" book " should have remained in shadowscertain things in our lives are inevitable . death , sorrow , love , heartbreak , pain , joy . we expect these events . we know they're going to happen and some , we even look forward to . it's part of the human condition . we have also become accustomed to inevitable occurrences in our society . as we near the fall election , several of them are hitting us in the face . politicians exaggerate their own importance . our side is always right ; theirs is always wrong . in the end , voters are usually forced to choose the lesser of two whocares . in hollywood the one indisputable inevitable is that if a film makes big money , there will be a sequel . even if the original story doesn't merit one . even if the first film is complete in itself . even if success is a fluke . " the blair witch project " was made with a budget of $1 . 75 and exploded on the screen , raking in huge profits . the concept was brilliant . the filmmakers created a remarkable buzz that the story might be real . the film itself was even more convincing . the movie _must_ be authentic . why else would such amateurish footage be on the big screen ? the first film caught lightning in a bottle . the sequel proves you can't pour that old lightning into a new bottle . you have to give this effort some credit . it would have been easy to have made the same movie again with a new group of kids . it would have been easy , but of course , it wouldn't have worked . instead " book of shadows " acknowledges the first film as a movie and concentrates on the hysteria following its release . it's a great scheme and possibly the only entertaining way to do a sequel . unfortunately it doesn't work either . five kids spend the night in the woods at the scene of the first film . weird stuff happens and they retreat to an old factory where one of them lives . even weirder stuff happens . some people die , there's blood and knives and none of the characters have a lick of common sense . while supposedly doing serious research , the group sets up a circle of surveillance cameras in the ruins of the old house in the woods and vows to stay alert all night awaiting a visitation . then they proceed to get totally trashed on drugs and alcohol and party down with very loud , very obnoxious heavy metal music . it's a bad plan . the cast shows some early promise . a couple is doing research on a " blair witch " book . the tour guide is a former mental patient turned ebay aficionado . a goth amazon princess adds a bit of comedic relief . the obligatory hot babe is the 2000 spiritual cinematic descendent of the cute hippie chick , the cute rock and roll chick and the cute disco chick : the cute wiccan chick . the first film's unaccomplished actors came across as real people in a real situation because hours and hours of video were shot during days in the woods . this time , these unaccomplished actors just come across as unaccomplished actors . there's not one character you care about when they start shouting for no reason . although what passes for a plot starts out with a solid idea , it's ruined by poor execution . the follow-up to one of the most successful horror films ever is nothing more than a bad slasher movie . they're trapped in an old big weird house . they stupidly separate into various rooms . there are strange noises , they see scary apparitions and people disappear . ever see this movie ? seasoned documentary director joe berlinger should know better . the film features mostly cheap tricks and unnecessary gore . for a storyline filled with surprises , it's oddly predicable . " the blair witch project " was a rare triumph of style over substance . " the book of shadows " is a triumph of tedium over promise . ( michael redman has written this column for over 25 years . for the first time during that period , he's going to vote for someone who might make a good president . but he'll have to use a pencil to do it . send vapid political commentary to <a href= " mailto : redman@bluemarble . net . " >redman@bluemarble . net . </a> ) [this appeared in the 11/2/00 " bloomington independent " , bloomington , indiana . michael redman can be contacted at <a href= " mailto : redman@bluemarble . net " >redman@bluemarble . net</a>] 
