As part of the tour, the five spend a night together in the much-feared Black Hills, where the original murders occurred. Eventually, they apparently go to sleep or pass out, for none has a memory of five hours of the night. And in those five hours, horrors apparently happened that eventually trigger three murders. The latter half of the film takes place in an abandoned old warehouse that Jeff has taken over as an apartment and editing room. As the murders occur or are revealed, the characters scramble to examine various videotapes that provide clues.
Video tells the truth.
I shouldn't make too much of all this, for Book of Shadows is only barely elevated above the variety of slasher flicks and latter-day horror films of recent vintage. But to his credit, the film cleverly explores the concept of mass hysteria, an appropriate topic in the wake of the original Blair Witch craziness. It's just not clear whether Book of Shadows has quite what it takes to keep that hysteria alive. Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.