Saturday, January 22, 2011

Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows (2000)

I've always liked Blair Witch 2.  It has an interesting cast -- Jeffrey Donovan made it big in TV over the last few years, and Erica Leerhsen went on to become a bit of genre actress, appearing in flicks such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Wrong Turn 2.  

BW2 catches up with the town of Burkittsville, Maryland after all the hype created by The Blair Witch Project.  Burkittsville has now become a tourist attraction for people looking to see if the witch is real.  Locals are cashing in by selling rocks, twigs, and dirt "associated" with the witch and the landmarks mentioned in the first movie.

One especially entrepreneurial gentlemen, Jeffrey (Jeffrey Donovan) sells Blair Witch memorabilia on the internet, and has started organizing Blair Witch tours.  On his inaugural tour, he has Kim (Kim Director), Erica (Erica Leerhsen), Tristen (Tristine Skylar), and Stephen (Stephen Barker Turner). 

The first stop on the trip is Rustin Parr's house, where the group decides to set up camp for the night. They smoke and booze heavily, and wake up in the morning to their camera equipment and belongings destroyed.  They assume that they blacked out for several hours during the night, and rely on the tapes from the evening to piece together what happened.

They return to Jeffrey's house to watch the tapes, but quickly realize that all is not what it seems.   They all start seeing and sharing strange visions, and begin to turn on each other as they become more and more paranoid. 

I know this movie gets a pretty bad rap, but I actually really like it.  I think the story is pretty cool and the ending is interesting.  There were several really creepy moments in the movie and I think the actors carried them off pretty well.  I know I'm probably going to get crucified (or disemboweled at Coffin Rock...ha!) for liking this movie, but I'm sticking to it.

0 comments: