BOOK OF SHADOWS: BLAIR WITCH 2.

Once again, rather than a recommendation, some background on a film which is part of a movie phenomenon and which has caused a great deal of controversial discussion. It is the Blair Witch Project phenomenon.

This time last year, movie buffs were on tenterhooks looking forward to a $30,000 film which had already made over $100,000,000 in the US alone, The Blair Witch Project. One of the factors that amazed the film industry as well as commentators on popular culture was that, instead of the usual modes of advertising (papers, TV and radio), the word of mouth had spread because of the film's Internet website. It had tantalised with mysterious suggestions about the occult, it had encouraged chat room discussions which set up a mighty expectation for the film. The repercussions for the industry are enormous. All production companies now have their websites whose addresses appear on the opening company logo of the movie. Major films have their own particular websites.

It is a challenge to the parent and grandparent generations. Just as a generation that was raised on reading found it very difficult to come to terms with television. Now the television generation often baulks at using or acknowledging the widespread use of the Internet. (Channel 4 usefully helps the TV generation by showing on-screen a number of website pages about their film before it starts.)

The first Blair Witch Project film either enthused those who got caught up in its energy or drove beserk those who found its continued use of always-jerky hand-held camera upsetting or disconcerting. Of course, this was part of the promotion of the film. It was claimed to be the video footage of three students making a documentary about the legend of a witch and murders in remote Marylands woods. They film each other, shout and screech in fear and in anger at one another (which was also very wearing). The point was that the makers were trying to make their fictitious set-up as realistic and credible as possible. And a lot of people actually believed it was all true.

And, now the sequel. Blair Witch has become an enormous franchise. The second film is more bearable than the first - but probably less bearable, the older the audience! This one is for the fans.

It opens promisingly with a parody of a documentary about the reaction to the release of The Blair Witch Project, quotes from actual TV reviews and alleged interviews with the upset citizens of Burketsville, the centre of the search for the Blair Witch.

Then it becomes something of a re-run. This time it is a group of young adults, two of whom are writing a book about the phenomenon, "Hysteria or History". Out in the woods, strange things happen. They lose several hours of consciousness and try to reconstruct it by looking at video footage. What they see on the tapes, what they imagine and what they fear cause mayhem and killing. Is it the Witch or is it the result of hysteria caused by the phenomenon? The makers leave that decision up to the audience.

This is a more polished production visually but the protagonists still screech and swear at each other and, once more, the plot relies on audiences having faith in video and that video is actuality and tells the truth. It also reinforces an extraordinarily naive belief in witches, spells and occult mayhem. No wonder the commentators on pop culture are having a field day with the Blair Witch films.