the summer of massacre is 2011 anthology horror film written and directed by joe castro .

it is listed in guinness world records as the slasher film with the largest bodycount , at 155 .

the summer of massacre

if hell had a movie night , “ the summer of massacre ” would be the star attraction .
hotel transylvania 3 : summer vacation stars plan their dream summer getaways to some memorable movie settings .
aicn horror : new horrors war of the dead , summer of massacre , dorm of the dead , a darker reality , . . .
looking for movie tickets ? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing the summer of massacre near you .
a summer of massacre is an anthology film that includes the chapters “rampage” , “lump” , “son of the boogeyman” , “burn” and “final scene” .
tags 2011 brinke stevens cleve hall felip winslett joe castro lisa m . garcia nick principe scott barrows steven j . escobar the summer of massacre
. though with all that he’s contributed to , i think “the summer of massacre” might just be the pinnacle piece for him and his imaginative instinct for macabre .
the massacre of st . bartholomew’s day had for its background the political and religious rivalries of the court of france . admiral
shakespeare in the park ' s production of
the taming of the shrew
last summer also poked fun at trump .
breaking glass brings ' the summer of massacre ' to blu - ray on a bd - 25 disc housed in a keepcase . after some logos and warnings the disc transitions to a standard menu .
not to be taken seriously , summer of massacre would be a great drinking game where a group of friends must do a shot or chug a beer whenever someone dies . just watch out for alcohol poisoning because this film has a massive and bloody body count . those not looking for substance with their gore should seek out summer of massacre ; an impressive , grue - strewn gorefest .
…the huguenot party in the massacre of st . bartholomew’s day in august 1572 . other massacres followed in the provinces . …
texas chainsaw massacre director tobe hooper . ( photo courtesy mpi / dark sky films )
cruel summer : baywatch , valerian and the city of a thousand planets , the mummy and king arthur . composite : film stills
and its production of
troilus and cressida
last summer was set up as an allegory about the war in afghanistan .
the presenters will share stories and history of their respective families related to the massacre , but the journey of reconciliation between the two presenters will also be given special relevance .
the summer of massacre is an anthology film depicting various events that occurred , in i can only assume is los angeles , that are massacres in their own right . there is no through story and there’s not really a story in any of the individual segments either .
you’re one of four screenwriters credited on a brighter summer day . could you describe your collaboration , and who was responsible for which parts of the writing process ?
the news of the massacre was welcomed by philip ii of spain , and pope gregory xiii had a medal struck to celebrate the event . protestant nations were horrified . to explain the massacre , charles , assuming responsibility for it , claimed that there had been a huguenot plot against the crown .
includes unlimited streaming of black sweater massacre via the free bandcamp app , plus high - quality download in mp3 , flac and more .
an indication that broadcasters were aiming to fix the problem by this summer has not been met . see earlier story here .
time to break out the canoes and camp fires because the summer season at the lake begins now . what could go wrong ? some cute girls , some cool guys . . . an escape convict from a federal prison with a thirst for blood lol . they forgot to mention that in the ad . adam & eve pictures and old mill entertainment present : summer lake massacre .
…of this period was the massacre of st . bartholomew’s day . on the night of aug . 24 / 25 , 1572 , after a council at which the queen mother catherine de médicis , king charles ix , the duke d’anjou ( later henry iii ) , and the guises were present , there occurred a massacre in which coligny and…
one of the major riots of the “red summer” of 1919 , the race riot in elaine , arkansas , was also one of the deadliest . though exact numbers are unknown , it is estimated over 200 african americans were killed along with five whites during the white hysteria of a pending uprising of black sharecroppers .
i am a big supporter of indie horror and certainly respect the time , creativity and money it takes to bring ones vision to the big screen . but in the grand scheme of why we like indie horror for all of its promise , a cool hook is not enough to make a summer of massacre succeed . and patty – let’s just be friends .
the issue of war or peace in the netherlands was closely linked with the massacre of st . bartholomew’s day in paris on august 23–24 , 1572 . upon this occasion , following an abortive attempt against the life of the admiral gaspard de…
the summer of massacre is like if you took a three minute horror movie that some kid made for you tube with computer - generated gore and only the remnants of a story and stretched it out for almost 100 minutes . it’s boring , dumb , offensive , and most importantly not scary at all .
islamic state terrorists are plotting to attack tourists on holiday this summer at spanish , french and italian resorts , intelligence agencies believe .
doctor who magazine # 233 , 20th december 1995 , “archive : the massacre of st bartholomew ' s eve” by andrew pixley , marvel comics uk ltd .
the summer of massacre immediately caught my attention upon learning that it was certified by the guinness book of world records for having the highest body count ever recorded in a film . it’s a great gimmick to get genre fans interested in a film that they likely would have never bothered with otherwise . unfortunately , the world record is the only thing the movie has going for it .
q : while you were certainly careful to resist that presentist impulse and let the story of the massacre and its aftermath unfold on its own terms , you also clearly highlight some ways in which the malmedy massacre can help us to understand aspects of contemporary political life . do you worry at all that the resonance of the “fake news” phenomenon could obscure the particular contemporary relevance you had in mind ?
forty years after it scared the pants off america — and territories beyond — tobe hooper’s ultimate scare machine the texas chain saw massacre is returning to the big screen this summer in freshly restored form . hooper himself worked on the restoration and recently told entertainment weekly “the film works as well , if not better , than it originally did . ”
a summer of massacre is confusingly written and horribly acted , with a soundtrack that thumps away endlessly and cgi effects that would be more at home in a battle between the roadrunner and wile e . coyote . the most interesting story of all was “lump” , but then that girl ( guy ) is so absolutely gross with this oozing back - sac of goo that it wasn’t fun to watch .
q : you delivered the manuscript for the malmedy massacre in late summer 2016 , before we all became aware of the role that deliberately untruthful stories played in the american election , and the “fake news” label became a ubiquitous political barb . and yet those developments have now shaped responses to the book . could you say anything about the experience of having a work of history be received into a political moment that differs in such significant ways from that in which it was crafted ?
e’re coming to the end of a particularly chilly summer in hollywood . it’s been a brutal week for movie theater chains as they ready their quarterly earnings reports for shareholders and warn those investors that they’re not going to like what they see . the amc theater chain is hemorrhaging money , with a 27 % decrease in value over the summer , ticket sales have fallen 10 . 8 % across the board ,
the white terror , which is depicted in a brighter summer day , was an experience shared by everyone , both bensheng ren and waisheng ren . and a brighter summer day wasn’t the only film to discuss it ; there was also wan jen’s super citizen ko ( 1995 ) . so that part of the film wasn’t particularly controversial , and edward wasn’t interested in provoking anyone with that subject matter .
muhammad , the founder of islam and the proclaimer of the qurʾān . muhammad is traditionally said to have…
fans of the so - bad - it ' s - awesome effects on the tim & eric awesome show great job ! will delight in the spectacle of computerized gore on display in summer of massacre . the makers of this film seem to be using the same style , as none of the effects are realistic by any means , but they are damn fun to witness . blood spurts in an excessive fashion . faces are turned to pulp . every hit , slice , scorch , blast , or kick to a person results in a cartoonish guesstimation of anatomy and violence inflicted upon it .
as one of the strongest political statements in the cinema of that era . what were the challenges of making a film that addressed the white terror ?
instead of crippling the huguenot party as catherine had hoped it would do , the massacre revived hatred between roman catholics and huguenots and helped provoke a renewal of hostilities . thenceforth the huguenots abandoned john calvin ’s principle of obedience to the civil magistrate—that is , to the royal authority—and adopted the view that rebellion and tyrannicide were justifiable under certain circumstances .
though the term only surfaced after remy’s work on the book was complete , the malmedy massacre can be read as a “fake news” autopsy , a resonance now shaping the book’s reception . below , we discuss responses to the book with remy .
but when the mysterious carrie shows up , counselors begin disappearing one by one . soon , caesar and otto find themselves at the edge of a summer camp killer ' s blade as they run , duck , and swoosh for their lives !
shakespeare in the park , a venerable new york city institution that offers free outdoor theater to anyone willing to wait in line for tickets , lost the backing of two major sponsors over the weekend in the wake of a conservative outcry over this summer ' s production of
julius caesar .
here ' s what ' s going on .
aja still vividly remembers the first time he and his writing and producing partner gregory levasseur saw the film .
[ we ] used to go from video club to video club and empty the shelves of all the horror movies like pirates ,
says the paris - born filmmaker .
because at the time in the early 1990s in france , we couldn ' t find any great scary movies in the theater . i remember one summer vacation we watched , almost back - to - back , [ wes craven ' s ] the last house on the left and the texas chainsaw massacre . those two movies were shocking , unexpected experiences that made a huge impression on us . in particular , the texas chainsaw massacre became one of the most influential movies for me , especially in terms of what i did in the horror genre afterward .
the doctor and steven find themselves in 1572 france , just prior to the mass slaughter of the protestant huguenots by catherine de medici . while the doctor goes to visit apothecary charles preslin , steven becomes embroiled in the lives of several prominent huguenots , and must come to terms with the doctor ' s unwillingness to alter history to stop the imminent massacre .
hung hung ( credited in a brighter summer day as yan hong - ya ) is a taiwanese poet , filmmaker , and dramatist who was a close collaborator on several of yang’s films and served as one of his three screenwriting partners on a brighter summer day . hung first worked with yang on the director’s 1986 film the terrorizers , a stylistically bold portrait of globalization and alienation in contemporary taipei that won the silver leopard at the locarno film festival . last month , hung spoke with me via skype about his working relationship with yang , as well as a brighter summer day ’s truncated distribution and slow path to critical acclaim , and the real - life roots of its intricate narrative . ( i translated hung’s remarks into english ; our original conversation was conducted in mandarin . )
even before the terrorizers , edward was already interested in making a brighter summer day , and in many ways the two films have important thematic parallels—particularly this idea of a society killing its own people . the terrorizers was about a contemporary moment in the 1980s , and you could say a brighter summer day goes back and imagines how these “terrorizers” grew up . edward wanted to understand how this social instability and fear took hold , and how these people came to be who they were .
one of the worst assaults on african americans in our country’s history will be the focus of an upcoming program sponsored by the delta cultural center . reflection and reconciliation : the elaine massacre will be held on sunday , april 23 , at 2 p . m . at beth el heritage hall , 406 perry st .
…on august 24 came the st . bartholomew’s day massacre , in which thousands of french protestants were massacred by royal forces . the marriage was publicly styled the “scarlet nuptials” because of the bloodshed . ordered by his brother - in - law charles ix to abjure his protestant faith , henry yielded . his conversion to roman catholicism…
will the filmmaker’s classic tale of cannibalistically - inclined lunatics and the college - age kids they try to turn into barbecue wow a new generation of cinemagoers ? that remains to be seen . but we can say that , four decades after hooper and co - writer kim henkel first introduced us to gunnar hansen’s leatherface and the rest of the film’s demented crew , the brutal trailer for the restored texas chain saw massacre is not one for the faint of heart nor weak of stomach .
while the past few months have seen a handful of highly visible exceptions ( wonder woman , for one , raked in a princely $ 400m to claim the no 2 spot for the year to date in box - office gross ) , the articles declaring 2017 to be the greatest movie summer on record refer mainly to the preponderance of high quality films making the rounds rather than big - impact blockbusters .
the police dogs that sniffed through the cabin of the truck probably picked up the scent of the killer ( they certainly had no interest in the pakistani ) , but of course that trail has long since grown cold .
while responding to customer complaints on sunday , the airline tweeted ,
no matter what your political stance may be , the graphic staging of julius caesar at this summer ' s free shakespeare in the park does not reflect delta air lines ' values .
delta continued ,
their artistic and creative direction crossed the line on the standards of good taste . we have notified them of our decision to end our sponsorship as the official airline of the public theater effective immediately .
there actually weren’t any limitations . the controversy surrounding a city of sadness had more to do with the fact that it depicted the 228 incident [ an infamous massacre that took place on february 28 , 1947 , in which tens of thousands of taiwanese protesters were killed by the kuomintang government ] . although martial law had ended , there was still very little public discussion of 228 , so the film did cause a stir—though ultimately it was never censored . a city of sadness reflected the experience of bensheng ren [ the ethnic chinese who established roots in taiwan before the beginning of the chinese communist revolution in 1949 ] .
studio recording for the massacre began on january 21st , and continued on consecutive fridays ; doctor who returned to its usual studio home of riverside 1 for this serial . hartnell was absent on january 28th while he enjoyed his week ' s vacation .
in the past , in fact , jäger has complained about the difficulty of deporting unsuccessful asylum seekers back to north africa . “it cannot be possible that these countries do not take their citizens back . the german federal government must use every opportunity to change this attitude , ” he said last summer .
castro seems to have bit off more than he could chew , having served as writer , director , producer , actor , makeup and visual effects . while i question the amount of effort that went into some of those aspects ( he seems to use the term “experimental” as an excuse for having no story and bad effects ) , i have no doubt that an abundance of time was spent in post - production to accomplish all of the death scenes . but the movie needs a lot more than that to save it . it’s an admirable attempt and it’s nice that they got their small place in history with the world record , but otherwise the summer of massacre is just another bad movie .
the dublin review of books is pleased to present a handsome book of over 500 pages celebrating some of the finest writing from its first ten years .
i usually like to go into movies without knowing a lot about them – preferring just enough to know whether i will actually be interested in watching it . sometimes , however , this backfires . i put in the dvd for the summer of massacre , not knowing anything about it but going in with the feeling that the title was kind of corny . within five minutes of the movie i had a feeling i was in for a very…interesting ride . i tried to like this movie , i really did . i wanted to like it . i wanted to be able to say that this was awesome…but i can’t .
' the summer of massacre ' is an absolutely atrocious film . the directing , acting , and visual effects are all nearly incompetent . i admire the filmmakers ' passion and the independent spirit of the production , but those factors can ' t make up for the finished product ' s lofty flaws . the video and audio are both pretty bad , suffering from budgetary and technical problems . supplements are decent , giving viewers a peek at the director ' s enthusiasm and hard work . though i tried , i really couldn ' t find anything to like about the movie , and with its lackluster technical presentation , this really is a disc to avoid .
when i went to make my first film , house of 1000 corpses , i didn ' t consciously think it at the time at all—we were just making the movie—but when i look back on it , i think , ' that is exactly the product of someone obsessed with the texas chainsaw massacre and the rocky horror picture show . and somehow , in his mind , he put them together in a blender , '
zombie says .
but when i went to make my second film , the devil ' s rejects , it was really the quality of those ' 70s movies like the texas chainsaw massacre that i was trying to emulate .
by late 1965 , the story had acquired a new title , the massacre of st bartholomew ' s eve - - after the shorter “the massacre of st bartholomew” had briefly been employed from around august - - and was designated serial w . the director assigned to it was paddy russell . russell had started her career as an actress before becoming one of the bbc ' s first female directors in 1961 . three years later she made the decision to go freelance , but continued to work on bbc programmes such as compact . russell had been the first director assigned to inside the spaceship in early 1964 , but was unavailable for the required dates . she would now become the first woman to helm a doctor who story after all .
the national endowment for the arts makes grants to nonprofit organizations for specific projects . in the past , the new york shakespeare festival has received project - based nea grants to support performances of shakespeare in the park by the public theater . however , no nea funds have been awarded to support this summer ' s shakespeare in the park production of julius caesar and there are no nea funds supporting the new york state council on the arts ' grant to public theater or its performances .
this is the latest album from the reigning monarchs , with the production costs being made possible by their fans . this newest effort contains a mix of influences and genre - bending styles from surf - ska punkabilly to gothic modern loungecore . black sweater massacre is the only album of its kind and the only one you ' ll need . . . til we decide to make another .
positive reviews do not a hit make – consider the sad example of atomic blonde , a glossy action flick which has barely recouped its $ 30m budget despite glowing notices and charlize theron as a bisexual martial arts amazon in black lingerie – and we’re in a severe drought of crowd - pleasers operating on a studio scale . it feels like the ink has scarcely dried on last year’s postmortem of the summer wreckage , and yet the time has come to undertake the solemn work of surveying the damage once again .
the critics who covered the 1824 salon , delécluze , gros , auguste chauvin , adolphe thiers and even stendhal , writing from very different perspectives , were still under the powerful influence of aristotelian aesthetics , a keystone of academic art . as mac namidhe argues convincingly , they looked at the paintings of the 1820s expecting to find there the unities of time , space and action that the academy , and even its critics , saw as essential for all great art . the massacre at chios defied this demand , stressing the passive suffering of the greeks who are about to be slain by the conquering turkish troops in place of heroic action , leaving a void at its centre , where the dramatic focus should be in academic art , and refusing to provide the precision and clarity of detail or evenness of paint application that convention demanded .
the film ' s realism is , of course , a major part of its legacy .
because of hooper ' s very realistic tone , the texas chainsaw massacre creates an experience for the viewer that is beyond any other movie—the fact that you absolutely follow the journey of some people into something that is so crude , so violent and brutal , and unflinching ,
says writer - director alexandre aja , whose own horror moviemaking resume includes high tension , a remake of the hills have eyes , and this month ' s horns , starring daniel radcliffe .
with maybe the exception of deliverance and the last house on the left , i cannot see any other movie that has that kind of impact on the viewer .
one of the most amazing tricks in filmmaking in the [ horror ] genre is the fact that when you really look at the movie , you realize there is almost no blood or graphic violence onscreen ,
aja says .
it ' s the editing , the rawness , the craziness of what you see that makes the experience so intense . your mind creates what you don ' t see in the movie and fills in the gaps to see all the ' massacre ' that hooper doesn ' t actually show onscreen .
…on the eve of the feast day of st . bartholomew , and several thousand more perished in massacres in provincial cities . this notorious episode was the signal for the fifth civil war , which ended in 1576 with the peace of monsieur , allowing the huguenots freedom of worship outside paris . opposition to…
in a brighter summer day , he doesn’t bother to explain the different gangs and their backgrounds ; he simply uses the expressions of the actors to hint that some are the children of military families and some are the children of civil servants . this is a distinction that foreign audiences and even taiwanese viewers who did not live through that era would have a tough time ascertaining . but it wasn’t our goal to give the viewer a thorough explanation of each and every character ; as long as they were compelling , that was enough for us .
as the summer progressed , wiles and tosh realised they had a problem on their hands with regard to the doctor ' s female companion . they had decided to dispense with vicki and replace her with trojan handmaiden katarina , only to realise that that character ' s primitive origins made her less than ideal for viewer identification . they therefore elected to kill off katarina in the serial which would precede “the war of god” , the daleks ' master plan . as a result , it appears that lucarotti was asked to incorporate a new companion , young protestant maid anne chaplet , into his scripts . anne would escape the huguenot massacre by joining the doctor and steven in the tardis .
after punching out the police chief ' s mentally challenged brother , an effete tough guy , caesar , is on the run . together , he and his slovenly half brother , otto , take on new identities as counselors at the strangely vacant camp sunsmile . the would - be summer camp has attracted a motley crew of hollywood outcasts , all with something to hide .
meanwhile , in december , both wiles and tosh had resigned from doctor who after encountering numerous difficulties during the making of the epic the daleks ' master plan . tosh was the first to leave the programme , handing over to gerry davis in mid - january 1966 . davis ' first credit would come on the fourth episode of the massacre ; this meant that tosh could receive a co - writing credit on this installment , something typically forbidden for a bbc story editor .
the biggest omissions were the scenes involving xiao si’r’s father and the white terror [ a period of martial law between 1949 and 1987 , during which taiwan’s kuomintang government suppressed political dissidents ] . the shorter version took the focus off of the political content and placed it more heavily on the stories of the children .
for hooper , the newer , shinier chainsaw is more than just a piece of moving - picture memorabilia . it ' s a chance for audiences to revisit the political underpinnings that led to the film ' s creation in the first place . though it ' s easy to think of the film as a straight - up horror movie , the texas chainsaw massacre also belongs to the new hollywood movement that was happening during the 1970s , an era when films were being influenced by the pervasive disillusionment resulting from events like watergate and the vietnam war .
on august 18 , 1572 , catherine’s daughter , margaret of france ( marguerite de valois ) , was married to the huguenot henry of navarre ( the future henry iv of france ) , and a large part of the huguenot nobility came to paris for the wedding . the attempt on admiral coligny’s life four days later failed ; he was only wounded . to placate the angry huguenots , the government agreed to investigate the assassination attempt . fearing discovery of her complicity , catherine met secretly with a group of nobles at the tuileries palace to plot the complete extermination of the huguenot leaders , who were still in paris for the wedding festivities . charles was persuaded to approve of the scheme , and , on the night of august 23 , members of the paris municipality were called to the louvre and given their orders .
the veteran actor shares lessons she’s learned from working with some of the world’s greatest filmmakers .
were nice enough to give my faithful readers of aicn horror a sneak preview of the first episode . on the 31st , the first episode will be free ; then the remainder of the 8 - episode season will be pay - to - download .
in composing his storyline , lucarotti made use of an interest expressed by both wiles and william hartnell to have the star play different roles in the programme . ( indeed , hartnell had earlier suggested he could play the doctor ' s evil time travelling progeny in a story called “the son of doctor who” ! ) this led to the creation of the abbot of amboise , named for the central french town which was the site of a 1560 huguenot conspiracy against the catholic house of guise .
the portrayal of pretty much every woman here is especially annoying . not only do each of them attempt to yodel their christina aguilera - ed version of the song the band just sang five seconds ago around the bonfire to fit the situation they are in , but they are also simply cast as distractions and groupies . a song is sung by one of the band members ; one of the undistinguishable blondes sits at the
so german law enforcement tried to pin amri down , and they got pretty close . but it’s also possible that the investigators underestimated one piece of serious information : a report by the state police in north rhein - westphalia , which is dated from july , shows that amri was heard talking about carrying out attacks this summer . whether this piece of evidence was judged insufficient or ignored is still unclear .
television reception problems continue to plague local viewers , with the the dreaded ‘atmospheric ducting’ problem interfering with the signal of commercial broadcasts at times of temperature fluctuation . unfortunately these fluctuations occur at the beginning and end of the day , coinciding with peak viewing times .
as if sxsw , the film festival currently taking place in austin , tx , didn’t have enough cinematic treats to make you want to relocate , they’re now host to the 4k premiere of the texas chain saw massacre ! tobe hooper’s seminal horror celebrates its’ 40th anniversary this year , and current rightsholder dark sky films have been hard at work in mastering the film in 4k for a theatrical re - release this summer . dark sky previously issued a pristine and special features stacked blu - ray release a couple of years back , but i think it’s safe to assume another edition will be released now that 4k ready television sets are being aggressively rolled out . exact screening dates of where you can see the re - release in theaters is sure to be revealed soon .
there’s no question i am in the position of being in the right place at the right time . but the unexpected resonance of parts of the malmedy massacre should remind historians—and the presses that publish their work—not to give in to the presentist temptation . while the british historian e . h . carr was certainly right in claiming that historical research is always in significant part an ongoing dialog between the present and the past , we cannot allow present concerns to over - determine what we research and write about . we must also remain equally , if not more , concerned about what has changed and in recovering what has been lost .
suppose we are currently making the same mistake we made at the outset of this drama — suppose the dark crevices of the russia scandal run not just a little deeper but a lot deeper .
in the opening days of the battle of the bulge , members of a waffen ss division executed 84 american prisoners of war near the belgian town of malmedy . after a long and painstaking investigation , the u . s . army tried and convicted 74 accused perpetrators , but a concerted effort to delegitimize and overturn the convictions immediately ushered in a decade of controversy over accusations that vengeance - seeking american interrogators had tricked and tortured the defendants and forced them to sign false confessions . by 1957 each of the convicted men had been released .
he is also accused of having close links with leaders of the terrorist organisation isis who are based in syria and iraq .
the ending suggests that baldwin’s the ghost may return for some sort of sequel . here’s hoping that won’t be the case .
in the first chapter of her book margaret mac namidhe cites fellow art historian beth wright’s description of eugène delacroix as an “illustrious rather than a well - known figure” . many of those who profoundly admire delacroix’s work do so on the basis of their familiarity with paintings such as liberty storming the barricades , the death of sardanapalus , the women of algiers , a number of paintings of animals in frenzied action and portraits of friends such as chopin , george sand and paganini . few people take the trouble to trek around the great public spaces that hold his huge mural schemes . and since the latter do not reproduce well in books , knowledge of the artist’s work is limited for the general art lover , even if his reputation is not disputed .
the film fleshes itself out by delving into the relations between the finnish , american , and russian soldiers , casting the american as the soldier less gung ho about working together . in a commanding performance , andrew tiernan stars as the most sensible ( and most badass ) of the soldiers and delivers a gruff and powerful performance as he hits all of the action beats with a lot of gristle as well as provides some soul to the quieter scenes in the film . given the backdrop of world war ii when this film is set , war of the dead does seem to want to make a statement about the fragility of international relations at the time and today , but doesn ' t let that get in the way of making some gripping scenes of battle and action with the unkillable dead .
not at all . i wrote the malmedy massacre because i had become fascinated by the post - trial controversy . the present moment was also very much on my mind . i believed we needed a more historically informed debate about both interrogation methods and military courts . another purpose was to contribute to what i would call the “untangling” of modern german history . for several decades now , german , north american , and israeli scholars have—often in the face of considerable resistance—revealed the extent to which our understanding of nazi germany has been shaped by former nazis and their sympathizers . yet another aim was to call attention to a strain of german and american anti - semitism that became the lifeblood of the malmedy case controversy .
son of the boogeyman a woman goes into the house in the neighborhood that is presumed to be the dwelling of the boogeyman , and is raped by a grotesque guy . later this guy strikes out to kill his offspring .
click here to check out my retro - reviews of friday the 13th and the stinky 2009 remake .
the defining lesson of this year’s flop crop : there’s no such thing as a sure thing . we’ve watched studios incrementally move away from original , creator - driven projects seen as “risky” ( meanwhile , the first - time director jordan peele’s get out is the most profitable film of the year , with a $ 175m payday on a measly $ 4 . 5m budget ) towards franchises and other projects ostensibly boasting built - in audiences through brand recognition . but this summer , audiences drew a line under what they’ll buy into on simple merit of nostalgia or the sunk - time fallacy , and now the chickens of failure have come home to roost .
for those of you who like your horror with a heavy dose of action , adrenaline and ballz , i present to you war of the dead . though it lacks the scope of max brooks ' world war z , it incorporates a lot of the attention to military that occurs throughout that book and most likely will occur in the upcoming brad pitt production . war of the dead views like an episode of band of brothers with zombies as american , russian , and finnish soldiers attempt to work together in a battle where the nazi soldiers they are fighting simply will not have the decency to die .
folks and the participants in the contest . so below are the winners of the contest and their most frightening sounds , all fascinating reads and admittedly frightening .
unhappy that two proposals had now been passed over by the doctor who production office after believing he had been guaranteed a commission by spooner , lucarotti involved his agents . to resolve the matter , tosh agreed to discuss a new storyline with lucarotti . drawing on wiles ' desire to make use of religious conflict in doctor who , it was apparently tosh who suggested the 1572 huguenot massacre as a potential setting . lucarotti was commissioned to write “the war of god” on july 9th .
in the malmedy massacre : the war crimes trial controversy , historian steven remy shows how the torture accusations were invented and disseminated by a network of american and german trial critics , including the accused soldiers , their aggrieved american defense attorney , army officials , prominent german clergymen , and a then - unknown american senator making his demagogic debut , joseph mccarthy . conspiratorial anti - semitism , a gullible american press , and ex - nazis and their sympathizers all contributed to our enduring misunderstanding of one of world war ii’s most infamous crimes .
although he had done some work on forthcoming stories , particularly the celestial toymaker , the massacre of st bartholomew ' s eve marked donald tosh ' s final doctor who credit . he went on to further writing and story editing , including sir arthur conan doyle ' s sherlock holmes . in 1967 , tosh submitted a proposal for a doctor who adventure entitled “the rosacrutians” ( or “the rose marriners” ) which was not taken forward . tosh left television in the mid - seventies to become the caretaker of st mawes castle in cornwall .
the question hansen is most often asked about the making of the film is :
was it fun ?
his stock answer ?
not a bit of it .
that the film was shot in texas in the middle of summer did not help .
i think it was one side or the other of 100 degrees for almost all of the shooting ,
hansen recalls .
and it was central texas , which means it was quite humid . for me i think it was also bad because i wore a mask . and that mask was made out of latex . so even though i could breathe through it fine , it was tight up against my skin , so i was always soaking wet under it . and then i had a wool suit and wore wool trousers the whole time .
in early december , jackie lane was cast as dodo . lane , who sometimes acted under the name “jackie lenya” , had appeared in programmes including coronation street and compact , as well as in theatre . in the summer of 1963 , lane had turned down the opportunity to play another companion , susan ; at the time she was not interested in taking on a long - term assignment . on december 29th , lane was contracted to play dodo for thirteen episodes ( encompassing the final part of the massacre as well as serials x , y and z ) , with an option for twelve more . wiles hoped that dodo could be made distinctive by having lane ' s long hair styled differently in every story . this plan had to be scuppered , however , when lane opted for a very short haircut soon after passing her audition .
i think that whole scene was the most intense part of the movie and all of us were slightly insane by then .
—gunnar hansen ( leatherface )
just before the release of her new film you were never really here , lynne ramsay spoke with us about her early moviegoing life in glasgow , the version of herself that emerges on set , and the mind - expanding power of chess .
most significantly , wiles and tosh eventually realised that adopting anne as an ongoing character would present many of the same difficulties as katarina . tosh therefore rewrote the ending to have anne remain in france and included a new coda to the story , set in modern - day england . this introduced dorothea “dodo” chaplet , by implication a descendant of anne ' s ( which meant that she somehow escaped the massacre ) . dodo - - a character devised by wiles and tosh - - would now be the doctor ' s new companion . upon learning of the extent of tosh ' s changes , lucarotti asked that his name be removed from the credits ; this request was ultimately rescinded .
in the wake of two back - to - back mass murders on chico ' s frat row , loner brent chirino must infiltrate the ranks of a popular fraternity to investigate his twin brother ' s murder at the hands of the serial killer known as
motherface .
professor lai and edward used to play basketball and speak english together , and we’d joke about them being “americans . ” i think being able to stand on the sidelines as an observer , an outsider , gave edward the courage to raise certain questions in the film . he had actually experienced or observed the world he was depicting in a brighter summer day , but after living abroad , he had a stronger sense of the contrast between the social freedoms in the u . s . and the repression in taiwan . this gave him a unique ability to perceive and grapple with the social problems back home .
picking up exactly where the original left off . this 3rd installment tells the tale of cindy and her little sister candy fighting the good fight with the help of their friends against evil . . . see full summary »
i was studying theater at university , and my professor , lai sheng - chuan [ stan lai ] , was a friend of hou hsiao - hsien , edward yang , and other figures in the new taiwan cinema . when i became interested in working in movies , professor lai introduced me to edward . during my summer vacation in 1986 , i went to work on his film the terrorizers as an assistant director .
director marko mäkilaakso does a good job of incorporating the action with the horror . though he does seem to like to use slo mo a bit excessively to highlight dramatic events , most of the time he does so effectively . i ' d put war of the dead in the same category as the underworld series , using all kinds of flashy camerawork in its action - oriented tale .
i think one of the major problems i had with this film is that it killed off one of the coolest characters in the series . crazy ralph ( walt gorney ) may have been made fun of when he warned the campers that “camp crystal lake has a death curse ! ” but it made for some of the most memorable scenes in the early parts of the series . killing off ralph in this one might have added to the body count , but it took out one of the characters that could have made for some nice continuity from one movie to the next and offered some of the local flavor as well . what did ralph know about the lake ? what made him crazy ? we’ll never know .
the scariest sound i ' ve ever heard was last year , when i was lying in my bed reading when i heard the movement of something in the walls of my room . on its own this would not be that bad but i was right in the middle of reading hp lovecraft’s
the rats in the wall
and as i neared the end of the story the movement i heard in the walls got more and more frantic to the point where i left my house and crashed on my friends couch .
it’s the continuity that makes the first few friday the 13th’s so special . the latter films forgot all of that . this one began where the first ended ; acknowledging the history that was just building . it made you want to seek out the original and watch it back to back . sure the storyline is almost identical , but the evolution of the killer from pamela voorhees to her son in this one felt like parts of a bigger story .
delta airlines was the first to end its sponsorship , announcing yesterday that it would no longer be
the official airline of the public theater ,
the organization that produces shakespeare in the park .
he feared that the threshold for ‘acceptable service’ may be something like receiving signal 90 per cent of the time which the service may reach , the issue being that the 10 per cent the stations are offline are peak viewing times .
the second chapter is lovingly referred to as lump . laurie ( laid to rest’s nick principe in a role that some may consider offensive ) is a deformed , mentally challenged paraplegic on experimental steroids in an effort to treat her spina bifida . she is on the brink of death , but her bitch of a sister , kimberly ann ( lisa m . garcia ) , decides to speed up the process . while out in the woods with a group of friends , kimberly pushes the laurie’s wheelchair off a cliff . the only problem is that laurie won’t die . in fact , she can walk now , and she wants revenge . brinke stevens ( the slumber party massacre ) cameos as the girls’ mother .
fun fact : hooper deliberately limited the amount of onscreen violence in ( dashed ) hopes of getting a pg rating . ( the mpaa settled on an
r .
)
it was a cool summer’s evening in devon when i met luke massey . he had arrived with some highly specialist night vision cameras for one of the shoots for the bbc series ‘the burrowers’ . our plan was to film myself and a load of rabbits on a thermal imaging camera to illustrate how active these animals became after dark . but as is often the case with new technology there were problems and delays . just as well , it gave us the chance to find some common ground over the hunting issues in malta . luke then mailed me some links to some films i hadn’t seen and to one which couldn’t be shown because the hunters had seriously threatened one of the central participants . this increased our desire to do something ourselves .


book of shadows : blair witch 2 ( also known as blair witch 2 : book of shadows ) is a 2000 american psychological horror film directed and co-written by joe berlinger and starring jeffrey donovan , kim director , tristine skyler and erica leerhsen .

the film was immediately greenlit upon pitch due to the surprising success of its predecessor , the wildly successful 1999 film the blair witch project .

stylistically different from the first film , the story revolves around a group of people fascinated by the mythology surrounding the blair witch project movie and go into the black hills where the film was shot , and documents their subsequent psychological unraveling .

originally conceived as a psychological thriller and meditation on mass hysteria , artisan entertainment re-cut berlinger 's original film , altering the soundtrack as well as making editing changes and adding additional footage .

the film was released in theaters in north america on october 27 , 2000 to largely negative reviews from critics and audiences ; it was , however , a financial success , grossing $ 47 million worldwide against its $ 15 million budget .

book of shadows : blair witch 2

book of shadows : blair witch 2 is a 2000 sequel to the blair witch project .
click blair witch 2 : book of shadows soundtrack cd for more info from the moviemusic store .
book of shadows : blair witch 2 is a reactionary act of franchise rebellion | birth . movies . death .
book of shadows - blair w . . . has been added to your cart
and it was exactly this that the studio exploited to make the sequel to the blair witch project , the film called the book of shadows : blair witch 2 .
looking for movie tickets ? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing book of shadows : blair witch 2 near you .
nc : you know , something like… ( photoshopped images of the following movie posters are shown with the words blair witch 2 posted near the titles as nc talks in voiceover ) the departed : blair witch 2 , alien vs . predator : blair witch 2 , or toy story 2 : blair witch 2 !
' book of shadows : blair witch 2 ' is the sequel to ' the blair witch project ' . this time , a group of tourists who go on a blair witch tour end up getting cursed by the witch causing . . .
earlier in the day we talked about the disappointing box office returns of blair witch . now the director of book of shadows : blair witch 2 , joe berlinger , has chimed in to give his opinion on the state of things . . … continue reading → the post book of shadows : blair witch 2 director joe berlinger talks blair witch box office appeared first on dread central .
the director also said the sequel will completely disregard book of shadows : blair witch 2 , the failed 2000 sequel which eduardo sánchez and daniel myrick executive produced .
score : carter burwell . book of shadows : blair witch 2 soundtrack album for sale by original score was released oct 24 , 2000 on the milan label .
in this true - crime documentary , we delve into the murder spree that was the inspiration for joe berlinger ' s
book of shadows : blair witch 2 .
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 .
the real problem here may be that blair witch 2 was made simply - - and only - - because blair witch made a lot of money .
, we have to stay in that world , which book of shadows didn ' t stay in that world . book of shadows created a different world . it ' s like if the sequel to
a book of shadows is essentially a witch ' s diary - where she puts her spells and power thoughts into . the tapes which provide the answers to what happened would therefore be the proverbial book of shadows for the characters .
blair witch is the third in the franchise but the first since 2000’s book of shadows : blair witch 2 , which abandoned the found footage format and performed modestly at the box office , earning $ 26 million . remarkably , although blair witch was shot in may and june of 2015 , there has been almost no chatter on the internet about the film’s connection to the blair witch project .
nearly 16 years ago , book of shadows : blair witch 2 debuted to $ 13 . 2 million in ticket sales on a $ 15 million budget . adjusted for inflation , that total balloons to around $ 21 million in 2016 dollars — more than double what blair witch made across its first three - day frame .
families can talk about why the blair witch project was so popular , and how book of shadows : blair witch 2 attempts to capitalize on the original movie . is the first film just as scary , or even scarier , even though it isn ' t as gory as this sequel ?
the book of shadows mainly builds on the massive hype and hysteria that was spawned by the hugely successful blair witch project , and in it , the blair witch hunters are as much as fans of the film as we in real life are .
: besides the faint connection to blair witch , there ' s no book of shadows to be seen . it was tacked on by the studio but does have some wiccan connection
book of shadows : the blair witch 2
couldn ' t hope to equal its predecessor , yet it ' s a surprisingly intelligent and welcome addition to a genre that ' s usually a dumping ground for low budget efforts .
book of shadows was released worldwide from 2000 - 2002 . overall , it grossed $ 47 , 000 , 000 .
book of shadows : blair witch 2 received such a toxic reception that it all but killed the franchise , though i have a bang - up idea for the concluding entry to the blair witch trilogy : it’s about a group of tourists obsessed with the beloved cult smash book of shadows : blair witch 2 , who travel to burkittsville to experience the legendary backwards - dancing ghost child , the crazy blair witch - hunt van , and of course , the famous abandoned broom factory . why should the franchise’s crazy hall - of - mirrors aesthetic end due to one flop ? maybe book of shadows ’ problem wasn’t that it was too meta or obsessed with its own homemade mythology ; maybe it was that it wasn’t meta or self - obsessed enough .
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 .
this page uses content from wikipedia . the original article was at book of shadows : blair witch 2 . the list of authors can be seen in the page history . as with horror film wiki , the text of wikipedia is available under the gnu free documentation license .
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 .
the filmmakers behind book of shadows : blair witch 2 ( who aren ' t the original blair witch writer - directors ) are documentarians who made a more absorbing nonfiction feature called paradise lost about a murder case in which three high schoolers may have been falsely accused because of their gothic looks and music , not unlike the so - called wiccans here . whether it ' s borrowing those discussion - worthy themes from paradise lost , or referencing names and places from the blair witch project , book of shadows finishes in last place .
the 2000 sequel , book of shadows : blair witch 2 , was considered a shameless cash grab that had little involvement from sánchez and myrick . but the original co - directors have talked about the possibility of a prequel , which would be set in the late 1700s .
blair witch 2 - book of shadows soundtrack lyrics : ' godhead - the reckoning ' , ' system of a down - mind ' , ' p . o . d . - lie down ' , ' marilyn manson - suicide is painless ' , ' elastica - human '
as hard as it may be to find a modern moviegoer who remembers the blair witch project , it ' s near impossible to find anyone that ' s seen its ill - fated follow - up , book of shadows : blair witch 2 . this isn ' t that surprising , as the first sequel in the blair witch saga was perceived to have flopped so hard , it pretty much killed any chances of a sequel for at least 16 years . something that still haunts and traumatizes book of shadows ' director , joe berlinger , to this very day .
a documentary exploring the life of the blair witch and the three missing student filmmakers .
kim is the apathetic - she represents the outsider mentality of the blair witch hysteria .
given the fact that the internet is talking again about the blair witch films thanks to adam wingard’s new entry on the franchise , i’ve decided to take a shot on my own blair witch project and recut the 2000 sequel book of shadows , which i’ve been a fan of since its original release .
while it would be difficult to match the media mayhem that surrounded the release of the blair witch project ( 1999 ) , it ' s fair to say that book of shadows is one of the more eagerly awaited sequels for some time .
based on the “paranormal 2” trailers it’s clear they’ve already avoided a few of the pitfalls of “blair witch 2 , ” most notably maintaining the original’s docsploitation visual style instead of shifting to a more conventionally shot fiction film . but paramount has kept a tight lid on just about everything else . having enjoyed both “the blair witch project” and the first “paranormal activity , ” and having suffered through “blair witch 2 , ” here’s five lessons i hope “paranormal 2” writer michael r . perry and director tod williams learned from that unholy mess .
it ' s 1999 and fans of a movie called
the blair witch project
are flocking to the annoyed town of burkittsville , maryland . local resident ( and former mental patient ) jeffrey patterson is cashing in with blair witch merchandise and is taking four tourists on his inaugural ' blair witch hunt ' armed with multiple video cameras . once at the ruins of rustin parr ' s house , however , the group blacks out ( after a fair share of partying ) to discover ruined equipment , shredded book drafts , and several hours unaccounted for on their video in
book of shadows : blair witch 2 .
finally ! a new blair witch movie to wipe the taste of this one out of our mouths . book of shadows : blair witch 2 ( 2000 ) director : joe berlinger stars : jeffrey donovan , kim director , erica leerhsen a group of blair witch project fans venture in to the same woods and clearly learned nothing from the first movie . i imagine it ' s not easy making a sequel to something that was a legitimate . . . read more . . .
what’s scary once is rarely scary twice , whether a terrifying film’s villain is seen or not . horror historians are still trying to discern what the hell happened with book of shadows : blair witch 2 , the 2000 follow - up to the record - breaking found - footage smash the blair witch project . since there’s no actual witch shown in codirectors eduardo sánchez and daniel myrick’s original 1999 film , book of shadows filmmaker joe berlinger — the documentarian behind the paradise lost films — abandoned the supernatural altogether and tried mining psychological hysteria from a convoluted story about blair witch fans who lose their minds . berlinger’s efforts were admirable , but also disastrously ill - advised . the blair witch project earned $ 250 million on a $ 60 , 000 budget — book of shadows cost $ 15 million and scraped its way to just $ 47 million .
while director adam wingard ' s upcoming blair witch is technically the second sequel in the blair witch franchise , following book of shadows : blair witch 2 , the movie doesn ' t pay any attention to its predecessor . from an outside perspective , this makes plenty of sense , given that the 2000 film was a received tremendously poorly , but the real explanation for its exclusion is actually a lot simpler than that : the canon for the franchise only includes work made by or in coordination with the creative team responsible for creating the original , and that doesn ' t include book of shadows .
therefore , i recommend you all to watch the book of shadows : blair witch 2 , keeping in mind that was a fictional film that had no real basis , and decide on whether the film was truly shit as people say , or a flawed masterpiece that could ' ve been so much more , or actually better than the original blair witch project in terms of its theme .
and , as with all highly successful pop culture entities , building a franchise to exploit the fan base was inevitable . in 2000 , book of shadows : blair witch 2 hit theaters , offering a different approach to deepening the mythology - instead of repeating the found footage format , director joe berlinger presented the sequel as a fictionalized retelling of real events that took place after the release of the blair witch project . book of shadows disappointed audiences who just wanted more of the same , and although the commercial and critical response would indicate otherwise , this sequel is not a failure .
a pale shadow of the diabolically clever piece of video hocus - focus that was the blair witch project .
the worst part about “book of shadows” is that the references to the first “blair witch” are essentially window dressing for what is otherwise a very generic horror movie . after the first half hour in the woods , it’s basically just a bunch of obnoxious people hallucinating and yelling at each other in a dumpy loft . it would not surprise me in the slightest to learn that “book of shadows” began its life as an unrelated screenplay about hallucinating tourists that some producers found and sprinkled a few blair witch references on . because that’s what it feels like . “the blair witch project” was scary because it didn’t look like a scary movie . “blair witch 2” isn’t scary because it looks like every scary movie .
simon brew sep 20 , 2016 blair witch : book of shadows is renowned as a very bad sequel . its director has explained just where it went wrong… whilst the new blair witch sequel , from director adam wingard , hardly sent box office tills into overdrive over the weekend , we’ve yet to meet anyone who even begins to argue that it’s not a significant upgrade on the original follow - up , book of shadows : blair witch 2 . renowned documentary maker joe berlinger took on the job of the second movie , and he’s been looking back at just what went wrong with the film . revealing that he couldn’t bring himself to see the new blair witch , in spite of his respect for adam wingard , berlinger admitted “i just couldn’t bring myself to go see it and relive the trauma” . what trauma ? that of the studio recutting book of shadows . they “inserted scenes
“blair witch” is currently in theaters . “ book of shadows : blair witch 2 ” is available on dvd , if you’re thinking it’s time for a critical reappraisal ( or at least a rewatch with some fresh eyes ) . you can also check out berlinger’s very honest dvd commentary here , check out the chapter in his book all about it ( via download here ) and even read his original notes from the film ( via download here ) .
joe berlinger , writer - director of the first blair witch sequel , 2000’s book of shadows , took to twitter on monday morning to vent frustrations over the treatment his movie received , despite performing better at the box office than wingard’s latest effort .
when “paranormal activity” came out last year it was hard not to think about “the blair witch project” : two heavily improvised , found footage horror films shot independently on shoestring budgets that became enormously profitable hits thanks to ingenious internet marketing campaigns . so with “paranormal activity 2” opening this week , it’s hard not to think about “book of shadows : blair witch 2 , ” which , like “paranormal activity 2 , ” was rushed into production to capitalize on its predecessor’s surprising success and made by a different creative team than the original film .
tristen : the blair witch ? i thought you embraced nature , not evil .
as it follows the twisted path traveled by five people fixated on the blair witch project , book of shadows : blair witch 2 journeys into a dark and dangerous place where the line between truth and fiction blurs and perhaps vanishes altogether . individual perception grows increasingly untrustworthy as the film ' s protagonists find themselves caught in a vortex of unspeakable evil , the origins of which - human or supernatural - remain chillingly uncertain .
what ' s surprising is that the official sequel to the film , the book of shadows : blair witch 2 , is actually a flawed masterpiece . despite the overwhelming hate of the horror community and cinephiles alike , what i found in that movie was the vision of a great storyteller that just went horribly wrong in post - production .
while dismissing the legend of the so - called
blair witch ,
a researcher delves into the truth or fiction of a series of killing often attributed to the blair witch in the 1940 ' s .
the continuity of the blair witch franchise was something i talked about at length with screenwriter simon barrett a few weeks when i had the chance to interview him over the phone . curious about the fact that book of shadows : blair witch 2 was in no way referenced in the new film , i asked the filmmaker what he considered to be part of the larger universe going forward , and he explained in great detail :
sequel the original title : inverted ; the original title appears before the the
blair witch 2
part . also an infamous example of the title having no bearing on what actually happens , as no book of any kind is ever plot - important .
this weekend , “ blair witch , ” a sequel to “ the blair witch project ” and an attempt to reboot the franchise , arrived in cinemas and flopped . hard . earning $ 9 . 6 million , it was nearly double the budget of the $ 5 million movie , but it was the worst opening in the series history , and it also took a beating from critics and audiences ( who tagged it with an abysmal d + cinemascore ) . and the occasion led to filmmaker joe berlinger , who helmed “ book of shadows : blair witch 2 ” over fifteen years ago to equally disastrous results , to hit twitter with what some could perceive as a # hottake : read more : ‘ blair witch ’ can’t capture the mystique of the original [ review ] . continue reading joe berlinger dispels myth that ‘ book of shadows : blair witch 2 ’ was a failure at the playlist .
book of shadows opens with real footage of tv hosts like conan o’brien and roger ebert talking about the previous film . this story , we find out , takes place in our universe during the immediate aftermath of the original picture’s release . in the world of book of shadows , the blair witch project was a fictional movie , and the characters themselves are fans of it , thus placing them on our level . how cool is that ? five protagonists take a tour of the woods where blair witch was shot , just as any cinema geek may want to visit the set of their favorite horror film . this ingenious premise would later be copied in similar sequels like grave encounters 2 . each of the characters in book of shadows represents a different reaction to the blair witch project , from those interested in analyzing its legitimacy to wiccans offended by their portrayal on screen to people who just want to capitalize on the whole ordeal ( i . e . the studio executives who funded book of shadows ) . berlinger pokes fun at everyone involved in this madness , including himself for profiting off of it .
berlinger had a vision for the film that would become book of shadows : blair witch 2 . he wanted to use the hype and controversy surrounding the original film as a springboard to explore the slippery line between fact and fiction , reality and fantasy , and documentary and fiction film . artisan had ideas of its own , and according to book of shadows’ audio commentary , berlinger and artisan embarked on a brutal , hard - fought war over the film’s soul ( if a film this mercenary can be said to have a soul ) that everyone lost . book of shadows was such a flop that a planned third film to be released in 2001 was abandoned .
all of this talk about success and failure dances around the fact that both joe berlinger ' s book of shadows : blair witch 2 and adam wingard / simon barrett ' s blair witch are being unfairly judged . the two films are being compared to eduardo sanchez ' s the blair witch project , and its micro - budget / mega grossing success . while neither film scaled the heights of the adventure that inspired them , they ' re not outright failures , they ' re merely failures by comparison . the financial trajectory of blair witch has the film on its way to being profitable , and book of shadows made some decent money over its theatrical and home video releases . if only someone had thought to make this argument back in 2000 , berlinger might not have felt so offended .
for those unfamiliar with the story behind the making of book of shadows : blair witch 2 , the film started moving through development shortly after the release of the blair witch project in 1999 , as artisan entertainment wanted to immediately capitalize on the success of their hit movie . as a result , haxan films - the production company made up of eduardo sánchez , gregg hale , daniel myrick , robin cowie and michael monell , who made the first feature - was basically cut out of the process .
from the director of book of shadows : blair witch 2 ! zac efron may be funny and super handsome , but up next he’s going to have to flex a whole new set of acting muscles in director joe berlinger ’s extremely wicked , shockingly evil and vile . in the upcoming film , reports thr , efron will be playing ted bundy , one of the [ … ]
the stars of the blair witch project - heather donahue , joshua leonard , michael c . williams - will likely return for the blair witch project 3 , although not as the main characters .
urltoken book of shadows - blair witch 2 : jeffrey donovan , stephen barker turner , erica leerhsen , kurt loder , chuck scarborough , bruce d . reed , joe berlinger , sara phillips , lynda millard , deb burgoyne , andrea cox , lanny flaherty , bill carraro , daniel myrick , eduardo sánchez , dick beebe : movies & tv
2 . it was steven spielberg’s secretary who discovered richard matheson ' s story .
in its opening weekend back in the fall of 2000 , berlinger’s film made $ 13 . 2 million , opening at number 2 against “meet the parents” ( which , in its fourth weekend , was still pulling in huge numbers ) . as of this writing , “blair witch” currently holds a 36 % rotten rating on rotten tomatoes , while “book of shadows” is sitting tight at a 13 % rotten rating . ( the original film boasts an 86 % fresh rating . ) “book of shadows” eventually made $ 48 million worldwide ( adjusted for inflation , that’s about $ 70 million ) did $ 25 million in dvd sales .
jeff is the cynic - only out to make a profit from the blair witch hysteria .
audiences and critics aren’t the only ones feeling underwhelmed by adam wingard’s new blair witch film .
blair witch and its incredible filmmaker commentary are out now on blu - ray and dvd .
in the movie theater . for book of shadows it worked in a certain way but to me my biggest gripe with artisan was you shouldn ' t have called it ' blair witch 2 . ' it would ' ve been fine to call it blair witch chronicles . it wasn ' t really a sequel to our movie . so it would be a direct sequel to our film living in that mythology of burkittsville , being possessed , haunted by something .
historically , entertainment companies with small market caps don ' t interest investors . and artisan has the added handicaps of a ho - hum record at the box office and a muddled identity . the disappointing showing of
book of shadows : blair witch 2 ,
which will be lucky to gross more than $ 30 million at the domestic box office , only adds to its problems .
robin : in 1999
the blair witch project
created a movie - going tempest as one of the most profitable films in history . because of the enormous publicity and hype , tourists flocked to the tiny maryland town of burkittsville to learn more about the truth and legend of the blair witch . jeff patterson ( jeffrey patterson ) , a local resident with a questionable past , is taking advantage of the phenomenon with his blair witch store and the newly inaugurated blair witch hunt tour . four people from boston sign up for the tour and they spend the night on the sight of the house of the notorious child murderer , rustin parr . but , something happens during the night and five hours of their lives are missing . they soon realize that they encountered something evil in the woods and it is bent on vengeance in
the book of shadows : blair witch 2
the twilight saga : breaking dawn , pt . 2 ( original motion picture score )
but cause the protagonists to blackout and murder innocent people at the blair witch ' s influence .
erica is a wiccan who wants to
contact
the blair witch and sympathizes with her .
it’s easy to see why audiences rejected book of shadows : blair witch 2 and the ring two . instead of giving ticket - buyers more of what they loved about the first films , the sequel - makers went too far left . the most successful horror franchises over the last 15 years have done the opposite — remaining firmly in the center , zigzagging ever so slightly tonally , but never wholly rebooting .
these 5 people led by a blair witch hunter called jeff venture out into the black hills forest to find whether the blair witch has any credibility , and whether all of it was
hysteria or history
.
the movies are deadly serious because they make the case that injustice is being done . lives are at stake . i wondered earlier why berlinger would want to make a fiction film on witchcraft and black magic , but suspended judgment : he is one of the best documentarians around . but now that i ' ve seen
book of shadows : blair witch 2 ,
i ' m disturbed .
these characters who are already not completely mentally stable – jeff is established as having stayed in a psychiatric institution prior to the blair witch project even being released – begin acting out the very violence they have been supplied by film and television during virtually all hours of the day . no , r - rated fictional stories are not inherently irresponsible , nor are they even completely to blame for the events of book of shadows . rather , berlinger argues that the issue is when reality is not clearly differentiated from fantasy . this trend , in combination with the general public’s thirst for blood , is precisely what drove audiences to the theater in 1999 . the monster of book of shadows isn’t the blair witch . it’s the blair witch project .
book of shadows : blair witch 2
is a not a very lucid piece of filmmaking ( and contains no book of shadows ) . i suppose it seems clear enough to berlinger , who co - wrote it and helped edit it , but one viewing is not enough to make the material clear , and the material is not intriguing enough , alas , to inspire a second viewing . the characters are not strongly and colorfully established , there is no persuasive story line , and what planet does that hey - rube sheriff come from ? he breaks the reality with every appearance .
filmmaker # 1 : we’ve got a tour group , the blair witch walk . what’s your excuse ?
if you were planning to watch ( or rewatch ) book of shadows : blair witch 2 before seeing blair witch , the good news is that now you don ' t have to . that being said , simon barrett also made it clear that it ' s not his intention to disrespect those who are actual fans of the first follow - up , and as a result the new movie doesn ' t really do anything to step on the events that went down in that film . said simon barrett ,
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 .
choose 1 of 2 free * posters with ticket purchase ( * shipping & handling not included ) . buy tickets
in the world of book of shadows : blair witch project 2 , the first film has created a sensation , with witch - obsessed tourists flocking to the small town of burkittsville , maryland . four young adults join tour guide jeff ( jeffrey donovan ) on his witch - hunting excursion into the woods and wind up spending the night in the home of killer rustin parr . the next morning , they can ' t remember what happened during the night , but one thing is certain - - evil is afoot , and they ' re connected to it .
artisan chief executive amir malin conceded that
the glow of ' blair witch ' has diminished ,
but said ,
we were a terrific business before ' blair witch ' and we ' re a terrific business today .
this is a short extension of the hospital scene in the movie book of shadows : blair witch 2 . it was available as an online - only extra at the time of the home video release of the film . by following clues supplied in the video to decipher
the secret of esrever ,
viewers were led to a web site where they could enter a special code to download this short clip . ( back in 2001 , this was considered a big deal . )
save up to $ 2 . 00 on shipping when you buy additional eligible items from obscurefiid .
book of shadows presents an ouroboros of fact chasing fiction chasing fact , accessorized by blair witch fandom cliches , hilarious in both their simplicity and realism . it ' s a silly film , but one that was misunderstood in its initial release - this isn ' t a direct sequel , but a direct , rebellious reaction to the fanaticism .
but even if joe berlinger did not quite accomplish what he set out to do , there is such a fascinating idea at the core of book of shadows . to make an interesting sequel , a director should feel that the previous film is lacking in some way . after all , if they don’t believe there was any room for improvement , then why are they bothering with another one ? in book of shadows , berlinger took his hatred of the first movie’s dishonesty and made an entire film out of it , commenting on the danger of blurring the line between fiction and reality . had artisan stayed out of the edit bay and let the man do his job , perhaps book of shadows could have been something truly special .
the filmmakers of the blair witch project were blessed by the naïveté and obliviousness of youth and inexperience . they weren’t experienced enough to realize that films are made by artists , but cinematic product like book of shadows tends to be crudely assembled via a committee populated primarily by executives terrified of losing their jobs if a seemingly surefire prospect like a blair witch sequel under - performs due to an excess of audience - alienating “originality . ” artists aspire to break new ground ; executives tend to gravitate toward the tried and true .
guess i ' m out of space here , okay a tad over my allotted space if i was honest , so wrapping up like a christmas elf . book of shadows stands the test of time and taken out of its franchise is a rock solid psychological horror . forgot to mention that erica leerhsen isn ' t averse to getting her kit off which adds to the festivities . if you love your dark genre bleak , grimy , and psychologically intense then you have the right movie . book of shadows uses the mythology from the blair witch project , builds on it , and takes things in a new interesting direction . if needing a road map for this movie then everything is working backwards , the clues are there , but don ' t expect the movie to give up its secrets on a single viewing , this one should definitely be on repeat . naturally i ' m going to be recommending this witchy outing , settle in for something unsettling folks , let book of shadows : blair witch 2 cast its spell over you .
well , there was no need to read anything into “book of shadows , ” because it conveniently spelled it all out for the viewer . “if people believe something , isn’t it real ? perception is reality ! ” a characters points out during one of the many arguments about whether “the blair witch project” is real or not . the first “blair witch” was a phenomenon . you know how not to recreate a phenomenon ? by deconstructing that phenomenon onscreen during lengthy philosophical arguments .
“this is fucking bullshit ! ” that is one of the final lines of book of shadows : blair witch 2 . it may not be the actual last line , but it’s certainly the one that sticks with you the most upon the 2000 film’s ending . it’s said , or rather screamed , by stephen ( stephen barker turner ) , a would - be academic working on a book about the blair witch phenomenon with his wife , tristen ( tristine skyler ) . at least that’s what he was doing when he decided to take a “blair witch” tour with amateur obsessive jeff ( jeffrey donovan ) in a group that included a wiccan witch , erica ( erica leerhsen ) , and a medium of sorts , kim diamond ( kim director ) . by the end of their overnight sojourn , two members of that party are dead and that , honestly , is the only confirmable events that i can say actually happen in the movie’s narrative .
but who or what could be responsible for all this motherfuckery ? could it be the blair witch ? but that was just a movie ! as berlinger says throughout the commentary , book of shadows : blair witch 2 is all about blurring the lines between fiction and reality , but the film quickly grows uninterested in reality . skyler has a miscarriage , and while in the hospital , she sees a creepy , backwards - dancing demon - child that’s been shoe - horned into the proceedings so that she will all but run out of the hospital and head back into the woods with a bunch of freaks .
there are interesting ideas throughout : by replaying certain characters ' actions on videotapes that show radically different versions of incidents we saw earlier ( in a conventionally shot sequence blair witch fan kim has an argument with a grocery clerk ; a security camera later shows the same scene , although this time she stabs the woman to death ) , the film unsettles some of the assumptions underlying the blair witch project . after all , if the witch can manipulate video and film footage , then what status can the material that made up the original have ? the sloppy but amusing opening of book of shadows , with burkittsville residents who live near the witch ' s stomping ground jeering at a flood of blair witch fans or trying to hawk them souvenirs , already blurs the film ' s status as a fiction - in the narrative universe of book of shadows , is the blair witch project a film by heather donahue , one of that movie ' s characters , or by credited directors daniel myrick and eduardo sanchez ? tellingly , the local sheriff complains about the unethical use of the word documentary . given this confusion , even what seems like a plain lapse ( the tapes contain footage of the tapes being buried ) might be another manifestation of the witch ' s influence , like the witch marks that sprout like poison ivy on the characters ' bodies .
the compromises berlinger had to make to satisfy artisan’s ideas of a commercially viable horror film begin with a clumsy opening text—included over berlinger’s objections—that reads , “the following is a fictionalized reenactment of events that occurred after the release of the blair witch project . it is based on public records , local maryland tv broadcasts , and hundreds of taped interviews . to protect the privacy of certain individuals , some names have been changed . ” it then cuts to a scream and , in rapid succession , kurt loder on mtv news , jay leno on the tonight show , conan o’brien and andy richter on late night with conan o’brien , roger ebert and gene siskel on siskel & ebert , and jules asner on e ! news , all commenting on the culture - wide frenzy whipped up by the blair witch project . this makes book of shadows : blair witch 2 the first horror sequel in existence to open with gene siskel and roger ebert reviewing the original , explicitly positing book of shadows as the most meta of horror sequels . rather than deny the mania that accompanied blair witch project ’s release , the film deliberately makes that excitement and ambiguity its primary focus .
and here’s the really sad part : it did make money . though not nearly the hit that the original was , and a reputation not unlike that of the room and troll 2 , book of shadows : blair witch 2 was made for about $ 15 million and made $ 26 million all told . even with marketing costs , the film made some change . still , while you’re in the movie , the frustration and confusion is oppressive and consistent , and in a way , that’s about as good as berlinger could have hoped for in all of this . the final scene of the film involves stephen looking at a climactic act on tape and refusing to believe that it’s what happened . one can imagine that berlinger had a similar feeling when he was talking with artisan and looking at their changes to a film that he clearly had personal feelings about . by the end of book of shadows : blair witch 2 , the idea of simply yelling “this is fucking bullshit” makes a lot of sense , but one has to imagine a much longer , curse - laden tirade came from the man who is labeled as creating it .
at some point , someone decided this was what people wanted from a “blair witch” sequel : people acting bananas . so instead of three college kids , “book of shadows” follows a former mental patient ( “burn notice”‘s jeffrey donovan ) , a witch who speaks to ghosts ( erica leerhsen ) , and a goth chick with vaguely defined psychic abilities ( kim director ) , plus a couple ( tristine skyler and stephen barker turner ) too dumb to survive in normal society ( who brings the only copy of their manuscript on a camping trip to the haunted woods ? ) . the keys to “blair witch” were believability and relatability , being able to accept that the events of the film could have happened , and that if placed in a similar situation , we in the audience might have done the same . unless you happen to be a psychic witch , neither is true of “book of shadows . ”
after a strong , suspenseful start , the recent blair witch sequel devolves into silly , supernatural nonsense and unnecessary cgi . but it’s still a lot better than the original sequel to 1999’s the blair witch project , which ditched the found footage format for a goofy tale of a group of annoying people obsessed with , well , the blair witch project . is “that’s so meta” still a thing people say ?
the director is one of the guys behind the amazing paradise lost documentaries . the issue is that he wanted to do a film based around media coverage of crime and violence , aka similarly to what happened with west memphis three case . the problem is that no studio would entertain his script , and instead got the blair witch script , so it ended up being a weird hybrid of his and movies ideas meshed together , satisfying nobody . book of shadows is a great example why you dont always need to do something
fresh
and its best to stick to what works . had this been just blair witch 2 : the return of the witch of 3 - 4 new people going into the woods and getting killed , it would have made tons of money .
simon : adam flew in from the last day of shooting death note to the official toronto premiere of blair witch . adam ' s been working non - stop .
we also tried to not do anything that directly contradicted it , because i wanted to be respectful to the fan experience , whatever it is . now , i think it isn ' t a huge number of people [ who are fans of book of shadows : blair witch 2 , but i want to be respectful to that . it ' s not like star wars , where everyone is like staring at you and waiting to see if you ' re going to include the ewok movie in your continuity .
chuck scarborough : so now , blair witch fans are not only flocking to the multiplex , they’re flooding a little town of burkittsville , maryland .
pcn : with your admiration for the original film , and the reception of book of shadows , obviously you guys were aware of how the cards were stacked against you . did you have conversations early on about how you were potentially creating a no - win situation for yourselves ?
because the third time’s the charm , a new attempt at making a follow - up to “ the blair witch project ” is in the works — this time on tv . as both 2000’s “ book of shadows : blair witch 2 ” and last year’s “ blair witch ” proved to be disappointments , this small - screen venture both does and does not have to contend with high expectations . eduardo sánchez , who co - directed the original film , revealed the plans on the diminishing returns podcast . read more : life after ‘ blair witch ’ : why the writer - director team waited years to make a studio movie “ for us , it’s a very natural thing to go and say , ‘hey , let’s do a frickin’ blair witch show , ' ” he said , adding that “you can say it’s from the original creators and we can bring in a whole bunch of interesting directors to direct episodes . ” sánchez and daniel myric effectively launched the found - footage genre
nc ( voiceover ) : so cheech and chong’s blair witch tour keeps on moving as they drop by a grocery store .
read up on the mythos sometime , that ' s where the real horror is . i have the blair witch dossier .
suspense driven , rather than horror , the story contains very few chilling moments . one , where the spirit of a murdered child from the distant past appears before the hunt crew , actual brought a shiver to my spine , but the rest of this horror sequel isn ' t really horrific , just shocking at times . there is some confusion in the way the events are portrayed , which has caused some negative buzz for bw2 . it does require your attention and some contemplation afterwards , but , as sequels go , i ' ve seen worse , much worse . ( did i mention
the exorcist 2
and
the omen 2
? ) i give
the book of shadows : blair witch 2
a c +
region : region 2 ( this dvd may not be viewable outside europe . read more about dvd formats . )
each character offers a caricature of various blair witch fans , all of whom you likely encountered following the rabid reaction to the original film - perhaps one of them is representative of your own reaction . jeff is a film studio proxy , hawking replicas of cairns and stick men , along with branded merch to relentless fans who happily pay for these overpriced items , desperate to digest every piece of blair witch ephemera . stephen and tristen are scholarly researchers out to simultaneously prove and disprove the legend by dismantling fact from fiction . similarly , book of shadows further blurs the line established by the blair witch project , examining the deficit between what ' s real and what ' s fake , additionally delivering wry commentary on the perceived influence of horror and violent media on devoted fans .
this film basically takes place in our own world with the blair witch project screened as a film in it , and burkittsville being a real town with all the tourist attraction drawing fans and fanatics to the small town just for the hype of the
blair witch
.
it ' s a year after the release of the blair witch project , a film consisting of footage shot by three students who were making a documentary about a witch in the woods near burkittsville , maryland . the town is overrun by sensation - seeking tourists . jeff , a local youth , hosts a blair witch - themed tour of the area . his first customers are graduate students stephen , who is writing a book on the blair witch phenomenon , and tristen , his pregnant girlfriend ; wiccan erica , who argues that the film maligned her religion and is seeking communion with martyred witch elly kedward ; and kim , a goth girl who claims to have psychic powers .
the title card that opens “book of shadows” reads “the following is a fictionalized re - enactment of events that occurred after the release of ‘the blair witch project . ' ” and all the nutters in the film make their way to burkittsville , maryland to take part in a tour of the film’s shooting locations . that dumb couple is looking for evidence for their book , the witch wants to prove that witches are nice people , the mental patient is looking to profit from the “blair witch” craze . they all say things like “newsflash everybody ! that was just a movie ! ” but eventually they all get possessed , think they’re having sex with each other , imagine they’re being tormented by little children wearing eye shadow , etc .
book of shadows : blair witch 2 took the meta - sequel route , as it focused on a group of young people who saw the blair witch project , only to be inspired to travel to burkittsville , maryland themselves . of course , things don ' t turn out all that peachy for our film fans , as they eventually find themselves in a situation so twisted , it leads to a hell of a finale . sadly , the more cerebral and meta nature of joe berlinger ' s original vision has been widely documented , as well as it being overridden by the powers that were at artisan entertainment . keep that in mind as you watch the trailer for the finished product , included below .