Sunday, December 07, 2008

Worst Movies: Number 5

As 2008 draws to a close, I'm counting down the 5 worst movies I've ever been to. This only includes films I went to see at the theatre (nothing I saw on TV or video). Let's begin, shall we?

Number 5 was a sequel to a movie I actually liked. Part 2 had a much bigger budget, but was less than half as good as the first. I didn't realize how bad it was until the last half hour (guess I was hoping it'd get better). The movie I'm referring to is 2000's "Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows".



The entirety of the film can be viewed on YouTube. Click here to begin, but don't say I didn't warn you.

11 comments:

Eric Curtis said...

Totally agree. The first Blair Witch was the most suspenseful movie I've seen in the theater. I never could understand the people who complained about the "shaky-cam." That just added to the experiance for me. I watched it a few months back, and it's still a great movie. I have to get it on DVD.

The second one was a package of suck packed into several more packages of suck. I blame it's failure on having too big of a budget. The same thing happened with the last two Pirates of the Carrabien movies. The first one had a great script, but it's like for the next two the filmakers decided the script didn't matter as long as they had a bunch of special effects.

Thomas said...

Eric, I'm with you: "Blair 1" is a minor masterpiece.

In July of '99, it was generating a lot of buzz while slowly being rolled out across the country. I noticed on the internet that it was playing in a suburb of the Twin Cities (about 80 miles from where I live). It wouldn't be coming to my town for two more weeks. I couldn't resist, so drove up there that weekend.

The screening was super packed. Now, I knew what I was getting into (having a subscription to Entertainment Weekly helped in this regard). I knew the movie was a faux documentary shot very low budget, definitely not a conventional scary movie.

I was quite satisfied with it, while some others actually booed as the credits rolled (they must have been expecting something more "Hollywood"). I headed home, happy to have seen it.

A few months later, a friend said she had seen the movie with a couple friends. She said it was sad that the 3 college students had disappeared (she was under the impression that the movie was totally genuine). Holy shit! I couldn't believe that she bought it! I told her that the kids in the movie were alive and well. I'm sure it was much more scary, though, watching the film and believing it to be completely genuine.

I had high hopes for Part II. A co-worker said lightning wasn't gonna strike twice, that my hopes would be dashed. He was right, of course and I can see where having too big a budget actually led to a decrease in the amount of scares it was able to produce.

Eric Curtis said...

Just last year, my best friend told me he didn't want to watch the movie because the people in it had disappeared. I was so taken back, I didn't know what to say for a few minutes. Then I had to figure out a way to tell him it was fiction without making him look like a fool.

Of course this is the same friend that I asked one time to name a band that never sang about anything sexual. The one he came up with was ZZ Top. I let that one slide because I didn't want to explain La Grange or Pearl Necklace to him.

Nikki Neurotic said...

Holy crap! There was a sequel?

I think I would have enjoyed the first one better if there was better dialogue. I really don't enjoy movies where virtually every other word is the "eff" word. It gets very tiresome, and uncomfortable if you are watching said movie with your parents who are very much against that word.

www.silverneurotic.weebly.com

Brian Mongold said...

Haaa, I never ever saw Blair Witch 2, but I can imagine how terrible it was. Blair 1 freaked me out, because I saw it before I knew it wasn't real. 2 was just a stupid idea after the buzz was gone.

Thomas said...

Eric, not to mention their classic, "Tush".

Sil, that's a bummer. Stay away from the sequel. If you really hate someone, give it to them as a Christmas gift.

Brian, I kinda wish I'd seen the first one as you did. Starting in the summer of 2000, I decided to stay away from spoilers ("Blair" just missed this policy since it came out in '99).

Dämmerung Anblick said...

Thanks for the warning. I'll skip it...

Timothy Smith said...

I did not know what B1 was when I went to see it so I was upset at first expecting a feature film but it kept my interest and I was immersed in it by the end of the film. Not one to watch over and over of course but I enjoyed it the first time.

Never saw B2, thanks for the heads up.

I like the shaky cam stuff myself, United 93 was another that did a lot of that and drew complaints.

Brianinmpls said...

Agreed this movie sucked

Rocketstar said...

I never saw this one but I loved he first one. I remember they had signs on the doors warning of motion sickness in some viewers.

Stephanie said...

I couldn't even watch part one ... just thinking about it now makes me nauseous.