A common problem with movie sequels is that they tell stories that don't need to be told.Most sequels are not conceived at the same time as the original, thus they latch on and tryto take advantage of momentum they didn't generate. Such is the case of Book ofShadows: Blair Witch 2, the quick follow-up to last year's phenomenally successfulpseudo-documentary horror flick The Blair Witch Project.

The problem with Book of Shadows is that the story it tells is completelyunnecessary. It in no way advances or expands our knowledge of the ambiguous goings-onin the first film or even points in a new direction. Instead, it tells a redundant, ofteninfuriatingly vague story set a few months after the theatrical release of the first film(Book of Shadows tries to ride on in-joke references and intertextuality, but it allfeels too forced).

First-time feature director Joe Berlinger, best known as the co-director, along with BruceSinofsky, of several critically acclaimed documentaries, including Brother'sKeeper (1992) and Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills(1996), joins the camp of recent directors who are under the misguided belief that musicvideo aesthetics somehow work for horror films. Rather than taking time to buildatmosphere and chills, Berlinger rushes in with a sledge-hammer mentality reminiscent oftoo many other directors of late, such as Jan De Bont (1998's The Haunting), RupertWainwright (1999's Stigmata), and William Malone (1999's The House onHaunted Hill). All of them share in common a complete lack of patience, no sense ofpacing, and a rampant desire to induce sensory overload.

To be fair, it may be that Berlinger was simply trying to distance himself from the uniquestyle of The Blair Witch Project, whose directors, Daniel Myrick and EduardoSanchez, served as executive producers for the sequel. Myrick and Sanchez's film workedbecause of the medium: shot on digital video, The Blair Witch Project became aphenomenon because many people were duped into believing it was real. And why not?With Cops, America's Funniest Home Videos, and so on, we have cometo believe that anything shot on video must be real. The medium itself denotes, in manypeople's minds, the truth. Hence, the shock felt around the country when the policeofficers who beat Rodney King were let off. How could they be found innocent? The proofwas right there on the video.

Unfortunately for Berlinger, Myrick and Sanchez's film was a one-trick pony, essentiallylightning in a bottle that can't be captured twice. Their film was undeniably effective, butits very effectiveness was based on utter and complete uniqueness. No one else could comealong and try the same thing because the effect is reliant on an unexpecting audience.

Berlinger, along with co-writer Dick Beebe (The House on Haunted Hill), give ittheir best shot, though. While Berlinger films Book of Shadows like a conventionalmovie, he fills the screen with video cameras of all shapes and sizes, from large camera ontripods, to hand-held digital cameras, to surveillance cameras bolted to walls. The idea isthat everything that happens in the movie is being filmed from every conceivable angle, andthe big surprise at the end of the film (which is really no surprise at all) is when "the truth"of what has really happened in the narrative is played out on video. As a kind ofaffectionate nod to the trick played by the first film, in Book of Shadows, thetruth is on the videotape.

The story involves a group of people who, after seeing The Blair Witch Project,decide to see the woods for themselves. Led by local Burkittsville, Maryland, resident JeffDonvan (in another nod to the original, all the main characters have the same name as theactors who portray them), the group includes a straight-arrow couple (Tristine Skyler andStephen Turner), a Goth psychic who wears too much eye make-up (Kim Director), and aWiccan witch (Erica Leerhsen). For those unfamiliar with Wiccan, it is also known as"white witchcraft" and, contrary to rumors about drinking blood and sacrificing children, itsimply emphasizes oneness with nature.

The group travels out the Black Woods where the characters in The Blair WitchProject supposedly disappeared. That night, something strange happens, and theycan't remember what happened during a particular five-hour stretch. The rest of the filmchronicles their attempts to piece together the video footage of that night and find out whatreally happened. This becomes all the more urgent when they find out that five other BlairWitch seekers were murdered in ritualistic fashion that same night, and the irritatinglyhotheaded local sheriff (Lanny Flaherty) is trying to pin it on them.

The story is not much more complicated than that simple description, but Berlinger tries topunch up the intensity level by telling it in fragmented, nonlinear form, cutting back andforth between past, present, and future, giving tantalizing glimpses of what will happenlater on down the road. He is also keen on the rapid-fire editing that is characteristic ofmusic videos, splashing all kinds of imagery across the screen. Much of it is graphic gore:people being gutted, throats being slit, hands being tied with rope, and so on. While theoriginal film was remarkably scary precisely because it left so much to the imagination,Berlinger takes the exact opposite approach and puts as much as he can on-screen, even ifit's in quick, often repetitive flashes.

Because the story relies heavily on visions, dreams, and hallucinations, Berlinger feels hehas carte blanche to do whatever he wants cinematically. While he does create somevisually arresting imagery and even manages to give the audience a small jolt once or twice,the end product feels sloppy and malformed, with too many plotlines left unexplained(What's the deal with the tree? What's the point of Jeff's having been confined to a mentalhospital? What, after all, is "The Book of Shadows," since it's never referenced in themovie?). Overall, Book of Shadows comes across exactly as it is: a movie that wasquickly thrown together to cash in on a huge box office hit. Go figure.

Copyright ©2000 James Kendrick