The Blair Witch Project

Starring:Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, Michael C. Williams, Bob Griffith, Jim King (IV), Sandra SÃ¡nchez (II), Ed Swanson, Patricia DeCou, Mark Mason (III), Jackie Hallex, Frank Pastor, Rachel Braaten, Elaine Stebbins, Tom Williams, Randy Campbell (II), Dottie Corrington, Stephen Edwards, Bill Dreggors, Buck Buchanan, Charlie Carlson
Director: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo SÃ¡nchez (II)
Studio: Lions Gate
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
The Blair Witch Project
Anyone who has even the slightest trouble with insomnia after seeing a horror movie should stay away from The Blair Witch Project--this film will creep under your skin and stay there for days. Credit for the effectiveness of this mock documentary goes to filmmakers Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez, who armed three actors (Heather Donahue, Michael Williams, and Josh Leonard) with video equipment, camping supplies, and rough plot outlines. They then let the trio loose into the Maryland woods to improvise and shoot the entire film themselves as the filmmakers attempted to scare the crap out of them. Gimmicky, yes, but it worked--to the wildly successful tune of $130 million at the box office upon its initial release (the budget was a mere $40,000).

For those of you who were under a rock when it first hit the theaters, The Blair Witch Project tracks the doomed quest of three film students shooting a documentary on the Burkittsville, Maryland, legend of the Blair Witch. After filming some local yokels (and providing only scant background on the witch herself), the three, led by Heather (something of a witch herself), head into the woods for some on-location shooting. They're never seen again. What we see is a reconstruction of their "found" footage, edited to make a barely coherent narrative. After losing their way in the forest, whining soon gives way to real terror as the three find themselves stalked by unknown forces that leave piles of rocks outside their campsite and stick-figure art projects in the woods. (As Michael succinctly puts it, "No redneck is this clever!") The masterstroke of the film is that you never actually see what's menacing them; everything is implied, and there's no terror worse than that of the unknown. If you can wade through the tedious arguing--and the shaky, motion-sickness-inducing camerawork--you'll be rewarded with an oppressively sinister atmosphere and one of the most frightening denouements in horror-film history. Even after you take away the monstrous hype, The Blair Witch Project remains a genuine, effective original. --Mark Englehart

Curse of the Blair Witch
Are you wondering just exactly who the Blair Witch was? What the Burkittsville, Maryland, legend was all about? Or what exactly fascinated student filmmaker Heather and what possibly took her, Mike, and Josh from this earth? Get all your background questions answered by Curse of the Blair Witch, a one-stop-shopping "documentary" originally produced for the Sci-Fi Channel as a tie-in marketing tool. Entirely fictionalized, Curse of the Blair Witch focuses both on the past and the present, with copious info on the Blair Witch myth as well as on the disappearance of Heather, Josh, and Mike. As it turns out, the original witch was one Elly Kedward, who was accused in 1785 of taking blood from several children; she was subsequently banished to the harsh winter woods and left for dead. Her grisly and bloody legacy involves missing children, polluted water, disemboweled men, and a serial killer of children who claims to have been haunted by "an old woman ghost." Aside from some ineffective "newsreel" footage of the serial killer, all this intriguing information is presented convincingly and chillingly. Curse may in fact freak you out more than the movie, and it evokes the great, pulpy In Search Of series of the '70s, one of the prime inspirations for filmmakers Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez. News clips of the search for Heather, Josh, and Mike lend a vÃ©ritÃ© atmosphere to the proceedings, but shed little light on their mysterious disappearance or their characters. Basically, it's a tease to go see the movie. Still, The Blair Witch Project provided only ever-so-slight information on the legend that haunted the forest, so you'll want this cleverly constructed mock documentary to supplement your knowledge of the film. --Mark Englehart

Average customer rating:

SCARED THE HELL OUT OF ME!

Much better than its reputation

Scary now? No. Scary then? Yea

My colonoscopy had more twists and turns

The best movie marketing - EVER!!

The Blair Witch Project
Starring: Heather Donahue , Joshua Leonard , Michael C. Williams , Bob Griffith , and Jim King (IV)
Director: Eduardo Sánchez (II) , and Daniel Myrick
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
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ASIN: B00001QGUM
Release Date: 1999-10-22

Amazon.com

The Blair Witch Project
Anyone who has even the slightest trouble with insomnia after seeing a horror movie should stay away from The Blair Witch Project--this film will creep under your skin and stay there for days. Credit for the effectiveness of this mock documentary goes to filmmakers Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez, who armed three actors (Heather Donahue, Michael Williams, and Josh Leonard) with video equipment, camping supplies, and rough plot outlines. They then let the trio loose into the Maryland woods to improvise and shoot the entire film themselves as the filmmakers attempted to scare the crap out of them. Gimmicky, yes, but it worked--to the wildly successful tune of $130 million at the box office upon its initial release (the budget was a mere $40,000).

For those of you who were under a rock when it first hit the theaters, The Blair Witch Project tracks the doomed quest of three film students shooting a documentary on the Burkittsville, Maryland, legend of the Blair Witch. After filming some local yokels (and providing only scant background on the witch herself), the three, led by Heather (something of a witch herself), head into the woods for some on-location shooting. They're never seen again. What we see is a reconstruction of their "found" footage, edited to make a barely coherent narrative. After losing their way in the forest, whining soon gives way to real terror as the three find themselves stalked by unknown forces that leave piles of rocks outside their campsite and stick-figure art projects in the woods. (As Michael succinctly puts it, "No redneck is this clever!") The masterstroke of the film is that you never actually see what's menacing them; everything is implied, and there's no terror worse than that of the unknown. If you can wade through the tedious arguing--and the shaky, motion-sickness-inducing camerawork--you'll be rewarded with an oppressively sinister atmosphere and one of the most frightening denouements in horror-film history. Even after you take away the monstrous hype, The Blair Witch Project remains a genuine, effective original. --Mark Englehart

Customer Reviews:

SCARED THE HELL OUT OF ME!.......2007-06-27

I didn't see this movie during it's theater release. I saw it on dvd and it scared the hell out of me. It still does. Three college students doing a documentary on the Blair Witch of Maryland get lost in the woods where said witch supposedly lives. Sounds pretty simple, huh?

The way this film was shot makes you feel like you are there with the 3 students. However, you can't see what's going on. You vaguely discern strange noises. And the "messages" left by the witch are confusing in that you don't know what the hell they are. All you know is something is really horribly going wrong. The students who began their journey with such arrogance are terrified and crying at the journey's end.

Whether the witch is just that or a madman, one never knows. So much of the film is speculation which I feel heightens the fear factor.

People who are fans of physical horror films will not appreciate this film. I am a fan of psychological horror films and this film, I believe, fits that genre.

Much better than its reputation.......2007-06-24

It seems many people dislike this film because they think the entirety of its reputation lay in the confusion/publicity campaign generated at the time of its release as to whether it was a real film found in the woods of Maryland that documented the disappearance of three college students or whether it was just a movie. What made this film scary in 1999 and scary now is what you don't see and what you think you hear as well as the growing paranoia and fright of the college kids lost in the woods over a period of days that find - as they run out of food and supplies - that they are just wandering in circles.

The very last scene is particularly chilling, and if you already know how it ends it will kill some of the fright factor for you. However, this film just proved in 1999, as it still does, that you don't have to fill a horror film with wall-to-wall state-of-the-art CGI visual effects and shocking violence in order to be scary. I personally think the horror genre has been much worse off since Jason and his ilk first invaded the movies back in 1980 with graphic violence that is predictable and, quite frankly, boring. As much as I like this movie, the sequel, "Book of Shadows", is just awful. Its makers Hollywoodized the original concept and thus made it completely incoherent and unwatchable. Avoid it at all costs.

Scary now? No. Scary then? Yea.......2007-06-19

If you saw it in the theater on opening night, you know what i'm talking about. At that time, whether it was real or a hoax was for the most part unknown. In this context, it was very scary. If you missed it in August 1999, then its too late. It was a one shot deal.

My colonoscopy had more twists and turns.......2007-06-03

It's a shame we don't really know what happens at the end because I would have liked to send a "Thank You" note to the witch for finally putting me out of my misery.

Fabulous concept - miserable experience.

PS: By the way, I don't care how frightened a person is... they should always wipe the snot from their nose if they're crying.

The best movie marketing - EVER!!.......2007-05-19

Okay, so the movie was passable at best, and has not aged as well as say "The Wizard of Oz," but that other movie is filled with happy munchkins and painted horses. THIS movie is dark, creepy, and does NOT have a happy ending (yaay!)

To truly understand this movie you really have to step back to 1999 (c.e.) and hear the rumors of "the Blair Witch" from friends, the fledgling internet (which has only a few hundred thousand indexed websites anyone really visits, not the billions of pages with youtube and myspace now. In fact, this movie WAS youtube. You see, we all heard the whisperings of some dumb kids who got lost in the forest and got killed. Then the Discovery channel had a special on "The Blair Witch" the day before the movie came out. THAT was what cemented the marketing.

The problem with the (fake) "documentary" was hat it was just a little too transparent. It made you want to believe (like you might want to believe in happy, friendly aliens) but it just seemed a bit cheesy and fake. Then there was the website. It was an "almost ran" but the fact that they were selling Blair Witch merchandise BEFORE the movie opened almost killed the entire scam.

So you sit down in your seat of a packed movie house and hear the nervous whispers of everyone else asking "is this real?" and then the movie starts - a real documentary. The rest is history. Shaky camera work that gives far too many people nausea, the sudden ending that shocks and angers people when hey realize they just got "punked" (before there was a "Punked" show). This is movie magic at a time when almost all competing movies were [...] formula - and let's not mention television. This movie shocked th public awake and almost - allllmost worked in a BIG way. If they had played their cards a bit closer to their vests and demanded the public believe, instead of hawking merchandise and fake documentaries for a few extra coins, they would have had a PT Barnum worth masterpiece scam on the public.

Nonetheless, the movie cost nothing to make, sold for 2 million at Cannes I believe, and made TONS of money in the first two weeks before dropping off the radar and finally becoming a pariah. forget the sequel. The only value the sequel has is to show young filmmakers that YOU TOO can get funding for your second project sight-unseen, if your first project slaps the general public awake.

And that is why this movie is priceless. Watching it on DVD you really lose a lot - kinda like watching the Woodtock (1969 - the REAL Woodstock) movie on DVD. If you weren't there, you really missed the whole point - sorry. But it is still a fun way to creep your friends out on a Saturday night.

The Blair Witch Project / Book of Shadows - Blair Witch 2 (Special Edition)

Average customer rating:

This movie spelled the end for the blair witch franchise
A mixed bag.
Everything is so clear now...
What might have been...
A modern FUTURE day anti-media fairy tale warning?,

The Blair Witch Project / Book of Shadows - Blair Witch 2 (Special Edition)
Starring: M Williams , and J Donovan
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ASIN: B00005NX14
Release Date: 2001-10-23

Customer Reviews:

This movie spelled the end for the blair witch franchise.......2006-02-09

As I sat through this movie, I wondered: WHAT were they thinking? The first movie was so original and so creepy, yet the second movie resorted to using tired old stereotypical characters - the goth chick, the crazy guy, the misunderstood wiccan - and none of those characters came across in a realistic way. The characters in this movie were so one-dimensional that it was painful to watch. It was almost as if they wanted to release SOMETHING, as fast as they could, in order to capitalize on the success of the first movie, that they didn't care about the quality of their work.

A mixed bag........2004-10-05

"The Blair Witch Project" is not a beautiful or profound movie; it is a really scary and entertaining one.
I like horror movies and I've seen dozens of them, by great directors (Murnau, Dreyer, Mamoulian, Browning, Tourneur, Murakami, Polanski, Kubrick etc.), uneven directors (Carpenter, Corman, Craven, Hooper, Raimi, Romero etc.), and bad directors (the vast majority - including of course Stephen King the film maker). Often those which we lazily categorize as "great horror movies" are not meant to be simply horror-genre movies: they often are psychological, even psychoanalytical, thrillers (think of Jacques Tourneur and Stanley Kubrick), social satires (Roman Polanski), fantasies (Haruki Murakami), allegories etc. However horror-genre movies are primarily (and often exclusively) meant to be scary entertainments; as such, I think "BW1" is a pretty good movie (as such, worthy of 4 stars). Quite the opposite is true of "BW2", which is an awful mess, a boring, ridiculous, poorly written, shot and acted trash-movie (0 stars - I abhor it). Avoid it.

Everything is so clear now..........2004-04-14

What type of moron decided, "Hey! Let's make a 'sequel" to the BWP," is probably the question on everyone's mind. I have the answer. STUPIDITY. I bet every person who went and saw the first movie went and saw the second one just out of morbid curiosity to see if it explained ANYTHING. I am guilty of this. My figuring was, "Hell, it can't get much worse than the first one..." Oh, was I wrong. The whole premise of the movie was this guy has this "tour" of the woods where the Blair Witch kids "died." The main characters are, The tour guy, the documentary couple, the wiccan, and of course there had to be a goth chick. What did you expect? Anyway. These people go shopping for booze and food and tromp into the woods and nothing really happens...or so they thought. This should have been my first clue to up and leave. Then out of nowhere the girl in the "couple" has a miscarriage and they rush to the hospital and she starts seeing this little girl. Oh. Yeah. They also got their equipment damaged and then found the tapes where the other tapes were in the ground. Sorry. After that, they go back to the tour guys house and that's where it gets "scary." Weird stuff starts happening, the girl in the couple starts going insane and they just happen to find that on the tapes they find some missing hours where they killed the people on the other tour and, I dunno, had some orgy-ish magic ritual? So. The wiccan goes missing and blah blah blah. In the end they thought the girl in the couple was the Blair Witch or something and kill her and then they get taken to jail and then come to find that they killed her when she was "sane" and that they also killed the Wiccan. The goth chick ends up killing the manager of the store, "Peggy." They all go to jail. The End. Moral? Kiddies, this is what happens when you sucker into stupid movies like The Blair Witch Project. Beware.

What might have been..........2003-10-05

I found this set in the bargain bin. It was inexpensive enough, so I bought it, being a fan of the original Blair Witch Project (and also coming from Orlando, like the film-makers), and having no idea what the sequel was like -- other than most people said it stank up the joint.

The set is a mixed bag. Despite some genuine hackle-raising moments (when the video camera is hunting in the dark and we hear, for God's sake LAUGHING CHILDREN in the woods), the original Blair Witch is uneven, with the improvised dialog occasionally backfiring. There are moments when the spell breaks and we can tell that the actors are self-consciously going for moments, rather than remaining immersed in their characters. But these are quibbles. The Blair Witch Project remains a stunning acheivement if for no other reason than its sheer audacity. The nerve of these guys, Myreck and Sanchez. The chutzpah. I admire it.

Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows is almost a good movie, and probably would have been, were it not for idiot studio bean-counters A) rushing the production (soup to nuts in ONE year), and B) interfering with the creative process. Listen to director Joe Berlinger's somewhat pained commentary track and you'll understand what I mean. His intent (which probably would have worked), was to go for a subversive, darkly satiric take on the so-called "Blair Witch phenomenon" and its subsequent backlash, while at the same time making a genuine psychological thriller on the nature of evil (human? occult? a mixture of both? he wanted it ambiguous).

Alas, while creative people and thoughtful film-goers like philosophical ambiguity, studio bosses don't. So they made him dumb it down. Berlinger is a gifted documentarian who should have been allowed, for his first feature film, to exercise his creative muscles in the realm of a fictional narrative. As it stands, a lot of carefully modulated effects are placed out of their original sequence. Only a viewing of his original cut would tell us if they would have worked better as originally conceived, but as it stands, Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows, is a noble ruin -- a film with some very good ideas that are not allowed to get very far. It's a shame.

The DVDs are chock-full of extras, including some nifty puzzles and creepy, hidden images. Overall, it's worth the purchase, if only as a cautionary tale to other would-be film-makers -- be they from Orlando, Florida, or anywhere else.

A modern FUTURE day anti-media fairy tale warning?, .......2003-08-16

I found Blair Witch 2 Book Of Shadows to be a vastly entertaining and insightfull commentary into media and popular culture, a modern FUTURE day anti-media fairy tale warning? Sinply this movies has a great story, very different and unique and definitely better than the Blair Witch 1. The knockout punch is it puts an original spin on the late 90's teen squeal series of Scream, Urban Legends, I Know What You Did Last Summer film genres and conversly puts them to shame. Extending on it's modern/future day society insights, one of the characters said he made money from ebay. I can relate to him as it's such a techno savvy and new age word to use. It extended on the original Blair Witch dvd commentary where the directors sold there camera on ebay...Though that's where the similarities end as 'Book Of Shadows' is not your standard home video camera farce. All in all it uses more sophisticated plot devices, well constructed dialogue and usual plethora of expensive camera angles. On top of that the DVD features comprehensive and value for money special features. Turn the DVD over and you have a CD album soundtrack which is not your standard low volume, classical score type: it's more a sonice band composition. Well worth using the DVD ROM for it has a full size script during the movie. So whilst it dosen't have complete special features you can utilise the script as replacement for subtitles.

Average customer rating:

All That I Need
A sad excuse for a movie
Interesting and Entertaining
Glad to see this out on DVD
Saw This Little Gem in the Theater

All That I Need
Starring: Audra J. Morgan; James Hergott
Director: James Hergott
Manufacturer: Imperia Entertainment
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ASIN: B000E2B04Y
Release Date: 2006-02-18

Product Description

A group of people start a money pyramid scheme. At first, everything is great, and people are making money and buying expensive cars and enjoying expensive lifestyles. As greed and selfishness set in, they turn on each other. Shot in cinema verite style

Customer Reviews:

All That I Need.......2006-02-25

I thought the movie had a very interesting storyline behind it however, I thought there was way too much screaming and yelling throughout the movie which distracted from the storyline. Most of the arguments and fighting looked too staged and there didn't appear to be a legitimate reason behind most of these arguments. Recognizing that the film was a low budget operation, I thought it was well done and well worth watching and I would certainly recommend it to anyone. Nice job Mr. Hergott....I personally think that you and your company have huge potential in the entertainment industry.

A sad excuse for a movie.......2006-02-22

Just check online for RELIABLE critiques or reviews. The company that made this movie has a habit of writing fake critiques to try to hype it up. But anyone with half a brain can pick them out. Pathetic.
Where's the "0 stars" option? Oh well, I guess a "1" will do.

Interesting and Entertaining.......2006-01-21

My husband and I saw "All That I Need" during its limited release in Scottsdale. It was an interesting commentary on get-rich-quick schemes and how friendships and relationships of all types can fall apart when money is involved. I myself learned my lesson a long time ago when it comes to money with friends, so it kindof drives home the point when seeing it in "All That I Need".

It's funny, dramatic, and tense all at the same time. It's not a large scale production picture, more of an independent film, and does its job for a smaller film. There was a lot of buzz for it around the Scottsdale area, I heard about it on a radio station, but it didn't stay long. I guess you have to have a multi-million dollar ad campaign to stay in the theaters for more than a couple of weeks now.

It contains some foul language and sexual situations, but overall, it's not offensive in the least for its R rating.

I gave it a 5, I would've given it a 4.5, because it's far from perfect, but amazon doesn't offer a half-star option. I'm feeling generous so I rounded up.

Check this out when it comes out on DVD, you won't be disappointed!

- Melinda

Glad to see this out on DVD.......2006-01-10

I should start out by saying I had no idea what I was going to see when I walked into the theater to see "All That I Need". We had either seen everything else or didn't want to see a kid's movie, so we decided to check this movie out. The only other movie I had ever walked into without a general knowledge of the plot from the trailer was "From Dusk til' Dawn". If you've ever seen that, imagine not knowing anything about the vampire aspect until the crazy medusa chick bites on Quentin. Yeah, freaked me out.

But I digress.

Fortunately "All That I Need" had no vampires. What it did have, however, was my attention through the whole thing. It's a documentary type movie about pyramid schemes. Since I had no knowledge of it to begin with, it was kinda hard to follow at first, but once you understand what is going on (which is conveniently explained in the dialogue), it really kinda sucks you in. This is no big budget blockbuster (say that five times fast), it's a cleverly conceived independent film that only got a limited run in the theaters, much less than it deserved. I won't go into anymore details or spoil the rest of it for you. Since it soon will be out on DVD, I can actually tell people to rent or buy it instead of going through the whole thing because I never thought they'd be able to see it (Sorry Matt!).

Anyway, hope you found this helpful.

Saw This Little Gem in the Theater.......2006-01-06

I can't wait for this to come out on DVD. I saw it in Irvine during its limited release. What a great film! Its not your usual feature film. Its like a documentary that goes further than that and gets truly outrageous. What an essay on the effects of greed.

Book of Shadows: Blair Witch Project 2 [Region 2]

Average customer rating:

Book of Shadows: Blair Witch Project 2 [Region 2]

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Average customer rating:

SCARY...CREEPY...WEIRD...

The Blair Witch Project [Region 2]
Starring: Heather Donahue , Joshua Leonard , Michael C. Williams , Bob Griffith , and Jim King (IV)
Director: Eduardo Sánchez (II) , and Daniel Myrick
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Customer Reviews:

SCARY...CREEPY...WEIRD..........2006-11-07

This is a film that one either loves or hates. Well, I am in the former category. My daughter and I saw this film when it was first released and, given its hype at the time, were inclined to think that it was no biggie. Well, we were wrong. My daughter was frightened out of her wits, and I must confess that I, too, was creeped out by this inventive and imaginative low budget film.

Shot with hand held cameras, it is an ostensible would-be documentary filmed by three young adults on a backwoods Maryland legend called the Blair Witch. Shortly after filming some of the local yokels in Burkettsville (once known as the town of Blair), Maryland, our three intrepid filmmakers enter the woods where the witch did her dastardly deeds.

Venturing ever deeper into the woods, what initially starts as a romp into local history slowly turns into a terror filled foray, where unknown entities nightly make spooky noises outside their campsite, leave behind cairns ostensibly built for each of them, and gelatinous deposits of an unknown origin are left on personal belongings. They also stumble upon an eerie site where a multitude of strange stick figures are found hanging oddly from trees. Lost in the woods, they stumble about these genuinely creepy woods, their fear ever escalating, as does that of the viewer.

As these young filmmakers are never seen nor heard from again, what happened to them can only be gleaned from their unedited film footage that was found sometime after their disappearance. This is what the viewer is actually watching, a sort of cinema verite. It is actually a film within a film. The shaky camera work adds an air of authenticity to the film, though it is a bit of a dizzying prospect.

Of course, there is no real Blair Witch Project, the film is a mock documentary, and the people in the films are just actors, but the directors, actors, and everyone involved in this film certainly understand the concept that less is more, turning in one of the spookiest, most original and inventive horror films ever to grace the silver screen.

Average customer rating:

Trial and Error Doesn't Work In This One.

Book of Shadows: Blair Witch Project 2 [Region 2]

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Customer Reviews:

Trial and Error Doesn't Work In This One........2006-10-02

In Burkitsville, Maryland, haunted in the past by Ellie, the Blair witch, the old Civil War era broom factory was comandeered by a local mental patient, Jeffrey Donovan. Since the first movie, groups of supernatural devotees make nocturnal visits the the Union Cemetery and the surrounding woods hunting for the victims who'd disappeared while recording the Blair Witch Project. The mental patient makes a good living off stealing the property from these unsuspecting hikers; the factory is full of stuff he sells on EBay. He accumulates the merchandise he offers by stashing most of it in his living quarters at the run down factory. He claims he was locked up in the padded room of the mental hospital at the time the first group vanished, leaving behind the video tapes which he hid under a rock wall.

The first account was wo swird it had to be a hoax. No one just disapperars (except Jimmy Hoffa) never to be found. The bodies of the group killed in the followup were discovered. The actors including Tristan Schyler moved in with this psycho and two of the girls were his victims in a ritualistic, drug-induced sex orgy. The Elvira character, Kim Diamond, dressed all in black with black makeup like the devil worshippers who vamp East Town Mall and use the public computers to look at human sacrifices on the Internet. She was responsible for the deaths of both girls, as she was involved in witchcraft and claimed to be possessed by Ellie. The tapes tell the whole story of hysteria and false illusions, as the murders were brutal and the victims tortured in a Satanic manner -- all on tape.

Finally, the police raid the factory and charge the mental patient and surviving video students from Montgomery College. This is all wrong. It was out-of-this-world (other-worldly) horrid in context and amateurish in the acting. I did not look for the hidden images. I could not wait to turn the awful thing off, as it was so bad.

Average customer rating:

Embrace Some Ambiguity, Baby.
It's not that bad...well, in a way
absolute insult to the origional!
Better than the first, Better than most....
bottom of the barrel film making

Book of Shadows: Blair Witch Project 2 [Region 2]

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The Blair Witch Project
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ASIN: B00005EAZS

Amazon.com

This thoroughly second-rate follow-up to the groundbreaking (and highly profitable) horror flick The Blair Witch Project--produced by Blair Witch directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez--plays with the notions of reality and fantasy that surrounded the hype of the original movie, and attempts to throw in some scares along the way. A year after the release of the original film, a group of five Blair Witch aficionados--four out-of-towners led by one seriously unhinged "tour guide"--venture into the woods outside Burkittsville, Maryland, on a tour of the sites made famous by missing documentarians Heather, Mike, and Josh. After a drunken night of camping out in hopes of communing with the spirit of the Blair Witch, the five wake up to find that their seemingly innocent sleep may have been disturbed somehow. But what exactly happened? If you're expecting suspense of the first degree and a horrifying payoff similar to the one that climaxed the first film, you'll be sorely disappointed. After retreating to an old, run-down broom factory (get it? Broom factory? Blair Witch? Oh well...), the five go over their videotapes of the night in question to get some answers, and basically wind up screaming at each other for the remainder of the film, and shedding some blood along the way. Documentary filmmaker Joe Berlinger (of the highly acclaimed Paradise Lost and Brother's Keeper) proves that he should definitely stick to nonfiction filmmaking, and the entire cast is grating and unpleasant, aside from a scene-stealing turn by Kim Director as a goth chick with attitude to burn and a no-nonsense approach to this Blair Witch stuff. Strictly for hard-core Blair Witch fans only, and even then this sequel may prove to disappoint. --Mark Englehart

Customer Reviews:

Embrace Some Ambiguity, Baby........2007-07-01

I love the first thirty minutes of this movie. I like the characters, the feel of things, the way the story is developing and the constant use of the soundtrack. Then, as the movie winds its way into "scare" mode, things start to stall and finally come to a screeching halt. But back to the good points. Kim Director is excellent as "Kim Diamond" the goth empath. I also liked Erika Leerhsen as overbearing "Wiccan Hottie" and Jeffery Donovan as the slightly crazy Jeff Patterson (In an homage to the first Blair Witch, the main characters have the same names as the actors portraying them). Tristan Skyler and Stephen B. Turner have taken a lot of flack on here for their portrayals of a researcher and his fiance, but they do the best with what they are given: the "serious" roles in the group of four people taking the inaugural trip on Jeff's "Blair Witch Hunt" tour of Burkittsville, MD, home of the Blair Witch. Look for product placement galore: Shinerbock beer, Pete's Wicked Ale, Moosehead Beer. The scenes at the convenience store are hilarious: the store only sells the above three beers! Also, the weird little hidden things that the DVD touts as the "Secrets of ESREVER!" are interesting to try to find.

The next two thirds of the movie is awful and not in a funny way. I never stop being disappointed in what I see. Much has been made of the movie "operating at a higher level" than a horror movie or suffering from its relationship to the original Blair Witch movie. Nothing could be further from the truth. This movie was promoted as a "real life" documentary that had to be altered slightly to avoid a lawsuit from the families of the victims. There was a made for TV movie called "Shadow of the Bliar Witch" released just before BW2 that played this up to the hilt: in it footage of the "REAL" Jeff Patterson and his "REAL" tour group are spliced in with "REAL" news footage from Burkittsville, etc., all in an attempt to make the viewer believe that BW2, like BW1, was based on real events. So, everything was set up to make a movie IN the "Blair Witch Mythos," but something bad happened along the way. It's my opinion that writer/ director Joe Berlinger really dropped the ball in his work on this movie and he proves it in his comments in the DVD booklet. He goes on and on about his "vision", etc., etc. and finally makes the statement that with BW2 he has "embraced ambiguity." In other words, he doesn't know what it means either. Well, that might be a good thing when one is describing their 12th grade charcoal drawing for art class, but it's not enough when one is attempting to justify screwing up what could have been a great movie.

It's not that bad...well, in a way.......2006-12-25

You know it's strange but I swore I could've remembered watching the entire film once. It's been on TV quite a few times and I remember watching it when I rented it but watching it recently I was surprised by how little I remembered of it. Walking around at the store, I noticed one of those patented gift sets where you can buy a set containing all the movies about a certain subject or filmmaker or franchise and sure enough there was a double-pack containing both Blair Witch films, a CD-Rom and a stick-man necklace. I thought I'd just review 2 since I haven't done that yet and found that while it's not Battlefield Earth or House of the Dead bad, there's a huge chunk of "missed opportunity syndrome" running rampant.

The original was a mock documentary that was advertised as the real deal. The sequel pretends it really did happen so we have 2 researchers (Tristan and Stephen), a goth chick (Kim) an unbelievably sexy Wicca (Erica) and a former mental patient/director (Jeff) who attend Jeff's tour of the famous sites. Only things, naturally, turn creepy and find everything totalled and hours missing. They go to Jeff's house where things get even more twisted and videotapes show lots of things that go bump in the night.

Cheesy story description I know but seriously, how else can I do it? As director Joe Berlinger says in the booklet, it would've been silly to continue the story of Josh, Mike and Heather since they're on and about and doing movies and TV shows so instead they have a story that pretends the movie was real, hence stuff like "man that movie was so cool, we really connected" or the trailer line "cause I thought the movie was cool". The one problem with the film was that it just didn't feel scary or suspenseful. Sure the story was interesting and the premise but nothing seemed to match the tent scene, the ending or even Heather's apology in the original.

The acting is kind of hit-or-miss. We get scene-stealing Kim Director who thankfully isn't that brooding "I love goth stuff, woo goth!" that I sometimes see and we get the unbelievably hot Erica Leerhsen who's also a talent to watch but then we get Lanny Flaherty who's ridiculously over-the-top or Stephen Barker Turner who almost tries too hard. But the film as a horror is only very marginally effective but at least the cast at times acts like it's worth a damn unlike the new wave of horror actors where it's like "please, write her off".

Book of Shadows is almost like those inoffensive films that I sometimes see: it didn't make me outright hate it, but I didn't really love it but I didn't feel I wasted my time.

absolute insult to the origional!.......2006-12-04

anyone who likes this sequal (i don't even consider it a sequal to BWP)is mentally retarded...or just like crappy movies.

Better than the first, Better than most...........2006-10-17

Okay, if I get one person to see this movie and like it as much as I did, I feel like I accomplished something. From the opening credits w/Marilyn Manson's 'Disposable Teens' set to a flurry of autumn colors and blood spatter to the whole 'nothing was what it seems' ending, this movie is classic in almost every way. Forget the fact it's a sequel. Forget anything that annoyed you about the first movie. Think of this as just 'Book of Shadows', not a sequel...Joe B. is a smart filmmaker, and at least this movie offers us something than the usual slasher fare; There are some truly unsettling developments in this movie; The production, art design, and acting are much better than most. I was most impressed with the reactions of the characters during the final 15 minutes of the movie, when things really start to fall apart; One of the last scenes involves a certain character(this is NOT a spolier....)screaming that what he had just saw on tape was not what he had seen himself in person; His reaction was just like mine would have been, and it was pretty intense to say the least. This movie got a raw deal. I'm sure someone out there agrees...

bottom of the barrel film making.......2006-06-29

this in name only sequel to the hit blair witch movies is the pits. the only good thing about it is they did try to make a different kind of film from the first.but having said that,that is the only good thing. the plot is a mess and the cast really gets on your nerves. the story about a group of kids taking a tour of the sites of the first movie and finding themselves in over their heads after a night where they can't remember what they did or how their campsite got torn up is very thin(i spoted the "twist" 5 mins. after it started)and it never gets you to belive in the story! SKIP IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Average customer rating:

Thrillers | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Average customer rating:

GLAD THEY GOT THEIR COMEUPPANCE
SCARY...CREEPY....ORIGINAL AND IMAGINATIVE...

Thrillers | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

The Blair Witch Project
Book of Shadows - Blair Witch 2

ASIN: B00004THFX

Customer Reviews:

GLAD THEY GOT THEIR COMEUPPANCE.......2007-02-03

This was an innovative idea that fizzled after about 20 minutes. This was due mainly to the very obnoxious behavior of the would-be adventurers who set out on this supposed ghost hunt.

These adolescents use four letter words in such a preponderance of pseudo intellectual ineptitude that I was hopping that they would all just vanish without a trace. They are the crudest, asinine and most repugnant characters I have seen in film for some time. Are we really supposed to care what happens to them?

This is a film aimed at the teenage market. Are parents supposed to let their children be exposed to this offensive material?

This film could have been presented without the use of the four lettered words, but I suppose the filmmakers would find that not politically correct. Welcome to the next century.

SCARY...CREEPY....ORIGINAL AND IMAGINATIVE..........2006-06-03

Average customer rating:

Thank god this is out of print hopfully it stays that way

Book of Shadows: Blair Witch Project 2 [Region 2]

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Thrillers | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Customer Reviews:

Thank god this is out of print hopfully it stays that way.......2006-01-06

The first BWP was an amazing piece of filmmaking, naturally frightening....this pt,2 is unnessary and and horribly crappy movie....avoid like the plague if you buy a copy somewhere in a bargin bin or someone beg you to take their copy jsut burn it and pray it stays dead...

DVD:

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