Joe Berlinger's film just opened in the UK tonight (Friday Oct 27th), and I've just got back from seeing the evening performance. Well, actually I very nearly didn't get to see it as we waited 20 minutes in the dark until someone came out with a loud speaker and said the projector was broken but they were going to try and fix it. Eventually the thing cranked up and the film spluttered into life...

      Now, I don't want to get into a whole long spiel here- this isn't meant to be a comprehensive review. Let's just say that I loved the first film, and, after hearing Film 2000's Johnathon Ross say that the sequel was one of the worst things he'd ever seen I think it's fair to say that my hopes weren't exactly high. Having said that Internet reviewers (and not those employed by Artisan) were consistently giving it 7 or so out of ten, so I thought, what the heck- give it a go.

      You probably know the story by now: THE BLAIR WITCH really happened in this film's world- that's to say that BWP2 very much plays with the hype and hysteria that followed the original film's release. Where the line is blurred, however, is with what is fact and fiction when it comes to the legend of Rustin Parr and the Blair Witch herself. The film kicks off with a short blast of a documentary which cleverly uses clips of stars like Jay Leno and real life film critics discussing the first film's huge success; it then segues into shots of Burkitsville residents talking about the invasion of their small town by the film's fans. Amongst all this a young entrepreneur (and to be honest it's late and I can't recall names), who is shown to have recently been released from an asylum (there are nightmarish clips depicting his time inside), he has set up a small business peddling BLAIR WITCH mementoes on Ebay. He also has set up a tour of all the landmarks and he embarks on a journey with four young twentysomething paying customers: a tree-hugger Wiccan witch type, a stroppy 'pseudo' psychic goth chick, and a couple (she's six weeks pregnant) who are researching the BLAIR WITCH phenomenon for a book. Their plan is to stay out in the woods and hike to all the spots used in the film. They set up camp in Rustin Parr's house, which, true to mythos surrounding it, is only ruins (which is where reality and fiction begin to blur- this isn't the house seen at the end of the first film, rather, as the website showed it after the fictional tapes were found). There is a huge tree growing right in the centre of the house which, when the (lets call him the entrepreneur) says hadn't been there before they all poke fun at him, thinking this is all part of the tour fun.

      Basically the next 20 minutes, or so, is just the group setting up lots and lots of camera equipment (in case anything spooky happens), and getting well and truly shitfaced; taking the piss out of the first film ("How many Heather Donahue's does it take to change a light-bulb?" one of them asks, screaming the answer repeatedly "ONLY ONE! ONLY ONE!" (I guess you had to be there)). They are suddenly surprised by another tour (which they momentarily think is something horrible in the woods- indeed, the sounds of a child crying is heard for a millisecond), and they manage to get them off their backs by saying that they'd seen something spooky down at Coffin Rock. They then settle into more drinking- drinking themselves, almost literally, into oblivion.

      Now, don't worry, I'm not going to spoil too much of anything here by telling you the next bit- it's merely setup afterall. ... They awake, hungover- without any memory of falling asleep, to find what, at first, appears to be snow, falling down on their campsite. It isn't snow, rather it's the shredded manuscripts the couple had brought with them. They also quickly discover that all their equipment has been smashed violently- "It looks like someone took a bite out of it", one of them remarks. The only thing they discover undamaged are some video tapes from the cameras which they find buried in the place where the fictional tapes from the first film were meant to have been discovered. The crux of the rest of the film is that, to find out what really occurred during their lost hours the night before, they must analyse these tapes.

      To be perfectly honest I can't remember a film which has caused such a, frankly, schizophrenic reaction in me- some of it I loved; some of it I loathed. And, to be honest, I'm having some difficulty deciding which is which!

      By rights the film should be unadulterated garbage. Some of the acting is downright ropey and Berlinger makes some real clangers in the scare department- in one, supposedly revelatory, scene, one of the characters relays how dead children were looking up her skirt (a remark which brought guffaws to the auditorium I saw it in); as did another scene with the same character spinning round and around on her bed with her arms stretched wide. The fact that the film's main protagonists were all youngsters (and invariably annoying ones at that) will be enough to turn a lot of people off. As, maybe, will the soundtrack which is mostly pumping goth rock (something which I didn't mind too much- afterall, it is the sound of living the roller-coaster thrills of the dark-side without ever thinking you'll actually get burnt- very much what this film seems to be about). The creepy country bumpkin characters- especially in the local store, also bring to mind more the store keepers in FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 3 than those in, say, DELIVERANCE. Something else which, whilst it didn't bother me considerably, I could see could put people off.

      There were, however, some pretty good performances, too; and it's a shame that they were undermined, somewhat, by those, shall we say, less blessed with thespian talents- and also crass throwaway lines ("Witch bitch!" springs to mind). Berlinger, perhaps because he is a documentary maker, adds an almost surrealist touch to his narrative structure. Although many of the 'scares' don't work, the sheer off- kilter way that they are presented is enough to put you on edge a little. Some really bad scenes seem to become effective, to begin to get under the audiences skin, because although we are being presented with cliché it is in such a form that just doesn't flow, perhaps, how you think it should. This helps the film, especially, as Berlinger's aims become clear and we see where his true interests lie- he wants to blur reality and fiction in such a way that the characters have their own Dante's descent into the abyss, as what they believe is not necessarily true. By the end of the film they can literally not believe what their eyes are seeing.

      As I was sitting there in the dark I was continually fluctuating between being enthralled (and feeling incredibly tense), to being mortified and sink-into-your-seat embarrassed that I'd dragged along two friends to see this trash. To my surprise, after the film, they both said how much they liked it, and what the film was attempting to do. Whereas I left the cinema in something of a daze, not quite sure what to think- I still don't.

      I reckon I need to see it again- much like the first film I think the sequel will benefit from being watched at home, where there aren't people rustling popcorn; translating every line to their friends; and laughing at all the most inappropriate moments. It's difficult to immerse yourself in the disintegration of a group of people's reality whilst mobile phones go off and the rank smell of hot dogs remind you that you very much have your feet firmly planted in this very tangible realm.

      'Interesting failure' are the words that pop to mind when I think, retrospectively, about the film- but they don't seem adequate, really. As a sequel it's a brave stab at something different- I mean, it is more of the same but done in such a different way that, after the fact, it feels completely alien.

      Some people are going to love this film; I suspect more will hate it. I'm, for the meantime, going to take the cowards way out and just sit on the fence- to do anything else would be, frankly, fraudulent. Even after tapping this out - and I realise this has blossomed into some kind of freeform review - I can't really form any kind of consensus. So, if you were hoping for a positive/negative review I'm afraid I can't give it to you. I guess, like most things in life, you'll have to make up your own minds - and, really, it shouldn't be any other way.