Is the legend of the Blair Witch real or was it the fictional construct of a low budget horror movie? If enough people believe that something is true, could their collective delusion and group hysteria actually manifest a harmful entity into existence?
Join me as we continue our journey through the Blair Witch franchise and focus on the much maligned second film in this series, an extremely polarising sequel but one that I believe is still worth a look, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2.
Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 treats the original as a fictional film that has popularised the small town of Burkittsville, Maryland, causing fans and tourists to descend on the community much to the annoyance of locals. It tells the story of a group of five people who venture out into the woods to visit the "real" locations that were mentioned in the film, only to suffer psychological and physical torments. But is it a supernatural presence torturing them or group hysteria brought on by an unhealthy obsession with 'The Blair Witch Project'?
I admire what this film tries to do. Instead of trying to repeat what made the first film successful (an impossible task considering all mystery surrounding the production had been removed), it chooses to do something totally different. One of the most interesting new areas it explores is to engage with ideas of media literacy and ask why so many were so quick to accept the original film as truth if for no other reason then because of how it was presented to them: on video. That very concept serves as a dark punchline to this film when Jeff, Kim and Stephen are all shown video evidence of themselves committing heinous murders. They don't believe the footage and we, as the audience who has viewed the film from their perspectives, never witnessed them commit those crimes (even if there were clues). But it's on video, so it must be true.
Second Course
For the second course I wanted to do something different, deviating from what came before in the same way that this film does and leaving the camping themed food for a more substantive meal.
Fried Chicken
As Jeff follows Kim into the kitchen during a heated argument, he sees a vision of her face covered in blood as she ravenously devours an owl. After rubbing his sleep-deprived eyes the vision quickly changes to her eating a piece of left over fast food fried chicken.
We all recognise that box, right?
The art department did a great job of suggesting that it's Kentucky Fried Chicken without needing to seek approval from the company for its inclusion in the film (see also a bottle of 'Mack Daniels' Whiskey that appears earlier).
Seeing as this course will be our main meal, or entrée for my American readers, I wanted to choose something filling. There was very little featured food to choose from in this film, in fact the only other item I managed to spot was some Devilled Ham spread piled high in a woman's shopping trolley from when the group first visits the general store. Instead of buying fast food I chose to make my own fried chicken drumsticks, and served them up with a few of the sides that are available on the American KFC menu: mashed potato & gravy, sweet kernel corn and green beans (Australian KFC does not offer sweet kernel corn or green beans).
Pete's Wicked Ale
Earlier in the movie Kim goes on a beer run to a general store and grabs a six pack of Pete's Wicked Ale. After a tense exchange with shop clerk (and manager) Peggy, Kim leaves. Upon returning to Jeff's Kim discovers Peggy's nail file in with the beer, but even more mysteriously, it's bloody...
There are a lot of beverages in this film - the group get absolutely obliterated during their night camping at the Parr ruins - hard liquor and beers such as Moosehead Lager are featured quite prominently (watching people mix that much alcohol was the scariest the movie got for me), but I chose to go with Pete's Wicked Ale. Predominantly due to its inclusion in the above mentioned scene but also because of the connotation the word 'Wicked' has with witches. Plus, what goes better with fried chicken than a cold beer?
Pete's Wicked Ale was the main product line of Pete's Brewing Company. The beer itself was an American Brown Ale, which are known for having low to medium hop flavours and sweet character notes such as caramel and chocolate. Unfortunately Pete's Wicked Ale was discontinued in 2011, and when it was in production I don't know that it ever made it to Australia, so I've substituted it for another American Brown Ale.
Moo Brew Brewery's Dark Ale is an American Brown Ale made in Tasmania, Australia, and it is one of their most highly awarded beers.
BACKGROUND MUSIC? "Dragula" by Rob Zombie
WANT MORE BLAIR WITCH THEMED FUN? Ask a Wiccan friend to use widdershins to cast a magic circle and remove you from the undesirable situation of being at this dinner party!
Enjoy
-CJ
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