I was never a great admirer of the original Blair Witch Project, that supposedly strikingly original movie (that happens to be a blatant rip-off of Ruguero Deodato's infamous Cannibal Holocaust) that was shot on a $30,000 budget (originally reported as $50,000, then $40,000, making it "The Movie With the Incredible Shrinking Budget") and a multi-million dollar ad campaign (talk about quintessential 90's cynicism!). But Book of Shadows, unlike most sequels, isn't a remake so much as it is an altogether new movie about the uniquely American notion that VIOLENT ART LEADS TO VIOLENT CRIME.
Director Joe Berlinger made his feature film debut on this one after cutting his teeth on the absolutely stunning documentary on the now infamous West Memphis Three case, "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders of Robin Hood Hills". He certainly seemed like the right choice to make a sequel to a horror movie masquerading as a documentary, given that "Paradise Lost" is a documentary that's far scarrier than any horror movie I've ever seen. And I've just about seen 'em all.
The movie opens with TV news reports on how "Blair Witch Mania" has swept the country, and how flocks of curiosity seekers have descended on the town of Burkittsville in search of the Blair Witch, now a kind of mythic Bigfoot or Yeti figure. A former mental patient running a tour of the area takes a group of tourists out into the woods. These include a husband and wife team working on a non-fiction book about the case ("The Blair Witch: History or Hysteria"), an annoyingly hyper-sensitive Wiccan who whines and kvetches about how the original film misrepresented her religion (Gee! I've never met one of THOSE before), and a zaftig, beer-swilling, chain-smoking, cute-as-a-button Goth chick who is there because she "...just liked the movie".
The story turns into a hallucinatory yarn along the lines of Henry James ' "Turn of the Screw", where you're constantly left guessing whether the horrors presented are the products of the supernatural of simply human hysteria. And, like James' masterful mindfuck, if you spend too much time to decide either way you're missing the entire point of the story. Traces of Paradise Lost pop up here and there, especially in the person of a stereotypical redneck sheriff and white trash yokels who are all to eager to rush to judgment when it comes to the odd outsiders. (The scene where the Goth chick finds a simple trip to a convenience store to buy a six-pack of beer turning into a scene out of Deliverance brought back some not-so fond memories for yours truly.)
The DVD is really a rather sweet package, containing a short film pointing out the weird, cryptic hidden occult symbols that are located in the background of several scenes. The other side of the disc has the entire isolated score by Carter Burwell, which is appropriately mysterious and creepy. Book of Shadows isn't an absolute must, but in this age of wussy, watered-down horror movies you certainly could do worse.
