It’s difficult to follow one of the most successful and groundbreaking horror movies of all time. The Blair Witch Project shocked the world with its gritty realism and minimalist techniques, creating a verisimilitude that still manages to fool some first-time viewers. Pieced together from hours of tape, the story follows a trio of filmmakers creating a documentary about the Blair Witch, a Burkittsville legend said to haunt Maryland’s Black Hills Forest.
Several years later, their recovered footage shows the group hunted by an unseen figure who warps their sense of reality, eventually causing them to disappear without a trace. Cleverly advertised as a true story, The Blair Witch Project became a cultural phenomenon and remains one of the most highly regarded and financially successful independent films of all time. So how on earth do you make a sequel?
Directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez wanted to wait for the surrounding furor to die down, but Artisan Entertainment, who owned the distribution rights, was eager to capitalize on its unparalleled success. With the bubble burst on the found footage format, director Joe Berlinger opted for a traditional narrative that comments on the original film. Co-written by Dick Beebe, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 did manage to make its money back, but could hardly be considered a critical success. Berlinger’s ambitious story is overshadowed by excessive harshness amplified by studio-required soundtrack changes and additional sequences added in post-production. The edgy film now serves as a cautionary tale of how not to sequelize a horror hit.
But twenty-five years later, Book of Shadows has aged more gracefully than expected and built a cult following of its own. Berlinger’s story now feels like a meta-exploration of the Blair Witch legacy, exploring the dangers of collective hysteria.
The story begins at the peak of The Blair Witch Project mania. MTV’s Kurt Loder reports on the deceptive promotional campaign while actual citizens of Burkittsville complain about what this “true story” has done to their home. Hordes of Blair Witch devotees have descended on the tiny town, traipsing through formerly peaceful woods and harassing residents for rocks from their yard. A host of themed tours have popped up as well, charging exorbitant prices for guided excursions to locations highlighted in the movie while preying on genre fans anxious to capture sightings of the fictional witch.
Jeff (Jeffrey Donovan) is the proprietor of one such tour—the ominously titled Blair Witch Hunt—and owner of an online store selling all manner of exploitative merch. Enrolled in the inaugural trip is Erica (Erica Leerhsen), a Wiccan practitioner or “real witch” who takes issue with Myrick’s and Sánchez’s negative depiction of the occult. Kim (Kim Director) is a Goth captivated by the film’s edgy allure who insists on meeting her guide inside the Burkittsville cemetery. Rounding out the group are Tristen (Tristine Skyler) and Stephen (Stephen Barker Turner), a newly pregnant couple writing a book about the Blair Witch legend. Their argument about the tome’s subtitle—should history come before hysteria—tells us all we need to know about their individual biases.
Berlinger originally conceived of these characters as archetypal responses to The Blair Witch Project, but as the story unfolds, they fall victim to the very misconceptions that have plagued women for generations. Their actions are warped by deceptive media, and they become scapegoats for the angry town.
Book of Shadows exists at a curious cross-point between delusion and reality. Jeff and his tourists are fully aware that Myrick and Sánchez created the story of Elly Kedward to add verisimilitude to a horror movie, but all five are determined to find the truth within the legend. Erica has joined the tour in hopes of contacting Kedward’s spirit and becoming the witch’s living apprentice, fully accepting the story of her painful death and witchery. She’s cast Kedward as a misunderstood antihero, and the rest of the group feeds off her certainty. This intense devotion to a fictional character seems to create a tulpa of sorts, and they become the targets of a malevolent force lurking in the sinister woods. Or perhaps they simply fall victim to the same evil that plagued the original film’s beleaguered star.
In the wake of the original film’s jarring success, its three lead actors were mercilessly lambasted for “bad acting” and poor diegetic camera work. As the faux documentary’s director, Heather Donahue, was viciously criticized for her character’s aggressiveness and mocked for a tearful confession that kicks off the story’s final act. It’s no coincidence that Donahue is also the only female cast member, and this disparagement, when viewed through a contemporary lens, is a clear example of late-90s sexism. With the Witch herself never revealed, Heather became the film’s visible antagonist and took the brunt of the Blair Witch backlash. Having used her real name, the aspiring actress was unable to distinguish her authentic persona from the headstrong director she plays in the film. The story’s realistic style became proof of her unlikability, and she was picked apart by a culture primed to vilify ambitious women.
Shot at the peak of this misogyny, Jeff makes a scripted joke at Heather’s expense. While bonding with the group around the campfire, he mocks her frantic dash through Rustin Parr’s abandoned home in the film’s horrific final scene. At the time of release, this bit of innocuous dialogue normalized this distressing trend of harassment while solidifying Heather as the first film’s antagonist. However, when viewed through a modern lens, it becomes a significant turning point in the sequel’s plot and the moment all five characters seal their own fates.
Stephen awakens the next morning in what appears to be a snowstorm. Tiny pieces of his painstakingly accumulated research on the Blair Witch are raining down on the sleeping campers. Why he brought these irreplaceable documents on a camping trip through dangerous woods is never addressed, but it appears his book has been irrevocably halted. Jeff’s own recording equipment has been destroyed, with footage either damaged or missing. But most upsetting, Tristen has suffered a miscarriage. After a dream in which she holds a newborn baby under the surface of a nearby river, she awakes to find her pants covered in blood. Though Tristen will blame herself for this loss, we’re meant to see it as further proof of the witch’s existence.
From there, things spiral out of control. The group goes to Jeff’s dilapidated house to piece together the previous night’s events, only to find themselves covered in symbolic scratches and plagued by visions of ghostly girls. Played in reverse, Jeff’s recovered footage shows Tristen leading a drunken orgy and ritualistic slaughter of a rival tour group. Moments after this revelation, the suddenly malefic woman ties a rope around her own neck and goads Stephen into shoving her off the balcony. When watching Jeff’s footage of this apparent suicide, we see an altogether different scene in which Stephen ignores her tearful pleas and angrily pushes his girlfriend to her death. He then stares directly into the camera and dismisses the hanging woman as a “fucking witch.”
Arrested and questioned by local authorities, Kim is charged with a murder she also does not remember but watches herself commit via surveillance camera, while Jeff is implicated in Erica’s equally mysterious death. Video footage becomes proof of their villainy and, like Heather, they lose control of the narrative.
Though originally intended to explore our collective response to the Blair Witch phenomenon, Book of Shadows transforms into a meditation on the many ways we disparage women. Caught dancing naked in the recovered footage, Erica becomes a sinister seductress, luring Stephen away from his rightful partner with her irresistible sexuality. Kim is derided for her combative demeanor and the harshness of her Goth persona. Gawked at by the town, she’s shamed during a police interrogation and cruelly ordered to remove her black makeup.
But perhaps most upsetting—particularly in a post-Dobbs world—Tristen is vilified for suffering a miscarriage. Early in the story, she confesses her uncertainty about becoming a mother, then blames herself for the spontaneous abortion, implying that all would be well if she had wanted the baby. As her mental state deteriorates, Tristen emerges as the sequel’s visible antagonist. Jeff, Stephen, and Kim will insist she is possessed by the Blair Witch and blame her for orchestrating each of the murders.
Berlinger resists adding to the misogyny, instead exploring the injustice of wild accusations. It’s not just Kim, the sole female survivor, who faces the scorn of Burkittsville. In what feels like a twist ahead of its time, the group’s men are also reviled by the deluded masses. Jeff’s history of mental illness is weaponized against him, and Stephen can do nothing to prove his innocence. Like Heather, they will be demonized by deceptive media as video footage becomes objective truth. Their stories will be used to denigrate future Blair Witch obsessives, eventually twisted into outlandish legend. Perhaps someone will one day tell a joke about Jeff around their own Black Hills campfire. Mass hysteria has come full circle, and they now feel the pain of countless women vilified for the sin of female existence.
Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 is currently streaming on AMC+ and Shudder.
