Internet-savvy modern audiences will never again fall for anything resembling the masterful marketing campaign that turned The Blair Witch Project into a cultural phenomenon back in 1999, even though the fingerprints of its game-changing promotional tactics can still be felt throughout the industry almost a quarter of a century later.
A found footage horror being promoted as a genuine documentary turned the micro budget supernatural chiller into a revolutionary, with the subgenre exploding in popularity in the aftermath as anyone with a camcorder and an idea tried to replicate the success of what turned out to be one of the most profitable movies there’s ever been.
Smelling blood in the water after the original netted almost $250 million at the box office, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 emerged a mere 15 months later, and lightning certainly did not strike twice. Panned into the ground by critics and lambasted by audiences, refitting the mythology into a straightforward narrative feature peppered with self-awareness and meta callbacks backfired horrendously.
That being said, the lenses on the rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia appear to be growing more powerful by the day, with Redditors banding together to state the case that Book of Shadows is nowhere near as dismal as its reputation would suggest. We’re going to go out on a limb and say that it’s an opinion that won’t be reciprocated by all comers, but it’s still a shock to see just how much support the diabolical follow-up has been gathering 23 years on from its initial arrival.
