Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows movie review

Experience often tells us that sequels are always inferior to the originals. The Blair Witch: The Book of Shadows is often highlighted as evidence and as such it is generally despised; ratings at the IMDB and other like sites readily reflect that.

However, I don't share those beliefs. I liked it when it first came out and re-watching it the other day has confirmed my conviction that, as Jeff would put it, the naysayers only say nay.

There are two things here that work against BoS: its fundamental different approach to the telling of the story and that it doesn't give any more info on what happened to Heather's group. On the first front, the radical shift places this second installment away from the first movie, which apparently was enough of a turn-off for many. The second reason is even more insidious as we bought our tickets in search for answers, but we ended up more confused than before.

However, once we accept that the mysteries will not be solved this time around and that this movie is not an extension of the first, we end up with an acceptable fun movie that, despite the factors against it, it is very respectful to the mythology set in the original. Watching it, thus, with fresh eyes there are many, many things to like.

I'll leave you with just two things to look for for the next time you watch it. The first one is the characters. Of the trilogy, the ones from The Book of Shadows are the ones that are given the most depth on the are way more interesting than even the ones from Blair Witch (2016). Despite the messing up by the producing company, we get a good share from what the director originally intended. Josh and Kim, Kim and Josh (and to some extent Erica) make this movie. The second reason to watch is the secret message Easter egg hunt named "The Secret of Esrever". There is a secret message interspersed throughout the movie and the hints are found in the DVD extras. Most of them are really, really hard, but if you are up to the challenge, you'll have lots of fun. Oh, lest I forget, there's even a bigger bonus and that's The Shadow of the Blair Witch mockumentary that ties in to this movie. I think it can be found on your regular video sites along with the Burkittsville Seven which is also a must-watch (don't know about their copyright status though). Both are a very meaty addition to the mythology that just can't be missed.

On the whole, BOS has been widely lambasted, but If this movie had come out without any previous movie to compare it to, it would have been way more successful in its appreciation.

Worth a watch this Halloween

Ghostly occurrence

Time now for this year's Halloween special. 

A certain man had just died and left his house unoccupied. My cousin, who lives right at the US border and some of his friends decided to take a look inside at night. Among whatever else they might have found, they discovered a book of black magic. To have a better look at it they swiped it and buried it in an empty lot somewhere for later perusal. When they came back for it a couple of days later, the book was gone. They went back to the empty house but found it now guarded by a police officer.

This happened back in the 80s. My cousin told me about it not long after and I stayed with the story all this time, retelling it from time to time and probably adding some of my own and forgetting some other parts.  You know how it is with these stories where it is always a cousin, as in this case, or a friend of a friend that has the adventures. These people consistently seem to have more interesting lives than one does. Well, unlike the friends of friends that are unreachable by the degrees of separation, I could contact my cousin anytime. I decided to corroborate the facts next time
i saw him.  If I got full confirmation, or better still, more details, I was sure to submit it to the Hometown Tales podcast. My opportunity came in 2005 at my brother's wedding. There, I took my cousin aside and had him listen to the story told back to him which he heard with amusement. He chuckled at the buried book bit and when I pressed him to verify what I had just told him, he paused for a moment, solemnly pronounced that something of the sort did happen and said no more.


You can read last year's special here

House of Leaves Review

House of Leaves is a novel written by Mark Z Danielewski and it is unlike any other (my, one line so far and this is already starting to sound like a raving review;  bear with me for a sec while I'll explain).

Let's start with the plot.  It has at least three parallel storylines that work on separate levels and time frames and from the various character viewpoints. The main thread, and the rest in their own way, focus on a house. This house has something peculiar to it which, as time goes on, begins beckon it's inhabitants until it reveals itself as a full-fledged manifestation. The phenomenon clearly merits investigation and the rest of this storyline details its progress and ultimate results in a Blair Witch fashion (not a spoiler!). 

The other threads house the main narrative in a meta sense and revolve around it.

Now, this has been seen in one form or another before. The construction of the book adds another layer to what is already a riveting foundation making it leapfrog over others & wannabes. It starts pedestrian enough with text and footnotes. Then the footnotes begin to grow, other supporting material emerges, text boxes shift and rotate and towards the end the text itself become s part of the setting. Other devices used include text color, blot outs, quotes, color photos, some comic panels and more. Oh, and the book is also self-referential.

There are some unstated enigmas which the reader can try to unravel with the help of an included index (how many novels have an index?).

From so many schemes one must conclude that this book can only exist in physical book format. In fact it appears as if the author tried to push the format as far it would comfortably go. It is architectural. That's the one word summary. Other formats simply cannot do it justice, as House of Leaves is so very visual and spatial.  A movie perhaps could perhaps only capture part of the whole, but definitely not all.

In light of what has been said, this book will appeal not only to those who like weird stories and some horror, but also to those that like, or are involved in, story crafting and who like to see how all the pieces fit together. It will also be of special interest to those who love books as objects.  Despite being a paperback, it can find a place in any booklover's collection.

In a world quickly shifting towards e-readers and tablets after a couple of millenia of the codex rule, it is comforting and, why not, exciting to see the old format still pull new tricks.

5 stars

You can take a look at last year's Halloween special here

Essay on Lovecraft

I'm trying to read all the Britannica Great Books and I am now over half of the way there. I just finished Montaigne's Essays and I have to say they're not only full of wit, but many are disquieting as he humbly goes against the current. What strikes me most at this point, nonetheless, is how he goes about writing them. Sure, an essay is supposed to be a free, unconstrained text, but Montaigne's go beyond what I expected. His essays are nothing like your usual high school assignments. He doesn't have a structure that I can point my finger at, or build a case around whatever he's writing about, much less get to a conclusion. He just lets himself go with the flow and keep on writing on and on until he feels he has exhausted the topic. He could easily stop at any point and no one would be the wiser. Length is no impediment whatsoever; a couple of his essays could fill a volume each by themselves. I do not mean to limit myself, but I feel that I couldn't write like that, firstly, because I lack his knowledge, wisdom and style; and secondly, because I do feel the need to get somewhere with whatever I'm writing about; if I'm going to take pen and paper, or more likely keyboard and text processor, I better give the reader something that is worth her while, that is, getting to the point I want to get across. The absence of the point, or kicker, bothers me. Notwithstanding, I'm going to give it a go right here, right now and see what it's like.