Blair Witch 2 is a movie with a lot of potential but asks too much of the viewer from the start. To truly enjoy this movie, one has to have read all of the books, promotional material, website and have seen the first movie. Also, it'll help if you haven't seen any other horror movie ever made. A lot of things done and said in the movie with the expectation that the viewer is well versed in the Blair Witch Lore.

On the positive side, Blair Witch 2 is filmed well and unnerving at certain points. Much like the last film, when the sun goes down, the viewer is left on the edge of their seat, waiting for the next stirring thing to happen. The script itself has some good ideas, but the execution seems a little predictable.

And speaking of predictable, the characters can each be described with one word: psycho, wiccan, goth, etc. The cookie-cutter characters seem to drain any originality out of this film. Along with the predictability of the characters are some gaping holes in the story, such as "What does the Book of Shadows have to do with this movie?" I never saw or heard anything having to do with the title of the movie.

I do commend the director for not blantantly showing us the Blair Witch as most horror movies in this genre do. Keeping her hidden in the background as she was in the first movie was one of the few nice touches that this movie had.

Disappointingly, the soundtrack for the movie seems a little lackluster. Scenes are dedicated to promoting the high-dollar talent by having one of the actors turn on a tape player or turning up their car stereo. This kind of blatant plugging of the soundtrack quickly relegates this film to the straight-to-video rack.

Although the movie was better than I expected, the abrupt ending leaves the viewer feeling ripped-off. Yes, we know there's going to be a sequel - don't state it so plainly with the ending of the movie. Sadly, even with all of its potential, this movie really does come off as another Scream clone.

- - Kinderfeld