jebbypal

HBO Now has The Blair Witch Project and Book Of Shadows: Blair Witch 2. The other night I watched both of them back to back again (I saw them both in theaters when I was 11 and 12, respectively and rewatched them both in college but not since). This is about Book Of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 only and why people are SO incredibly harsh on it. The question is - why?

Now, I understand why people wouldn't love it. I can understand why some people would say it was below average (even though I disagree). But, it seems to me, that nearly everyone - literally - HATES this movie and treats it as one of the worst of the major horror releases from the 90s on.

I feel like it had some good things going for it. There were some seriously creepy moments, like the massacre at coffin rock flashback and how it was revealed at the end, the murder at the grocery store and how that was revealed, the hallucinations, and the whole subplot of that woman "intentionally" causing her miscarriage as some sort of sacrifice. The shot at the end of the film where a naked Jeffrey put a naked and dead Erica in the closet and looked at the camera gave me chills and I think is one of the creepiest "grainy" pieces of footage ever to be put into a horror movie!

There was some good stuff here! It's not a masterpiece, and it's certainly not a GREAT movie. But it's a solid 7/10. I know there is some ridiculousness throughout, like random dialogue in certain scenes that make no sense, Erica being a Wiccan was really badly handled, the flashbacks in the mental asylum were pretty redundant, the whole affair thing with Erica and that guy, and the scene where Kim was eating fried chicken but Jeffrey thought it was an owl (WTF?) - but they were somewhat forgivable given that there was enough other stuff going on to keep me interested. Oh, and speaking of Kim Director, she was GREAT. To be honest, the performances in this movie were quite adequate by all involved. Kim Director and Jeffrey Donovan seem to be the only ones who have stable careers nowadays, which is great but kind of sad for the rest of them.

Blair Witch 2 was definitely better than the 2016 Blair Witch, IMO. I would put Blair Witch 2 on the same level as Amityville II: The Possession, Saw IV, Nightmare on Elm Street IV: Dream Master, Sleepaway Camp III - sequels that aren't absolutely amazing but good.

Can I kindly ask - from the haters - why Blair Witch 2 is so panned on by everyone? Also - does anyone else agree with me?

Thanks!

• Donald Pleasance as Dr. Sam Loomis in Halloween 5 & 6. I'm in the minority, but I like 4.

• Paul Rudd as Tommy Doyle in Halloween 6. I liked that he was essentially the only motherfucker not afraid to take on Michael Myers, aside from Loomis.

• David Morse in Disturbia. Cold blooded BTK-esque serial killer.

What comes to mind for you?

Richard Laymon was a prolific horror writer and pioneer of the "splatterpunk" genre (along the lines of Jack Ketchum, only with more supernatural elements). He wrote over 30 novels - I've read eight so far and any would make for a great horror movie, if done right.

"In the Dark" would be such a great movie, for example. It's about a college librarian who begins finding envelopes addressed to her which contain money and a clue to where the next envelope is. Each envelope is in a progressively more dangerous location, but each reward is doubled. It gets to be really insane.

Another great candidate for a film would be "Beware", which is about an invisible sociopath with a murderous cult on his trail.

He also wrote four books in the Beast House series, which chronicle the terrors surrounding a small town's main tourist attraction (and location of many grisly murders by a strange beast). That series would be interesting to adapt, as it gets pretty "meta" - the Beast House spawns a popular movie franchise in the novels' world.

The horror genre always needs fresh ideas for films, and Laymon has tons. Have you read Laymon? Why do you think his material is as yet untapped for adaptation?

I just want to express my love for Ju-on: The Grudge. I watched it a few days ago and was truly creeped out. I don't consider myself to be one that scares easily from movies but this one really got to me.

So since I was so impressed I decided to watch the second one, the American remake, and The Beginning of the End. But I was disappointed by each of them. I don't know what it was about the original that got to me so much. I'm thinking it had something to do with the low budget it had - it had some kind of effect on the atmosphere of the movie; all the victims seemed a lot more isolated and alone, which I didn't feel in any of the other movies. Also missing in the sequels was the totally black woman that would appear. Lastly it seemed like there wasn't as much groaning/clicking noises in the other movies, which really added to the creepiness.