Now I am probably one of the small handful of people who enjoyed Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2. I was there opening night and saw it with a few friends and all of us liked it to varying degrees. Don’t get me wrong, I am perfectly capable of admitting that there are major flaws with the film, and that those flaws make Book of Shadows a difficult film to appreciate on a surface level. And it was that bitter pill that ended up sinking a potentially fascinating franchise. But lurking beneath the surface were characteristics and themes that I wish more sequels would aspire to.

The movie sucked. There, I admitted it. Director Joe Berlinger may not have been a poor choice to take over the franchise, but no one knows if the myriad of problems that appear in Book of Shadows are due to his lack of experience on fiction films, or if they are due to the well publicized studio interference that caused much of the film to be changed without Berlinger’s approval.

The plot was convoluted at best but with acres of simplicity that somehow made less sense as the film progressed. The movie also had little to do with the first film, choosing to undercut any connection The Blair Witch Project made with the audience by admitting the original was a fake. Oh yeah, and the soundtrack was terrible.

Don’t think for a second that I forgot on how the characters sucked even more then the story. And man, did they ever. Relying on out of date caricatures and offensive stereotypes is not the best way to endear yourself to your potential audience. Especially when the stereotypes you are butchering form a rather large proportion of your intended audience. Shallow ineffectual creatures an audience may be, but it is never wise to bite the hands that feeds you.

So what is so great about a movie that insults its audience’s intelligence, appearance and lifestyle? For one it is the primary theme of the film, that of perception versus reality. Book of Shadows tends to be a bit heavy handed in its delivery, but while Michael Haneke was toying with European audiences Book of Shadows was a mainstream, big budget studio film that deliberately played with its audience.

Time and again you were treated to outlandish scenes that completely contradicted what you had originally been shown. By resorting to these subtle 4th Wall breaks (unlike Funny Games there is no winking at the camera to let the audience in on the joke) Book of Shadows creates one of the greatest on screen monsters ever in the Blair Witch.

This is a monster not only capable of manipulating the characters in the film, but is also manipulating the audience as well, treating them to the same perverse game of hide and seek the film’s protagonists are suffering through, while the audience desperately attempts to figure out what is going on. William Castle would have salivated at the chance to work with such a creation.

Now for those of you who merely scoff at such a “paltry” defense of Book of Shadows I do have another , that being Book of Shadows choice to abandon the cinéma vérité style format of the original film and attempt to create a sequel that is wholly different. Whereas most sequels and franchises are content to merely offer up facsimiles of the original, Book of Shadows took a fairly unique and gutsy approach in an attempt to diversify the franchise rather then remain content at being derivative.

It is in that choice to attempt something new that Book of Shadows should be not only be lauded for, but emulated. The choice to branch out from the original film’s comfort zone may have been poorly planned and executed, thus killing any chance to green light a third film, but the original decision to try something different was the correct one. A decision shared by many of the greatest sequels ever made, which often choose to radically change style, tone and narrative structure in an effort to expand the canon rather then merely offer up more of the same.

Sequels should challenge audiences and test boundaries rather then simply acting as a blatant cash grab for studios. And while you may not appreciate nor even enjoy how Book of Shadows attempted to entertain and challenge you, in this instance it is the effort that counts.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 31st, 2008 at 3:57 pm and is filed under Dare to be Stupid, Editorials, Features, Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.