three out of four stars, calling it "a chilling, highly effective journey made with intelligence and a handful of effective, goose-bump-inducing moments". Shawn Levy of The Oregonian wrote that there are moments of pleasure, humor, and terror in the film. Luke Y. Thompson of the Dallas Observer said the film "deserves points for creativity" but is "not entirely successful". Margaret McGurk of The Cincinnati Enquirer noted prominent documentary influences present in the film, comparing elements of the psychiatric hospital sequences to Frederick Wiseman's Titicut Follies: "Even well-versed moviegoers may not catch some of the most interesting aspects of Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2. That's because they refer to, draw upon and mimic documentaries, which as a genre represent the least-seen movies in America. No surprise there". Chris Kaltenbach of The Baltimore Sun noted that the film "gets credit for avoiding the easy path. Too bad the path it chooses doesn't lead us anywhere we want to be taken". Jack Mathews of the New York Daily News commented that "the characters are boring, the violence generic, the suspense nonexistent". Wesley Morris of The San Francisco Examiner called the film "throwaway megaplex fodder", while Melody Moss of Seattle's The Stranger wrote: "This film is so bad, no amount of high-priced marketing tools--glitzy trailers, live webcasts, star-studded soundtrack CDs--can save it. And the motivation behind this dreck is all too clear: pure and simple greed". Web reviewers such as Berge Garabedian of JoBlo.com gave the film a favorable review, calling it a "decent psychological mystery filled with paranoia and delusions, which messes with your head and demands that you keep thinking about it, even after you've left the theatre". Laura Clifford of Reeling Reviews also praised the film, writing: "It's a surprisingly intelligent and welcome addition to a genre that's usually a dumping ground for low budget efforts". In Movies in American History: An Encyclopedia (2011), film scholar Phillip Dimare notes: "While the film's premise of self-consciously examining the concept of cult films in general is an interesting example of intertextual play, the sequel lack[s] the aesthetic minimalism of the first film; instead, it tried to make the Blair Witch more tangible and sensationalistic... the horror of Book of Shadows was just too imagistically present". Contemporary reviews of the film have been more positive. In a 2016 article published by Bloody Disgusting, Brendan Morrow defended the film, calling it "an excellent 'descent