films Metafictional works 2000s English-language films 2000s American films