WHATEVER your views on The Blair Witch Project, there is no denying last year's much talked about horror film became a movie phenomenon.

Made for peanuts with a cast of unknowns, and directed by two young university pals, the film took a well-worn and abused genre by the throat and gave it its own highly original treatment.

But ultimately BWP became a victim of its own hype. Before its release there was a frenzy on the internet which generated considerable pre-release word of mouth, with audiences salivating as the release date drew near.

Unfortunately, many of those eager to see what had been widely touted as the scariest movie ever left cinemas disappointed no blood, no gore, not even a glimpse of a witch or a ghost, was deeply unsatisfying for a generation brought up on the visceral antics of Freddy Krueger.

Intelligent film-making which required audiences to think and use their imaginatons clearly didn't go down well with everybody, but the film was still immensely successful and it made a packet.

A sequel was inevitable. And so, for Halloween just one year on from the original we have Book Of Shadows: Blair Witch Project 2 (15), which undoes all the good work of the first film.

Ironically, it should appeal to all those who found BWP a disappointment, as it has its fair share of blood and guts, plus those jump-out-of-your-skin moments that are staple horror movie ingredients.

The fact it lacks subtlety, an intelligent script and halfway decent performances from its young actors is a big let down.

It attempts to pick up where the first film left off, with a documentary style opening showing us how the small Maryland town of Burkittsville is coping post BWP, both with the success of the film and the supposed disappearance of the three students in the woods.

Then all teasing ambiguity is sacrificed as we are whisked off into fictionland, and the film attempts to out-Scream Scream with all sorts of references to BWP1 and supposedly knowing asides to the horror genre.

Local would-be entrepeneur Jeff (Jeff Donovan yes, the cast keep their own names) organises Blair Witch Project trips into the woods and on this occasion takes researcher Stephen, his pregnant wife Tristan, weirdo Kim and witchcraft student Erica with him.

They have what would seem to be an uneventful first night, beer drinking, pot smoking and telling scary stories.

It's only later, when they replay video footage, that they realise that several hours seem to be missing. And with a little technical jiggery pokery, plus some spooky hocus pocus thrown in for good measure, the true horror of that night comes to light, not to say the dreadful predicament they now find themselves in.

The plot has holes big enough to fly a broomstick through, and where BWP1 was effectively unscripted, the scripted sequel has an amateurish feel that comes across as an unpromising student project (which of course is what the first film was supposed to be).

The film could well hit paydirt and the Blair Witch legend will surely run and run, with a Halloween release possibly becoming an annual event.

Now that is scary.

Rating: 2 out of 10

Stephen Webb