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Features: DVD
Book Of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 takes place in present-day Burkittsville, after the events chronicled in The Blair Witch Project. Four young people have signed up for a tour of the Black Hills, the latest Blair Witch-inspired moneymaker dreamed up by Jeff Patterson, a black sheep townie with a murky past. They set up camp near the foundation of the house that belonged to Rustin Parr, the old hermit who was hanged for the murders of seven children, a crime that bore the mark of the Blair Witch. In the morning, the campers awake with no memory of having gone to sleep and five hours stolen from their lives. They return to Jeff's residence, an abandoned 19th Century warehouse at the edge of Burkittsville, to try to piece together what happened. But the strange occurrences haven't ended with that night, as legend and reality become frighteningly entwined. Bizarre symbols appear on their bodies, children's plaintive crying is heard, phantasmagoric visions confound their eyes, and fleeting apparitions suggest the villainy of the distant past. In the woods, a grisly discovery at Coffin Rock recalls a deadly chapter in the history of the Blair Witch. No longer sure what is real and what is imagined, the five young people start to unravel psychologically, eyeing one another with suspicion and edging ever closer to mass hysteria. Too late, they realize that when they left the woods, they don't leave alone... As an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work often explores the ambiguity of the human condition, director Joe Berlinger (Brother's Keeper, Paradise Lost: The Child Murders At Robin Hood Hills and its sequel, Revelations: Paradise Lost 2) brings a unique understanding of the blurry line between truth and fiction that is a key element of the Blair Witch series.
Editor's Note
BOOK OF SHADOWS: BLAIR WITCH 2 is the sequel to the 1999 thriller THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. The first film's famously effective horror was created in large part with its faux authenticity. Shot on handheld video, the film presented itself as the genuine footage of three students' fatal search for the mysterious Blair Witch. BOOK OF SHADOWS: BLAIR WITCH 2, which purports to be a "fictional reenactment of real events," complicates the original's illusion of reality. Tourists have flocked to Burkittsville, Maryland to see evidence of the original film and its underlying mythology. Four of these visitors--Tristan and Stephan, a couple researching a book; Erica, a Wiccan; and Kim, a Goth--join up with town troublemaker Jeff for his inaugural Blair Witch Hunt tour. When they wake up after a night of partying, most of their possessions have been destroyed and they are unable to account for a large block of time. As they piece together memories, inexplicable events spiral to a terrifying climax. Director Joe Berlinger, an acclaimed documentarian making his first foray into dramatic film, creates a disorienting otherworld in which video clips, flashbacks, and visions are indistinguishable from the reality of the present. BOOK OF SHADOWS: BLAIR WITCH 2 illustrates the often blurry and always terrifying line between truth and fiction.
| Features | Interactive Menus | | DVD-ROM Features | | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish, French Dolby Digital Stereo | | Cast & Crew Info | | Production Notes | | Scene Access | | Audio Commentary With Director Joe Berlinger | | Selected Scene Commentary With Composer Carter Burwell | | Live Performance Footage From Godhead | | Widescreen Version Enhanced For 16x9 TVs | | CD Side Includes Original Film Score Plus Tracks By Godhead ("The Reckoning," Including A Live Performance Version), Tony Iommi ("Goodbye Lament") And Steaknife ("Tommy (Don't Die") | | "The Secret Of Esrever" Game |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Artisan |
| Release Date: 8/17/2004 |
| Running Time: 90 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2000 | | Catalog ID: 11703 | | UPC: 00012236117032 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English [CC], English | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Memorable Quotes| "Perception is reality." Tristan (Tristan Skylar) to Stephen (Stephen Barker Turner). | | "Get out of the woods and go home. There is no goddman Blair Witch." Sheriff Craven (Lanny Flaherty) to tourists. | | "You don't understand. Something happened in the woods. Something evil." Kim (Kim Director) to police officer. | | "People think because I dress in black I'm some murderer or something." Kim (Kim Director) to Erica (Erica Leerhsen). | | "Violent art has inspired real life violence." Newscaster. |
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| | Professional Reviews | New York Times
"...[Cleverly] riffs on the Blair Witch juggernaut....[Slips in] visual homages to everything from THE OMEN to THE NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD..." 10/27/2000 p.E15Total Film
"...Very clever....[The] rippling hallucinatory tricks leave you with little idea as to what will spring from the screen next..." 12/01/2000 p.86-7 Sight and Sound
"...There are interesting ideas throughout....There's a lot of classy talent behind the follow-up..." 12/01/2000 p.42 Rolling Stone
"...Berlinger gives the woods of Burkittsville, Maryland a burnished glow that evokes both beauty and terror..." 11/09/2000 p.137 Hollywood Reporter
"...Its writing contains subtlety and wit....A nifty essay on mass hysteria..." 10/25/2000 p.5-36 |
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