Movie Defense Force: Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2

Shoggoth2588

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I was a kid when Blair Witch came out and when I finally did see the original on tape (remember when that was a thing?) it did absolutely nothing for me. I see it as nothing but shaky-cam and a bunch of jerks running through the woods screaming about being "so fucking scared" (seriously go back to Blair Witch Project and take a shot every time they repeat that phrase). When Blair Witch 2 came out I automatically classified it mentally as being leagues beyond the original for having an actual plot where actual things actually happen. Like Jim said, it's not a masterpiece but as a teen coming down from the original, it's like a cool drink after a trek through the desert.
 

Kenjitsuka

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Sep 10, 2009
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YES!

I saw Blair when it came out, and never hated a movie as much.
NOTHING happens, the blurry crap images made me almost motion sick, and it has the honor of the ONLY movie ever that I nearly fell asleep to.

I gave this a chance a few years after it'd come out, JUST because I heard it was nothing like BW 1.
And I really liked it too.

The fact that it's about the fear of being called crazy, and perhaps BEING crazy is a theme I can really identify with, and I think most people can.
And it stuck the landing, as you've mentioned. Perhaps the most important thing for any horror.
If the ending stinks, the whole thing stinks (Hey, just my thoughts on BW 1!)...

Good job, Jim.
Keep em coming!!!

P.S.
Even got this one on DVD.
 

antidonkey

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I seem to be one of the rare people that liked Blair Witch 2. Maybe it's because I hated the first one as it was boring and not frightening at all. So far, it's two movies defended that I liked when they came out but my friends didn't. Hmmm....I wonder if this pattern will continue.
 

TheSchaef

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mattttherman3 said:
Here are a couple I would love to see: Superman 3 and 4, Batman and Robin, Star Trek 5, Green Lantern. WHY DOES GOD NEED A STARSHIP?!
I think the point is to defend movies that are not as bad as advertised.

Pretty much all of those movies earned what they got.

I'd be interested in seeing a defense of something underappreciated but NOT horrible, like Lost in Space or the TMNT movie. I'd add Galaxy Quest to that but it wasn't trashed by critics, just overlooked by a lot of people.

At any rate, I didn't really find too much wrong with TMNT, other than a movie aimed at children actually had children's dialogue in it (gasp!), but there were some great throwaway lines and the visual design was spectacular. BUT, since everyone grumbled about it and Imagi went out of business after Astro Boy (another not-horrible film), and despite the success of the new series on Nickelodeon, the next big-screen turtles appears headed for a Bay-produced assault on the senses featuring dudes in rubber suits again, completely abandoning the wonderful range of expression computer animation has brought to the characters.

Either way, I hope that, recent entries and title sequence notwithstanding, this is not going to be a series that invests most of its energy in the horror genre.
 

Corven

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Sep 10, 2008
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Saw Blair Witch 2, and I thought it was terrible. As for this episode there really wasn't much defending going on, to me it was basically "yeah it was a bad movie but it doesn't deserve as much flak as it has received."

I think Jim's first video was much better since it gave a genuine counter point to the popular belief that Alien 3 was a bad movie.
 

Wriggle Wyrm

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I always thought that the original Blair Witch wasn?t a very good film. While they probably shouldn?t have made a sequel at all, I can completely understand why the film makers went with a more traditional type of movie.

All the original really had going for it, was the gimmick that the events taking place were somehow real. Sure you could try to repeat that and essentially remake the first film (complete with more missing posters of the actors). The problem is that you'll ruin the suspension of disbelief and without that all, you?re left with is a second bunch of teenagers swearing at each other and screaming at every little thing as they blindly tromp through the woods.
 

EmperorSubcutaneous

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You know what's funny?

If you take this video and replace "Book of Shadows" with "Prometheus," "Blair Witch" with "Alien," and "horror" with "sci-fi," it works perfectly.

And that's all I have to say on the matter, since I've never seen Book of Shadows or The Blair Witch Project. (Though I am interested in seeing Blair Witch, since I've become addicted to Marble Hornets.)
 

Soxafloppin

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Jun 22, 2009
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Never seen either movie. Regardless I'm really enjoying this series!

Keep up the good work Jim!
 

Shameless

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I am sorry Jim, but this movie is bad, even when you take it on it's own, I mean do they even explain what the book of shadows is in this movie ? did I miss a scene ? and that "clever" plot twist adds even more confusion to the plot.

It has horrid editing, abysmal cinematography and incompetent acting, but I do agree it is not one of the worst movies ever made.
 

andersgeek

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Blunderboy said:
I'd forgotten all about this film.
It's a shame Micheal couldn't bring Sam along, he's used to spooky happenings in the woods.

Darth Sea Bass said:
Holy shit it's Michael Westen!

On that alone i may give it a chance!
I was shocked to recognise Jeffrey Donovan, too. I just might have to hunt down a copy of this film.
 

josh4president

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Mar 24, 2010
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No, Jim, just... no

I saw this film, because I am a horror movie fan and as a result am damned for eternity to slog through the repulsive garbage that is easily three-quarters of films with the label 'horror' slapped on them and I absolutely despised this thing by the time I was finished with it. At times I was intrigued by hints of greater mysteries to be solved, only to be distracted time and again by sudden, jarring jump cuts to other scenes without context and performances that ran the gauntlet from 'acceptable' to 'irritating' and ended on a 'twist' that seemed lifted out of another certain filmaker whom shall not be named here lest it summon him back from the depths of the movie industry's version of purgatory.

But you know what? I respect you for sticking up for it, more so then Alien 3. So I'll tell you what:

If you can tell me, using only material found in the film itself, why this movie is called 'The Book of Shadows', I will snag it off Netflix and give it another watch.
 

loudestmute

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Oct 21, 2008
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And here I thought more people would be irritated about the delay between videos than the subject matter of this new one...

Back on the subject: Blair Witch 2 is one of those movies that suffers from the fact that the internet will only accept two types of films. "Best Ever" or "Irredeemable Garbage". It's not a revolutionary horror flick by any stretch of the imagination, and the quick release does give it the impression of a cynical cash grab. But it is a decent middle of the road horror movie, and certainly not the steaming pile that causes you to invent new profanities as you watch.

Thank you, Jim Sterling, for standing up for the misunderstood and the adequate.
 

viranimus

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Nov 20, 2009
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/applaud

Even back in the day I liked book of shadows. It isnt something I would buy, but it made for a good rental.

Other thought: Being an entertainment/media/culture centric "magazine" Its about time the escapist added a featured video film review show. Always puzzled me why this genre was left without someone to review movies. Perhaps these arent recent films, but hey its a start amirite?
 

Aardvaarkman

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Jul 14, 2011
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"It's a middle-of-the-road horror film" isn't much of a defence. Even the best horror films are still pretty bad, so I'm not sure why I'd want to see a middle-of-the-road one. There are too many good films out there to waste my time on this.

I'd also like to know who these people are who supposedly rant about how awful this film is and implore people not to see it. In my experience, most people just ignored this film, and it is met with an overwhelming "meh" and complete lack of interest, not hostility.
 

zelda2fanboy

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I saw this flick multiple times on cable as a teenager to see the brief nudity and every time it was quite lame and boring and didn't broach being scary or engaging at any point. However, I did watch it multiple times... that does qualify it as "watchable."
 

Lola Lazerface

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Nov 26, 2012
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Michael Westen. I am ashamed to know that I will be moist watching a Blair Witch movie. Also, Sterling, I quite like the new show but, goddamn, the artwork in the opening is really very ugly.
 

Kapol

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May 2, 2010
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I'm hoping these all won't be horror movies since that's a genre I generally don't care for. But I still enjoy the videos. I will say that the ending to this episode felt very... sudden. The last episode's would have as well without the little clip. It felt more like you were cut off rather than finished with the video.
 

Signa

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Jul 16, 2008
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Triaed said:
Ooh, do Twilight!
Wait, wait, wait. You're asking Jim Fucking "thank God for him" Sterling to defend Twilight? What the hell man?! Are you trying to drive him to suicide?!

And Jim, you're going to have to step it up a notch (just a tiny notch is fine). As enjoyable as this episode was, your argument boiled it down to "it wasn't as bad as it could be/people were too harsh on it." Having never seen the movie, that may be a completely fair assessment of it, but that argument can be applied to just about any movie that doesn't have universal acclaim. Your Aliens 3 video gave us some real reasons to not hate it. I'm not foolish enough to think that choosing a movie to defend and then finding something about it that will make it shine in the light is an easy task to do every week, but if this is to be expected for your average quality, you may as well as not bother. The internet is already full of movie reviewers and people who love to rage on about rage. However, if you can bring it like you did with Aliens 3, there's no reason for your show to not thrive. There's not enough reviewers out there willing to say why something doesn't suck, an itemize each tangible facet of the movie that other viewers just flat-out ignored.