The sequel Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 employed an innovative marketing gimmick shortly after its release, namely “The Secret of Esrever” bonus feature, exclusive to the film’s DVD and VHS releases. Ever since its release in 1999, The Blair Witch Project has had a massive influence on popular culture, bolstered by the film’s marketing which posited it as a “real” found footage offering, leaving behind a trail of clues and evidence for fans to puzzle over. When Blair Witch 2 hit theatres, the sequel suffered in comparison to the raw charm and intrigue of the original, as it offered a somewhat muddled storyline and rushed production process.
“The Secret of Esrever” is a video-only featurette detailing pertaining to the plot of Blair Witch 2, encouraging viewers to rewatch scenes in reverse to find hidden words and slightly altered shots, which would then lead to a bonus scene in the now-defunct film’s website. It is also interesting to note that “The Secret of Esrever” apparently had some deleted footage, which revealed a string of “ghost images,” discovered by those involved in the making of the film during its editing stage. While this claim can be chalked up to hype creation and rumor, the VHS and DVD extra of Blair Witch 2 allows viewers to enjoy an exclusive cinematic experience riddled with clues.
As per A Nightmare On Film Street, the process works in the following way: when the viewer reaches the end credits, they’re diverted to a screen that allows them to play the film in reverse. From this point on, the viewer is expected to notice some visual discrepancies in certain scenes, which, when parsed, point at a certain word or phrase, such as “door” and “grave.” For instance, in the scene in which Kim, the goth psychic, is in the cemetery, with Stephen, Tristen, and Erica joining her later on, the engraving on the headstone changes from “treacle” to “further” in one particular word. The key is to be able to identify the altered shots in the Blair Witch movie and isolate a word associated, which, when combined with the rest of the clues, creates a phrase of sorts.
After the viewer is able to hunt down all the clues from the featurette, they should arrive at the phrase, “Seek me no further.” Once this phrase is entered into the search box in the film’s official website, which is no longer functional since 2008, the viewer is rewarded with a bonus scene from the film. There is also a provision for identifying an extra clue, basically the word “or”, which, when added to the phrase above, allowed the viewer to add their name to a list of people who had unlocked “The Secret of Esrever.” While this is a pretty neat bonus feature for the horror film, the process of watching a film backward multiple times in order to identify minute changes in a shot can be an arduous and time-intensive process.
Apart from the ingenious marketing strategy employed by Blair Witch 2, the DVD, in particular, warranted a great cinematic experience, as it appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, which could be enhanced on 16x9 televisions. Despite these features, the film remains aesthetically and spiritually removed from its predecessor, with the extra bonus featurette acting only as a distraction instead of a fun, immersive experience to enrich the narrative. The DVD also contains a commentary from director Joe Berlinger, who expresses his dissatisfaction with the film and its relevance within the Blair Witch universe.