Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2
Encyclopedia
Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 is the 2000 American horror film and the sequel to the film The Blair Witch Project
, directed by Joe Berlinger
. Another sequel was planned but never materialized.
In August 2009, in a BBC News feature to mark the 10th anniversary of the first film, Daniel Myrick
and Eduardo Sánchez
, the directors of the original movie have discussed potentially making a third film.
, Maryland
after seeing The Blair Witch Project
and are inspired to film their own documentary in the exact woods where the movie was filmed. The group includes Stephen and his pregnant girlfriend, Tristen, who are researching the Blair Witch for a book they are writing; Erica, a wiccan; Kim, a goth psychic; and Jeff, their local tour guide.
Their first stop, where they camp for the night, is the ruins of Rustin Parr's house. Jeff places cameras to catch any sightings that may occur. That evening another tour group approaches their camp and claims to have jurisdiction over the ruins. Jeff and his tourists lie and convince the other group that they saw something horrifying at Coffin Rock earlier. The other group leaves to investigate.
Jeff and the others wake the next morning with no memory of the previous night. Tristen and Stephen's research documents are shredded and strewn about, and Jeff's cameras are destroyed. Their tapes are found unharmed in the same spot the Blair Witch Project footage was discovered. As they debate why the tapes were spared, Tristen notices that she is bleeding and has miscarried.
Later, at the hospital, Tristen sees a ghostly young girl walking away backwards. After she is discharged, Jeff takes the group to his home, an abandoned broom factory in the woods. It has an elaborate security system, including a deep trench and bridge to the entrance, many surveillance cameras, and a front door that plays the sound of barking guard dogs whenever it is opened. They review their tapes and find hours of footage are missing. At one point, they see a naked woman swinging around a tree backwards. Jeff enlarges the video, revealing her to be Erica. Erica remembers no such event and runs to a nearby room to pray.
Kim drives to a store to buy beer and has several unpleasant encounters with the locals, ending in a heated argument with the cashier and Kim being ordered to leave the store. Back at Jeff's, she reaches into her shopping bag and pricks herself on a nail file the cashier was using. She doesn't recall grabbing it and it has blood on it.
Erica goes missing the next morning. She isn't indoors but nobody heard the front door. Kim discovers Erica's clothes surrounded by a circle of lit candles. Shortly after, the sheriff calls to say that the other tour group was found gutted and laid out in the shape of a pentagram on Coffin Rock, and that he believes Jeff is responsible.
That night Stephen sees Erica through a window, naked and swinging backwards around a tree just as in their tapes. He runs outside, where she tells him he knows what he must do. She runs off and the bridge collapses under him. He avoids falling by grabbing a ledge, and while climbing he sees the same girl Tristen did in the hospital. She repeats Erica's statement before vanishing. The sheriff calls again and tells Jeff he's outside and has some questions. Jeff doesn't understand since the bridge is out, but a security monitor shows it is now intact. He opens the front door, but the bridge is once again broken and the sheriff isn't there. Instead, across the chasm there is a pack of barking dogs. He grabs a rifle but the dogs are gone. When he returns the gun to the closet, he finds Erica's corpse inside.
The group sits in the loft trying to make sense of the situation. Tristen suggests everything is backwards. They are confused, but Kim tells Jeff to play the tapes in reverse to view the lost footage. This works, and the new footage shows Tristen leading them in an orgy and the ritualistic murder of the other tour group. Once the video ends, Jeff begins taping Tristen and demands a confession. She asks Stephen for help, but he turns on her and claims that she deliberately killed their baby. Tristen ties a rope around her own neck while deriding the others for letting fear drive them to a witch hunt. She focuses especially on Stephen, who pushes her over a railing in a moment of rage, causing her to hang by her neck and die.
The group is arrested and interrogated separately. In Kim's room, they play security footage from the store of her stabbing the cashier in the neck with the nail file. In Jeff's video, he arranges Erica's clothes and stows her body in the closet. In Stephen's video, they show him lynching Tristen and cursing her as a witch. All three claim they never did those things.
, Artisan
was eager to produce a sequel while the film's popularity was still at its peak. However, Haxan Films
, who created the original film, was not ready to begin work on a follow-up, preferring to wait until the initial buzz had died down. Artisan decided to proceed without them, hiring Joe Berlinger
, who had previously (and subsequently) only done true documentaries, to direct. Blair Witch directors Daniel Myrick
and Eduardo Sánchez
served as executive producers on the film, but later stated that they had little influence on production and were unsatisfied with the finished film.
Stylistically, Book of Shadows was the direct opposite of its predecessor: though the film occasionally utilizes the point of view
camcorder/pseudo-documentary format used in the first movie, Book of Shadows more closely resembles the glossy, big-budget special effects-laden horror films that Blair Witch was a counter to. Berlinger has stated that he originally made the film with more of an ambiguous tone, but Artisan recut the film and re-shot certain scenes to add more "traditional" horror movie elements, thus creating what they saw as a more "commercial" film. Berlinger repeatedly expresses his dislike of the studio's changes throughout the film's DVD commentary.
Though Book of Shadows marketing campaign made no attempt to present the film as a "true story", a promotional "dossier" for the film, compiled by D.A. Stern, was released, including fabricated police reports and interviews surrounding the events in the film as if they were fact (a similar "dossier", also by Stern, was released as a companion piece to the first film). Additionally, similar to the first movie, each of the main characters retain the first names of their respective actors, though their surnames are changed slightly.
, it debuted at number 2 with $13,000,000. After 8 weeks, it finished with $26,421,314.
Overall, internationally the film made $47,737,094.
Although its theatrical release made a profit, critical reaction to Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 was mostly negative. As of November 2009, it holds a 13% "Rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes
, based on over 100 reviews. Metacritic
reported, based on 34 reviews, an average rating of 15 out of 100, indicating "Extreme Dislike or Disgust". Additionally, Book of Shadows was nominated for five Razzie Awards, including "Worst Picture" (which the original 1999 film was nominated for), and won for "Worst Remake or Sequel".
Roger Ebert
, who gave the first film
four stars (out of four), gave Book of Shadows two stars, calling it "a muddled, sometimes-atmospheric effort that could have come from many filmmakers" and "not a very lucid piece of filmmaking". Shawn Levy of the Portland Oregonian gave a mildly positive review, saying: "There are moments of pleasure, humor, and [...] terror to be had here." Luke Y. Thompson of the Dallas Observer
said the film "deserves points for creativity" but is "not entirely successful".
Owen Gleiberman
of Entertainment Weekly
called the film "a flat heebie jeebies thriller". Chris Kaltenbach of the Baltimore Sun said: "Gets credit for avoiding the easy path. Too bad the path it chooses doesn't lead us anywhere we want to be taken." Jack Mathews of the New York Daily News
commented that "the characters are boring, the violence generic, the suspense nonexistent". Wesley Morris
of the San Francisco Examiner called the film "throwaway megaplex fodder". David Edelstein
of Slate
summed up his thoughts with, "Lordy, what a stinker."
, although this one centered around the film's video release, fully exploiting video technology. The DVD and VHS releases came with a featurette detailing "The Secret of Esrever" ("Esrever" is the word reverse spelled backwards), a number of near-subliminal messages in the form of hidden words and images that were placed throughout the film. The featurette encouraged viewers to watch certain scenes in reverse and/or frame-by-frame in order to decode the "secret", and, through scrambled letters flashed throughout the program, offered five clues to where they could be found: "door", "water", "mirror", "rug" and "grave".
An example of these messages can be seen in a scene early in the film where the main characters are in a graveyard, standing behind a tombstone inscribed with the word "Treacle". The shot briefly cuts away and then cuts back, though the same tombstone now reads "Further". This is seen for approximately one second until it cuts away again, and the tombstone once again reads "Treacle" for the remainder of the scene.
When all of the clues were identified, the hidden words, when put in the correct order, spelled out "seek me no further", plus an extra hidden word, "or". Viewers could then go to the official Blair Witch website and type the words into a special search box: typing "seek me no further" would play an extra scene from the movie, and typing "seek me no further or" would enable them to add their name to a list of people who had also decoded the message. As of 2008, this function is no longer available.
, production notes and a live video of the band Godhead
.
The CD side featured three cuts from the official soundtrack (Godhead's "The Reckoning", Tony Iommi
/Dave Grohl
's "Goodbye Lament" and Steaknife's "Tommy (Don't Die)"), Carter Burwell's entire instrumental score and a live recording of Godhead's "The Reckoning".
on October 24, 2000, consisted of Carter Burwell's instrumental score. The soundtrack was re-released in 2001 and bundled with the DVD+CD.
that they are pitching a second sequel for The Blair Witch Project
.
The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American horror film pieced together from amateur footage. The film was produced by the Haxan Films production company. The film relates the story of three student filmmakers The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American horror film pieced together from amateur...
, directed by Joe Berlinger
Joe Berlinger
Joseph "Joe" Berlinger is an American documentary film-maker who, in collaboration with Bruce Sinofsky, has created such films as Paradise Lost about the West Memphis 3, Brother's Keeper, Some Kind of Monster, and Crude....
. Another sequel was planned but never materialized.
In August 2009, in a BBC News feature to mark the 10th anniversary of the first film, Daniel Myrick
Daniel Myrick
Daniel Myrick is an American director most famous for co-directing and writing the 1999 film The Blair Witch Project with Eduardo Sánchez, for which they won the Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award.-Life and career:...
and Eduardo Sánchez
Eduardo Sánchez
Eduardo Miguel Sánchez-Quiros is a Cuban-born American director most famous for co-directing and writing the 1999 film The Blair Witch Project with Daniel Myrick....
, the directors of the original movie have discussed potentially making a third film.
Plot
In November 1999, a group of young tourists arrive in BurkittsvilleBurkittsville, Maryland
Burkittsville is a town in Frederick County, Maryland, United States. The population was 171 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Burkittsville is located at ....
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
after seeing The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American horror film pieced together from amateur footage. The film was produced by the Haxan Films production company. The film relates the story of three student filmmakers The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American horror film pieced together from amateur...
and are inspired to film their own documentary in the exact woods where the movie was filmed. The group includes Stephen and his pregnant girlfriend, Tristen, who are researching the Blair Witch for a book they are writing; Erica, a wiccan; Kim, a goth psychic; and Jeff, their local tour guide.
Their first stop, where they camp for the night, is the ruins of Rustin Parr's house. Jeff places cameras to catch any sightings that may occur. That evening another tour group approaches their camp and claims to have jurisdiction over the ruins. Jeff and his tourists lie and convince the other group that they saw something horrifying at Coffin Rock earlier. The other group leaves to investigate.
Jeff and the others wake the next morning with no memory of the previous night. Tristen and Stephen's research documents are shredded and strewn about, and Jeff's cameras are destroyed. Their tapes are found unharmed in the same spot the Blair Witch Project footage was discovered. As they debate why the tapes were spared, Tristen notices that she is bleeding and has miscarried.
Later, at the hospital, Tristen sees a ghostly young girl walking away backwards. After she is discharged, Jeff takes the group to his home, an abandoned broom factory in the woods. It has an elaborate security system, including a deep trench and bridge to the entrance, many surveillance cameras, and a front door that plays the sound of barking guard dogs whenever it is opened. They review their tapes and find hours of footage are missing. At one point, they see a naked woman swinging around a tree backwards. Jeff enlarges the video, revealing her to be Erica. Erica remembers no such event and runs to a nearby room to pray.
Kim drives to a store to buy beer and has several unpleasant encounters with the locals, ending in a heated argument with the cashier and Kim being ordered to leave the store. Back at Jeff's, she reaches into her shopping bag and pricks herself on a nail file the cashier was using. She doesn't recall grabbing it and it has blood on it.
Erica goes missing the next morning. She isn't indoors but nobody heard the front door. Kim discovers Erica's clothes surrounded by a circle of lit candles. Shortly after, the sheriff calls to say that the other tour group was found gutted and laid out in the shape of a pentagram on Coffin Rock, and that he believes Jeff is responsible.
That night Stephen sees Erica through a window, naked and swinging backwards around a tree just as in their tapes. He runs outside, where she tells him he knows what he must do. She runs off and the bridge collapses under him. He avoids falling by grabbing a ledge, and while climbing he sees the same girl Tristen did in the hospital. She repeats Erica's statement before vanishing. The sheriff calls again and tells Jeff he's outside and has some questions. Jeff doesn't understand since the bridge is out, but a security monitor shows it is now intact. He opens the front door, but the bridge is once again broken and the sheriff isn't there. Instead, across the chasm there is a pack of barking dogs. He grabs a rifle but the dogs are gone. When he returns the gun to the closet, he finds Erica's corpse inside.
The group sits in the loft trying to make sense of the situation. Tristen suggests everything is backwards. They are confused, but Kim tells Jeff to play the tapes in reverse to view the lost footage. This works, and the new footage shows Tristen leading them in an orgy and the ritualistic murder of the other tour group. Once the video ends, Jeff begins taping Tristen and demands a confession. She asks Stephen for help, but he turns on her and claims that she deliberately killed their baby. Tristen ties a rope around her own neck while deriding the others for letting fear drive them to a witch hunt. She focuses especially on Stephen, who pushes her over a railing in a moment of rage, causing her to hang by her neck and die.
The group is arrested and interrogated separately. In Kim's room, they play security footage from the store of her stabbing the cashier in the neck with the nail file. In Jeff's video, he arranges Erica's clothes and stows her body in the closet. In Stephen's video, they show him lynching Tristen and cursing her as a witch. All three claim they never did those things.
Cast
- Kim DirectorKim Director-Biography:Director was born in Florida, graduated from Upper St. Clair High School, in Upper St. Clair Township, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, in 1993 and attended Carnegie Mellon University where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting...
as Kim Diamond - Jeffrey DonovanJeffrey DonovanJeffrey Donovan is an American television, film and stage actor. He plays the lead Michael Westen on the American cable television series, Burn Notice. Notable starring roles in film include: Hitch, Believe in Me, Changeling, and Come Early Morning. He portrayed Robert F. Kennedy in Clint...
as Jeffrey Patterson - Erica LeerhsenErica LeerhsenErica Lei Leerhsen is an American actress. She is best known for her lead roles in the horror films Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Wrong Turn 2. She is often referred to as a modern day scream queen...
as Erica Geerson - Tristine SkylerTristine SkylerTristine Skyler is an American playwright, screenwriter, and producer. She was born and raised in New York City, and graduated Cum Laude from Princeton University...
as Tristen Ryler - Stephen Barker TurnerStephen Barker TurnerStephen Barker Turner is an American actor.Barker is a Juilliard Drama School graduate from St. Louis, Missouri. After starring in numerous stage productions, he made his film debut in Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2. He has a small but important nonspeaking role in Cosmopolitan...
as Stephen Ryan Parker - Lanny Flaherty as Sheriff Ronald Cravens
- Kennen Sisco as Peggy
Production
After the massive success of The Blair Witch ProjectThe Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American horror film pieced together from amateur footage. The film was produced by the Haxan Films production company. The film relates the story of three student filmmakers The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American horror film pieced together from amateur...
, Artisan
Artisan Entertainment
Artisan Entertainment Inc. was a privately held independent American movie studio until it was purchased by a Canadian studio, Lionsgate, in 2003. At the time of its acquisition, Artisan had a library of thousands of films developed through acquisition, original production, and production and...
was eager to produce a sequel while the film's popularity was still at its peak. However, Haxan Films
Haxan Films
Haxan Films is a production company headquartered at the Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida. They are famous for producing the cult classic independent horror film The Blair Witch Project. The name is taken from the 1922 Swedish/Danish silent movie Häxan .The company was founded by...
, who created the original film, was not ready to begin work on a follow-up, preferring to wait until the initial buzz had died down. Artisan decided to proceed without them, hiring Joe Berlinger
Joe Berlinger
Joseph "Joe" Berlinger is an American documentary film-maker who, in collaboration with Bruce Sinofsky, has created such films as Paradise Lost about the West Memphis 3, Brother's Keeper, Some Kind of Monster, and Crude....
, who had previously (and subsequently) only done true documentaries, to direct. Blair Witch directors Daniel Myrick
Daniel Myrick
Daniel Myrick is an American director most famous for co-directing and writing the 1999 film The Blair Witch Project with Eduardo Sánchez, for which they won the Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award.-Life and career:...
and Eduardo Sánchez
Eduardo Sánchez
Eduardo Miguel Sánchez-Quiros is a Cuban-born American director most famous for co-directing and writing the 1999 film The Blair Witch Project with Daniel Myrick....
served as executive producers on the film, but later stated that they had little influence on production and were unsatisfied with the finished film.
Stylistically, Book of Shadows was the direct opposite of its predecessor: though the film occasionally utilizes the point of view
Point of view shot
A point of view shot is a short film scene that shows what a character is looking at . It is usually established by being positioned between a shot of a character looking at something, and a shot showing the character's reaction...
camcorder/pseudo-documentary format used in the first movie, Book of Shadows more closely resembles the glossy, big-budget special effects-laden horror films that Blair Witch was a counter to. Berlinger has stated that he originally made the film with more of an ambiguous tone, but Artisan recut the film and re-shot certain scenes to add more "traditional" horror movie elements, thus creating what they saw as a more "commercial" film. Berlinger repeatedly expresses his dislike of the studio's changes throughout the film's DVD commentary.
Though Book of Shadows marketing campaign made no attempt to present the film as a "true story", a promotional "dossier" for the film, compiled by D.A. Stern, was released, including fabricated police reports and interviews surrounding the events in the film as if they were fact (a similar "dossier", also by Stern, was released as a companion piece to the first film). Additionally, similar to the first movie, each of the main characters retain the first names of their respective actors, though their surnames are changed slightly.
Release and reception
Book of Shadows was released throughout the world in 2000-2002. In the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, it debuted at number 2 with $13,000,000. After 8 weeks, it finished with $26,421,314.
Overall, internationally the film made $47,737,094.
Although its theatrical release made a profit, critical reaction to Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 was mostly negative. As of November 2009, it holds a 13% "Rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, based on over 100 reviews. Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
reported, based on 34 reviews, an average rating of 15 out of 100, indicating "Extreme Dislike or Disgust". Additionally, Book of Shadows was nominated for five Razzie Awards, including "Worst Picture" (which the original 1999 film was nominated for), and won for "Worst Remake or Sequel".
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
, who gave the first film
The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American horror film pieced together from amateur footage. The film was produced by the Haxan Films production company. The film relates the story of three student filmmakers The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American horror film pieced together from amateur...
four stars (out of four), gave Book of Shadows two stars, calling it "a muddled, sometimes-atmospheric effort that could have come from many filmmakers" and "not a very lucid piece of filmmaking". Shawn Levy of the Portland Oregonian gave a mildly positive review, saying: "There are moments of pleasure, humor, and [...] terror to be had here." Luke Y. Thompson of the Dallas Observer
Dallas Observer
The Dallas Observer is a free alternative weekly newspaper distributed around the Dallas, Texas . At its inception, it was conceived as a weekly local arts and cinema review publication, with the credo "Advocate for Excellence in the Arts" on the cover. For a time during the early years, the paper...
said the film "deserves points for creativity" but is "not entirely successful".
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman is an American film critic for Entertainment Weekly, a position he has held since the magazine's launch in 1990. From 1981–89, he worked at the Boston Phoenix....
of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
called the film "a flat heebie jeebies thriller". Chris Kaltenbach of the Baltimore Sun said: "Gets credit for avoiding the easy path. Too bad the path it chooses doesn't lead us anywhere we want to be taken." Jack Mathews of the New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
commented that "the characters are boring, the violence generic, the suspense nonexistent". Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris is a film critic at The Boston Globe where he reviews films alongside Ty Burr. Morris and Burr also make regular appearances on NECN to discuss the latest films and do the weekly Take Two film review video series on Boston.com...
of the San Francisco Examiner called the film "throwaway megaplex fodder". David Edelstein
David Edelstein
David Edelstein is the chief film critic for New York Magazine, as well as the film critic for NPR's Fresh Air and CBS Sunday Morning. He lives in Brooklyn, New York....
of Slate
Slate (magazine)
Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
summed up his thoughts with, "Lordy, what a stinker."
Awards
| Award | Subject | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Razzie Award | Worst Screen Couple | Any two actors | |
| Worst Screenplay | Daniel Myrick | ||
| Eduardo Sánchez | |||
| Dick Beebe | |||
| Joe Berlinger Joe Berlinger Joseph "Joe" Berlinger is an American documentary film-maker who, in collaboration with Bruce Sinofsky, has created such films as Paradise Lost about the West Memphis 3, Brother's Keeper, Some Kind of Monster, and Crude.... |
|||
| Worst Director | |||
| Worst Picture | Bill Carraro | ||
| Worst Remake or Sequel | |||
"The Secret of Esrever"
Much like the first Blair Witch, Book of Shadows also featured a marketing gimmickGimmick
In marketing language, a gimmick is a unique or quirky special feature that makes something "stand out" from its contemporaries. However, the special feature is typically thought to be of little relevance or use. Thus, a gimmick is a special feature for the sake of having a special feature...
, although this one centered around the film's video release, fully exploiting video technology. The DVD and VHS releases came with a featurette detailing "The Secret of Esrever" ("Esrever" is the word reverse spelled backwards), a number of near-subliminal messages in the form of hidden words and images that were placed throughout the film. The featurette encouraged viewers to watch certain scenes in reverse and/or frame-by-frame in order to decode the "secret", and, through scrambled letters flashed throughout the program, offered five clues to where they could be found: "door", "water", "mirror", "rug" and "grave".
An example of these messages can be seen in a scene early in the film where the main characters are in a graveyard, standing behind a tombstone inscribed with the word "Treacle". The shot briefly cuts away and then cuts back, though the same tombstone now reads "Further". This is seen for approximately one second until it cuts away again, and the tombstone once again reads "Treacle" for the remainder of the scene.
When all of the clues were identified, the hidden words, when put in the correct order, spelled out "seek me no further", plus an extra hidden word, "or". Viewers could then go to the official Blair Witch website and type the words into a special search box: typing "seek me no further" would play an extra scene from the movie, and typing "seek me no further or" would enable them to add their name to a list of people who had also decoded the message. As of 2008, this function is no longer available.
DVD+CD
The DVD of Book of Shadows was released on September 18, 2001 on the DVD+CD format. The DVD side included a few special features, including the "Secret of Esrever" featurette, audio commentaries by Joe Berlinger and Carter BurwellCarter Burwell
Carter Benedict Burwell is an American composer of film scores.-Life and career:Burwell was born in New York City, the son of Natalie , a math teacher, and Charles Burwell, who founded Thaibok Fabrics, Ltd...
, production notes and a live video of the band Godhead
Godhead (band)
Godhead, occasionally typeset as gODHEAD, is an American alternative rock/metal band from Washington, D.C.. They are most often credited with being the only band signed to musician Marilyn Manson's short-lived vanity label, Posthuman Records.-History:...
.
The CD side featured three cuts from the official soundtrack (Godhead's "The Reckoning", Tony Iommi
Tony Iommi
Anthony Frank "Tony" Iommi is an English guitarist and songwriter best known as the founding member of pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and its sole continual member through multiple personnel changes.Iommi is widely recognised as one of the most important and influential guitarists in...
/Dave Grohl
Dave Grohl
David Eric "Dave" Grohl is an American rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, and singer-songwriter who is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter for Foo Fighters; the former drummer for Nirvana and Scream; and the current drummer for Them Crooked Vultures...
's "Goodbye Lament" and Steaknife's "Tommy (Don't Die)"), Carter Burwell's entire instrumental score and a live recording of Godhead's "The Reckoning".
Soundtrack
Two soundtracks for Book of Shadows were released: the first was released through Posthuman Records on October 17, 2000. The second, released through Milan RecordsMilan Records
Milan Records is a record label located in Los Angeles, California specializing in film scores and soundtrack albums. In addition, Milan boasts an extensive electronic catalog which features down-tempo, chillout, and eclectic electronic releases....
on October 24, 2000, consisted of Carter Burwell's instrumental score. The soundtrack was re-released in 2001 and bundled with the DVD+CD.
Track listing
- "The Reckoning" - GodheadGodhead (band)Godhead, occasionally typeset as gODHEAD, is an American alternative rock/metal band from Washington, D.C.. They are most often credited with being the only band signed to musician Marilyn Manson's short-lived vanity label, Posthuman Records.-History:...
- "Lie Down" - P.O.D.P.O.D.Payable on Death is an American Christian metal band formed in 1992. The band's line-up consists of vocalist Sonny Sandoval, drummer Wuv Bernardo, guitarist Marcos Curiel, and bassist Traa Daniels. Their Christian faith is an important part of their music.They have released seven studio albums and...
- "Goodbye Lament" - Tony IommiTony IommiAnthony Frank "Tony" Iommi is an English guitarist and songwriter best known as the founding member of pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and its sole continual member through multiple personnel changes.Iommi is widely recognised as one of the most important and influential guitarists in...
/Dave GrohlDave GrohlDavid Eric "Dave" Grohl is an American rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, and singer-songwriter who is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter for Foo Fighters; the former drummer for Nirvana and Scream; and the current drummer for Them Crooked Vultures... - "Dragula (Hot Rod Herman Remix)" - Rob ZombieRob ZombieRob Zombie is an American musician, film director, screenwriter and film producer. He founded the heavy metal band White Zombie and has been nominated three times as a solo artist for the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance.Zombie has also established a career as a film director, creating the...
- "MindMindThe concept of mind is understood in many different ways by many different traditions, ranging from panpsychism and animism to traditional and organized religious views, as well as secular and materialist philosophies. Most agree that minds are constituted by conscious experience and intelligent...
" - System of a DownSystem of a DownSystem of a Down, also known by the acronym SOAD and often shortened to System, is a rock band from Southern California. The band was formed in 1994. It consists of Serj Tankian , Daron Malakian , Shavo Odadjian and John Dolmayan... - "Stick It Up" - Slaves on DopeSlaves on DopeSlaves on Dope is a Canadian Hard Rock band, based out of Montreal, Canada.The band was formed in the 1993 by Jason Rockman and Avrum Nadigel highly influenced by the "Grunge" era...
- "Suicide Is PainlessSuicide Is Painless"Suicide Is Painless" is a song written by Johnny Mandel and Mike Altman , which is best known for being featured as the theme song for both the movie and TV series M*A*S*H. The actual title is "Song from M*A*S*H" ". Mike Altman is the son of the original film's director, Robert Altman, and was 14...
" - Marilyn MansonMarilyn MansonMarilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name... - "Soul Auctioneer" - Death in VegasDeath in VegasDeath in Vegas are a psychedelic rock and electronic rock band from the United Kingdom, comprising two permanent members: Richard Fearless and Tim Holmes...
- "PS" - Project 86Project 86Project 86 is an American Christian rock band from Orange County, California, formed in 1996. The line-up consists of bassist Steven Dail, vocalist and songwriter Andrew Schwab, and guitarist Randy Torres. The band has released seven studio albums, which have collectively sold over 500,000 units...
- "Old Enough" - NickelbackNickelbackNickelback is a Canadian rock band from Hanna, Alberta. Since 1995 the band has included guitarist and lead vocalist Chad Kroeger, guitarist and back-up vocalist Ryan Peake and bassist Mike Kroeger.. The band's current drummer and percussionist is Daniel Adair who has been with the band since 2005....
- "Feel AliveFeel Alive"Feel Alive" is a single released by ATB from his album Trilogy.- Feel Alive :*01. "Feel Alive" *02. "Feel Alive" *03. "Feel Alive"...
" - U.P.O.U.P.O.U.P.O. was an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1997. Since 2004, the band's line-up has included Shawn Albro , Chris Weber , Ben Shirley and Tommy Holt . Previous members include Zoltan Bathory and Philippe Mathys.To date, U.P.O... - "Tommy (Don't Die)" - Steaknife
- "Arcarsenal" - At the Drive-InAt the Drive-InAt the Drive-In was an American rock band from El Paso, Texas, considered part of the post-hardcore genre and active from 1993 to 2001. They were known for their extremely energetic stage shows which hearkened back to the 1980s hardcore scene...
- "Human" - ElasticaElasticaElastica were an English alternative rock band that played punk rock-influenced music. They were best known for their 1995 album Elastica, which produced singles that charted in the US and the UK.-History:...
- "Feel Good Hit of the SummerFeel Good Hit of the Summer"Feel Good Hit of the Summer" is a song by American rock band Queens of the Stone Age and written by band members Josh Homme and Nick Oliveri. It is the opening track of their second album, Rated R and in 2000 became the second single to be released from it. The song also accompanied the UK release...
" - Queens of the Stone AgeQueens of the Stone AgeQueens of the Stone Age is an American rock band from Palm Desert, California, United States, formed in 1997. The band's line-up has always included founding member Josh Homme , with the current line-up including longtime members Troy Van Leeuwen and Joey Castillo , alongside Michael Shuman and...
The Shadow of the Blair Witch
The Shadow of the Blair Witch was a documentary created for the DVD's special features. It aired on the Sci Fi channel in the U.S and Channel 4 in the U.K. The documentary follows the story of Jeff Patterson, a character in the movie but in the mockumentary, he is portrayed as if he was real. The mockumentary follows the murders that he committed which were in the movie.Sequel
On September 2, 2009 it was announced by Ed Sanchez and Daniel MyrickDaniel Myrick
Daniel Myrick is an American director most famous for co-directing and writing the 1999 film The Blair Witch Project with Eduardo Sánchez, for which they won the Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award.-Life and career:...
that they are pitching a second sequel for The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American horror film pieced together from amateur footage. The film was produced by the Haxan Films production company. The film relates the story of three student filmmakers The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American horror film pieced together from amateur...
.