I thought this movie was pretty good.

Being a found-footage flick, the first one is an alternative kind of horror movie.

"Book of Shadows," by contrast, is a conventional one. It starts satirically and amusing, but gets increasing serious and sinister. The acting is good too, like Kim Director's performance as the Goth girl. Erica Leerhsen is also a highlight as the Wiccan with several alluring scenes.

It's a dense horror flick and therefore, as you imply, worthy of repeat viewings. One aid in helping to understand the picture is Jeff's statement at the camp: "Film lies; video tells the truth."

Yes, it's a slow-build with meandering aspects, but it's laden with subtext and the climax is pretty horrific. You never see the witch, but her nefarious presence is still palpable and the ambiance oozes Gothic. As for those who argue that the flick has too little to do with the first one, nothing could be further from the truth. Also, Jeff's factory-turned-house is almost iconic; a great location for a ghostly horror flick.

Interestingly, there's a secret message in the movie that you can discover in the FIRE, the GRASS, the factory WINDOW, the GRAVESTONE and the RUG, which all-together spells: "Seek me no further or...". This combined with reversing Tristen's backward words in the last act reveal the secret of 'ESREVER': "Seek me no further or... the children will again walk free," meaning: the Blair witch would loose the spirits of the murdered children to torment the invaders of her domain.

Some complain that there's no Book of Shadows, but this isn't true. Jeff is a cinephile with ambitions of being a filmmaker and 'Book of Shadows' is the name of one his scripts he intends to shoot. So it's not something out of nowhere that Artisan dubiously added. Yes, they added it, but it had relevance. Lastly, the actual 'Book of Shadows' is a Wiccan spell book and is figuratively used in the movie in that the group obviously falls under the spell of the witch after entering her domain.