Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000)

Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 is an American psychological horror film and the sequel to The Blair Witch Project, directed by Joe Berlinger and released in 2000. A third film was set to be made, but never surfaced. The directors of the first film have been discussing a third film as well.

Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 won the Golden Raspberry Award for "Worst Remake or Sequel". It also won the same kind of awards from the Stinkers Bad Movie Awards.

A group of tourists arrives in Burkittsville, Maryland after seeing The Blair Witch Project (1999) to explore the mythology and phenomenon, only to come face to face with their own neuroses and possibly the witch herself.

Plot
In 1999, a group of Blair Witch Project fans (comprising writers Stephen Parker and Tristen Ryler, a Wiccan girl named Erica Geerson, a goth girl named Kim Diamond, and local black sheep townie Jeffrey Patterson) arrive in Burkittsville, Maryland after watching the film. Through flashbacks, the movie reveals that Jeffrey Patterson served a stint in a mental institution.

The first stop is in the ruins of Rustin Parr's house. When they arrive, they notice a giant tree that was never there before and everyone thinks Jeff is pulling a prank on them. Only Kim believes his theory. Jeff sets up cameras and recording equipment to document anything supernatural that may happen. That night, after setting up camp, another tour group approaches them and claim the land as theirs. The group lies, saying that they witness something more interesting and horrible at Coffin Rock earlier. The lie works and they leave them alone. Jeff and the others stay up all night, drinking beer and smoking marijuana. Tristan then has a dream that she kills her unborn child.

Jeff and the group wakes up, having no memory of the previous night. Research documents, belonging to Stephen writing a book about the Blair Witch, have been torn apart, much to his shock and dismay and Jeff's cameras and recording equipment have been destroyed. They find the tapes intact due to Kim's psychic connection and argue over their status as Tristen has a miscarriage.

Later at the hospital, Tristen claims to see a ghostly young girl walking about. After she is discharged, Jeff takes the group back to his home in the woods. It is protected by a convoluted security system including a trench, a dog bark sound effect as the door opens, and many surveillance cameras. They review the tapes and find a naked Erica dancing around a tree. In response, she claims to have no memory of doing such a thing, then runs to a room to pray. Kim and Erica notice strange markings on their bodies, which she claims they have been marked for death by a witch.

Kim drives to a store to get beer and has a dispute with one of the locals. While driving, she swerves into a tree to avoid hitting a group of children in the road. She looks around and see that the children are gone and continues to drive back to the house. Back at Jeff's, she reaches into her shopping bag and pricks herself on a nail file. She doesn't recall grabbing it and it has blood on it.

The next morning, Erica goes missing. No one hears the dog-bark front door and she's not inside. They call Erica's parents, a Catholic priest and his wife, whom claim they never had a daughter. Kim finds Erica's clothes surrounding a circle of lit candles.

Jeff is shocked to see his van destroyed to the point where it's undrivable. Soon after, the sheriff, Cravens, whom despises Jeff and plans on sending him back to the state institution, calls to tell them that the other tour group was found mutiliated at Coffin Rock, believing Jeff and the others to be the murderers, and tells them they won't leave until further notice.

However, an owl crashes through a window, startling the others. Jeff becomes paranoid that the others are out to get him and blames Erica for everything. Kim tries to convince Jeff she has nothing to do with this. Jeff then accuses Erica of being the blair witch, with Kim walking away in disgust.

While looking for a phone book to call Tristan's doctor, Kim then finds dossiers on everyone, including their birth certificates, driver's license, family photos, etc. Kim starts to think that Jeff has been stalking them for years, but knows nothing about them, and has no idea how they got there or where they came from.

That night, Stephen sees Erica through a window dancing around a tree naked like in the footage. She runs across the bridge and as he follows, the bridge collapses under him. He narrowly escapes death by grabbing onto a ledge. While climbing back up he sees the ghostly figure Tristen saw in the hospital.

The sheriff calls Jeff again telling him he has some questions for him. Jeff is confused since the bridge has just gone out but the camera shows it still intact. Regardless, he opens the door and the bridge is found to be broken and the sheriff isn't there. Instead, across the trench, there is a pack of barking dogs, he goes for a shotgun from the closet but the dogs are gone when he comes back. When he returns to the closet to replace the gun, he finds Erica's body.

The group tries to make sense of the situation in the loft. Tristen thinks everything is playing backwards. The others are confused at this but she asks for the tapes to be played in reverse. The reversed footage shows Tristen leading them into an orgy and ritualistic murder of the other tourist group.

Jeff takes a camera and demands a video confession of Tristen. She asks Stephen for help, but he turns on her and claims that she deliberately killed the baby. Tristen prepares to kill herself by wrapping a rope around her neck as she derides the others for letting fear take over and blaming them for asking for blood. Stephen, overcome with rage, pushes her over the balcony, hanging her by the neck.

The whole group is arrested for the murders of the tourists and Tristan's murder. They claim that Tristen was possesed by the witch, but the local and state police don't believe their story. Kim is shown footage of her stabbing the cashier in the neck with a nail file. Jeff is shown on video cleaning up after Erica's murder, even placing her body in the closet. Stephen's video shows him killing Tristen and calling her a witch. They all claim to be innocent of the charges. They are even close to a nervous breakdown, with Stephen claiming what he saw is not what happened. The film ends with mourners arriving in the woods to remember the other tour group that was murdered.

Production
After the huge success of The Blair Witch Project, Artisan Productions wanted to make a sequel. The old film's directors, Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanches produced the film, but say that they had little real influence and were unsatisfied with the final version.

The film rejects the previously and heavily used handycam film style, using point of view camcorders to create a pseudo-documentary effect, only occasionally. The studio re-cut and re-shot much of the film. The director, Joe Berlinger reports his own dissatisfaction with the studio's choices.

A similar internet campaign was enacted. It produced fake police reports and interviews.

Critical
Book of Shadows was released worldwide from 2000-2002. Overall, it grossed $47,000,000.

Critical reception to the film is overwhelmingly negative. Some critics found it to be "hilarious", and more like a "parody" of the first film, minus the found footage motif, and lacking the depth, character development, and suspense of the first film. It maintains a 13% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Awards and nominations
Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 won the Golden Raspberry Award for "Worst Remake or Sequel". It also won the "Worst Remake or Sequel" and "The Remake or Sequel Nobody was Clamoring for" from Stinkers Bad Movie Awards.

Sequel
Ed Sanchez and Daniel Myrick spoke about a potential sequel to the first film on September 2, 2009. It would act as a direct sequel to the first film, never mentioning the events of Book of Shadows. In 2011, Sanchez remarked that the sequel would depend on Loinsgate's decision.

In July 2016 a direct sequel to The Blair Witch Project titled Blair Witch was unveiled at comic con and and was released on September 16th 2016. The project was previously marketed as The Woods in order to keep the plans a sequel, with only few Lionsgate employees knowing about it.