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Apparently, now disagreeing with Carder is "impudance/hate"...
Book of Shadows:
Blair Witch 2 (2000),
(R)
CAP Score: 4
CAP Influence Density:
5.49
SUMMARY / COMMENTARY:
BOOK OF SHADOWS: BLAIR WITCH 2 (R) - was no exception.
Side note: The age distribution of attendees in a theater can almost be determined by the number of feet propped up on seat backs and arm rests, by the number of those new baseball caps -- the ones with the bill in the back -- and by the language and topics of conversation (and their volume) when waiting for the movie to start. The attendance population at Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 was no exception.
I can just hear the the left-wing radicals who believe movies are of no significant influence on our kids saying "I can just hear the right-wing radicals saying this movie is another glorification of sin and witchcraft and encouragement of them in the name of entertainment." Well, if the "shew" fits ... Besides, I believe it was God who said that first in 1 Cor. 15:33. And who are they (OR we) to argue with God? That a movie is based on witchcraft and dabbling in it [Deut. 18:10, Gal. 5:20-21] as being acceptable is bad enough, but to add all the usual R-rated ignominy is likely multiplicative in effect.
The movie starts out as a satire of hordes of devoted BW'ers, thrill-seekers, and meddlers descending on the town of Burkittsville, MD -- the town chosen to be where the fictitious Blair witch "legend" was born. Several interviews with and news reports showing local townspeople set the stage for the antagonism between them and the invading hordes, except for those who make money on selling Blair witch "memorabilia."
Five kids (Stephen Barker Turner, Tristen Skylar, Erica Leerhsen, Kim Director, Jeffrey Donovan), like their "predecessors" in The Blair Witch Project, use their actual names as pretend realism. Led by tour guide Jeffrey, the retinue participate in an overnight tour of the Blair witch woods. Erica is a witch. Rather a Wiccan/Pagan using "white magic." By her words (as near as I could tell) "The first Wiccan rule is to do no harm because what you do will come back on you threefold." I guess that implies that not only will bad deeds earn triple trouble but the good deeds will get you triple treasure. Maybe that is all well and good, but Wiccans/Pagans who are total in their belief of kinship with nature do not worship God but divide Him into many gods and worship them [Deut. 11:16].
Maybe some Wiccans are the benevolent and peaceful types some have told me they are, but their practice is still witchcraft. They call not on the one true God but though limited understanding of God they call on their god and goddess and even many gods such as Lord Ganesh, the "wisdom element" of God. The Wiccan/Pagan "religion" is a counterfeiting of the omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience of God who, to them, is "it", not Him. One of the apparent key points of the Wiccan/Pagan religion is to love God's creation as you love your god, which seems to fly in the face of God giving us dominion over the earth and all things upon it [Gen. 1:28], not for our abuse mind you but for our use, not our service to it: to be good stewards of it but not servants (or worshipers) of it. And to them, Satan is a Christian myth (just like he wants people to believe). Enough said, wouldn't you say? Just one more thing. Jesus appears nowhere I can find in Wiccan/Pagan material. Not as the Savior for the Christian nor even as a good teacher for the Jewish.
Erica, the Wiccan tries to commune with the spirit of the Blair witch [Deut. 18:10-11]. Kim, who dresses in all black, is a goth girl who claims to have psychic powers. Her make up was a work of art so to speak. To bad it was apparently as an expression of evil, or just plain adolescent arrogance. Stephen and Tristen are working on a book of the Blair witch mythology. Tristen is pregnant. By Stephen. Stephen wants the baby. Tristen does not. They are not married.
Once at their primary destination -- the remains of the foundation of the structure where the original child murders were supposed to have happened -- the Jeffrey group starts soul-searching, blame finding and verbal warfare during a drinking and smoking party. As a diversion from the routine, a second hiking party appears claiming they have the right-of-way to be at the ruins. After an in-my-own-words scuffle over right-of-way the hiking troupe leaves. Later, by analysis of their own tapes of their visit, the Jeffrey troupe discover five hours during their sleep are unaccounted for. And the large dead tree they find inexplicably in the middle of the foundation becomes a small scraggly sapling. Upon waking, the Jeffrey party find all their equipment and printed material destroyed. After reasoning that accusing the hiking party of returning during their sleep to get even was useless, the Jeffrey party starts blaming each other. One thing leads to another and the whole group ends up in an abandoned warehouse Jeffrey bought for one dollar. It is in the warehouse the original Blair Witch Project theme is nearly abandoned and a new set of horrors begins.
By the way, there was no Book of Shadows.
This movie is not something to make slight of, folks. Even though this movie is entirely fictional and fantasy, Satan's powers to influence the dabbler, the experimenter, the curious (typically the feet-propping, bill-in-the-back age group) are not.
Among the ignominy a very few include a hanging (repeated image), several flash scenes of brutal murders with twisting of knives in flesh, full nudity, drunkenness and drug stupor [Rom. 13:13], and portrayals of clairvoyance [Eccl. 8:7]; beating murder, impalement murder, bloody discharge from a miscarriage and much, much more. Much too much to even summarize here. Please refer to the listing in the Findings/Scoring section for a complete itemization.
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1 Cor. 15:33 (KJV) Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. (NIV) Do not be misled: Bad company corrupts good character. Deut. 18:10-11 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Gal. 5:20-21 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Deut. 11:16 Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; Gen. 1:28 And God blessed them [Adam and Eve], and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Rom. 13:13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. Eccl. 8:7 Since no man knows the future, who can tell him what is to come?
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As always, it is best to refer to the Findings/Scoring section -- the heart of the CAP analysis model -- for the most complete assessment possible of this movie.
FINDINGS / SCORING:
NOTE: Multiple occurrences of each item described below may be likely, definitely when plural.
Wanton Violence/Crime (W): dementia asylum bloody hand bondage knife to throat twisting knifing reckless driving to rescue bloody miscarriage imagery of attacks on children flash of decomposing body standing erect explosive flash imagery threats to kill vandals attacking moving vehicle dream world imagery of ripping of flesh physical aggression flash imagery of eating an animal raw story of bloody torture graphic facial distortion pictures of five gutted people evidence of possession of stolen property dream world imagery of invasive "medical"procedure
Impudence/Hate (I)(1): 60 uses of the three/four letter word vocabulary 41 uses of the most foul of the foul words hate music mockery of the Truth arrogance toward fair authority vulgar gestures wishing to die mockery of the truth about entertainment media violence influencing real violence
Sex/Homosexuality (S): cohabitation unwed pregnancy request/offer of/for sex man and woman in bed together female nudity - multiple and repeated vulgar comment adults in underwear dream world intercourse ghosting of female anatomy through clothing dream world orgy, homo/hetero, with nudity
Drugs/Alcohol (D): deliriums from drugs and alcohol lust for alcohol smoking smoking dope illegal drugs drinking drunkenness drug stupors
Offense to God (O)(2): 13 uses of God's name in vain with the four letter expletive and 12 without in variations wiccanism witchcraft evil symbolism horned hand tarot unholy sounds unholy imagery pentacle - often dream world imagery of making out with flesh ripping witch incantation portrayal of clairvoyance
Murder/Suicide (M)(3): impalement murder beating murder multiple flashes of knifing murder with twisting of the knife, ritualistic in appearance with torture, slicing and bondage dream world murder of baby
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