Elly Kedward is hopping mad.

No matter what atrocities she commits, people refuse to believe in her, let alone her curses.

For the uninitiated, Elly Kedward is the witch of Blair County, the witch of The Blair Witch Project.

Last year, Elly neatly dispatched Heather, Joshua and Michael, the three university students who ventured into the Black Hills Forest outside Burkittsville.

They were determined to solve the mystery of her 214-year reign of terror, only to become Elly's latest victims.

Book Of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 follows five ghost hunters as they trek into Elly's forbidden and increasingly foreboding domain.

The gimmick that propelled The Blair Witch Project was its uncanny ability to blur the lines between real and reel.

Some people were duped into believing they were watching actual footage of an investigation. They eagerly excused the amateur acting and even more amateur film techniques.

That cat is long out of the bag, so Joe Berlinger, who was hired to create a sequel, wisely avoided imitating his predecessor.

Berlinger is a skilled documentary filmmaker. His camera work is equally dizzying, but in a skilled, purposeful way. So are his storytelling techniques.

With Book Of Shadows, Berlinger has created a hybrid whodunit and slasher film.

The new adventurers spend a night in the Black Hills Forest, only to wake up disoriented and dismayed.

All of their cameras and notes have been demolished. Worst of all, they have collectively lost five hours.

Erica (Erica Leerhsen), the group's psychic, leads them to a cache of tapes from their cameras. They all rush back to a converted mill where video hound Jeff (Jeffrey Donovan) has his editing lab.

Finally they'll be able to see what happened to them and to another group of tourists who were found slaughtered on Coffin Rock.

Back up in the haunted mill, in grand Agatha Christie fashion, people start disappearing or dying. There are only five to begin with, so the sheriff had best hurry.

In keeping with the traditions set by the first Blair Witch, Book Of Shadows is more style than substance. The mystery unfolds through flashbacks within flashbacks and a few fast-forwards.

The actors eschew subtlety, as does the film's soundtrack, all in an effort to confuse and confound the viewer.

Book Of Shadows is an infinitely better and more inventive movie than its predecessor. But it will never be the phenomenon The Blair Witch Project was.

At best, it might placate a small portion of Blair Witch fans as they await a second sequel or even a prequel.

(This film is rated R)

More Movie Reviews