Blair Witch 2 - Artisan Removal Edit & Berlinger Extended

[Paxtn]

yo yo

[The Missing Bear]

I think your Artisan Removal edit is a massive improvement, well done on all your hard work. Sadly I think this movie is absolutely rotten to its core and there's no real saving it, it's so "MTV" and devoid of scares that even by doing your best to turn it into a more subtle psychological horror film can't pave over how poorly it was made in the first place. Please don't take anything I've said as a slight against your hard work, you've done a marvellous job and definitely improved it, boosting Burwell's fantastically unique score was a definite improvement, however I just feel it wasn't well cast, or well plotted, plus its tone was too silly and wacky, too meta, too 'Scream' to ever be scary regardless of the cut. Never known a film to feature supposedly the ghosts of dead children from an occult event to be so completely devoid of any terror whatsoever.

The movie feels like a Halloween version of Feeder's 'Just a Day' music video; the cast all feel like caricatures, I just don't feel that any of the filmed footage of BW2 can ever be compiled into an effective horror film because it was poor at its very foundations. Somewhat as devil's advocate, I can almost see why the studio made Berlinger go full teen-slasher with the studio edit because it was just incredibly lacklustre and tone deaf for the type of movie he was supposedly trying to make. If his movie had ever once seemed like it could have been effective horror I might have felt more frustrated with them, but he turned in an MTV and Hot Topic sponsored psychological horror film devoid of any actual horror and it feels like the studio went "Well this doesn't work, might as well go full Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, so we can at least get some money back". And I get it, I really do from a business perspective.

Your Berlinger Extended version is hindered by some terrible scenes that made me remember exactly why I hated this film (again no criticism of your work, it's the original film I'm talking about here, you'd done your absolute best trying to salvage something that I feel was sadly just rather unsalvageable), so definitely feel the Artisan Removal Edit is the way to go, though I do actually think the Type O Negative song works best as the movie's introduction. It accepts the MTV-ness without going full schlock like the official cut with Manson, nor does it go full post-ironic like the Sinatra intro does, it hits a happy medium of "this is a movie with an alternative metal soundtrack to sell, but here's some autumnal goth mood to set the scene". The Meat Beat Manifesto song works *great* as the credits theme though, you did superb work in bringing the Josh's Blair Witch Mix songs into it which helps give a feeling of continuity and integrity to the proceedings even if I'll never ever truly like this movie regardless of any edit.

Really appreciate everything you've done and I've given it my best attempts to watch this movie with a new light, you certainly improved it with both cuts and the Artisan Edit is without a doubt the film at its best, however I have to confess I know no amount of editing will ever have me like it properly unfortunately, no matter how hard I try.

[Paxtn]

Thanks for watching. I'm glad you liked it for what it was. If it were up to me now, I'd tell all my viewers to watch The Artisan removal edit over Berlinger Extended cut. It's lacking a lot of polish which I put into Artisan edit, plus it's the way the movie was intended to be watched as the directors cut. I decided to keep both links active as there was a lot of work put into both edits (like the extra scene after the credits with the killings)

Glad you liked the credits music, I also prefer Type O Negative Haunted as the intro theme, just works better. Meat Beat Manifesto works perfectly too... especially when the camera is spinning in circles during the credit roll - it's very moody.

Have you ever listened to Joe Berlinger's directors commentary of the film? It definitely helped in my understanding of the film and overall enjoyment of it. I would suggest giving it a watch some time, though I don't think a movie should require a viewing of the directors commentary to 'understand and enjoy' it better. It's interesting regardless.

[Deleted]

Beat Meat Manipoopo

[Paxtn]

Oct 4, 2022 6:59:26 GMT -6 @entity said:

Beat Meat Manipoopo

Your balls will fall off in three days!

[Deleted]

Do you mean in the Wiccan tradition?

[Paxtn]

This is pretty cool.

[Paxtn]

Fully removed Manson's disposable teen from the intro with AI.

[earthboundfan1986]

Nov 21, 2022 9:16:06 GMT -6 Paxtn said:

This is pretty cool.

This was cool. Hey the person who you been talking to deleted his account do u remember what his name was bummer that he left

[Anarchist86ed]

Jan 29, 2023 10:21:32 GMT -6 earthboundfan1986 said:

Nov 21, 2022 9:16:06 GMT -6 Paxtn said:

This is pretty cool.

This was cool. Hey the person who you been talking to deleted his account do u remember what his name was bummer that he left

Which A.I.?

[Paxtn]

mvsep.com/

This is the one most fan editors have been using over at IFDB. depends on the model you use, different results each time.

[Paxtn]

This blu-ray collection, the art and all three films in one package. German release only, 1000 copies made. I also believe this is the first official blu-ray release of Blair Witch 2. I am really hoping for more releases like this.

[The Missing Bear]

Feb 7, 2023 3:28:09 GMT -6 Paxtn said:

This blu-ray collection, the art and all three films in one package. German release only, 1000 copies made. I also believe this is the first official blu-ray release of Blair Witch 2. I am really hoping for more releases like this.

My goodness that's gorgeous, is it still possible to order this?

[Heather, taking a piss.]

So, if I was to see one these edits, which is the one to go?
Life is short and I'm already on Tristen's side.

And that BW collection, the inside art, gorge.

[Tweek]

Feb 17, 2023 16:11:39 GMT -6 Heather, taking a piss. said:

So, if I was to see one these edits, which is the one to go?

There's no version of BoS that doesn't make me want to put my foot through the tv ten minutes in.  One edit is as good as another...

[Heather, taking a piss.]

Feb 17, 2023 17:04:08 GMT -6 Tweek said:

Feb 17, 2023 16:11:39 GMT -6 Heather, taking a piss. said:

So, if I was to see one these edits, which is the one to go?

There's no version of BoS that doesn't make me want to put my foot through the tv ten minutes in.  One edit is as good as another...

"You brought them back with youuuuuuuuuuuu."

Though I will forever not love the: "You knooow who it is... and you know what you have to do..." (wanders naked into the woods)

[Paxtn]

Feb 17, 2023 16:11:39 GMT -6 Heather, taking a piss. said:

So, if I was to see one these edits, which is the one to go?
Life is short and I'm already on Tristen's side.

And that BW collection, the inside art, gorge.

(Download #2 on the first post) Blair Witch 2 - The Artisan Removal Edit Neutral Color Grading Version 2.2 (Removes the brown color grading filter) [Editors Choice]

This is without a doubt the closest thing we'll get to a true directors cut and I highly recommend this version. Enjoy!

[Heather, taking a piss.]

Feb 18, 2023 13:34:39 GMT -6 Paxtn said:

Feb 17, 2023 16:11:39 GMT -6 Heather, taking a piss. said:

So, if I was to see one these edits, which is the one to go?
Life is short and I'm already on Tristen's side.

And that BW collection, the inside art, gorge.

(Download #2 on the first post) Blair Witch 2 - The Artisan Removal Edit Neutral Color Grading Version 2.2 (Removes the brown color grading filter) [Editors Choice]

This is without a doubt the closest thing we'll get to a true directors cut and I highly recommend this version. Enjoy!

Thanks Paxtn.

I'll download and be watching it tonight.

[Paxtn]

Artisan edit download links will be updated with a new version #3, this will most likely be the last major release for my Blair Witch 2 edits unless something requires immediate change. I'll do a small changelog here for those interested in what is new and fixed.

- Added 'Directed by Joe Berlinger' to the opening scene at 4:32 as his name was missing entirely from the intro, which didn't make sense at all considering this project is basically restoring his directors cut.

- completely erased Manson's 'Disposable Teens' from the intro scene with AI (this was done a while ago but not updated til now)

- tweaked the color grading overall to be less harsh, whites are less harsh.

- disabled resample throughout the entire project (yikes, looks better now)

- another audio balance pass on very loud scenes and other minor tweaks (sound is more balanced throughout)

- added minor film grain track to make up for the loss in the movies grain track due to rendering (looks more like how it's supposed to look now)

- added alternate panning shot of Jeff at 25:14, looks great now.

- more fixes and massive color grading adjustment and grain reduction on the Eileen Treacle hospital scene.

- adjusted color grading on the owl scene at 54:24 with Tristen

- Tristen's hanging scene now uses the correct music from Carter Burwell's track 'Hanging', it now uses the final part of this track which was missing in the previous edits. Previously it would reuse the first part of the 'Hanging' track, now we have the correct part play as Tristen is hanging.


Overall it's a much more polished experience under the hood than previous versions of the edit, though to casual enjoyers of the edit you might not notice too much over the previous versions. Enjoy, links will be updated soon.

[earthboundfan1986]

Man I love this movie

[Heather, taking a piss.]

The more time goes by, the more the overthinking brings more theory to the movie.
The gift that keeps on giving.

[Paxtn]

Here is a big collection of my rare Blair Witch 2 images if anyone is interested

[Paxtn]

An even better collection of images in video form. Enjoy.

[iiafxii]

Hey, I'm sorry for bumping an old thread, but I watched the recent Artisan removal edit, and absolutely enjoyed it! I noticed though, that the easter eggs from the DVD copy are missing. I've been looking for a copy of the film with the eggs everywhere but can't seem to find it. Is it possible to do a new Artisan removal edit including the eggs? I know I'm new to this site, but trust me, I have adored this movie since it was released! Thank you!

[Paxtn]

Aug 1, 2024 17:27:25 GMT -6 iiafxii said:

Hey, I'm sorry for bumping an old thread, but I watched the recent Artisan removal edit, and absolutely enjoyed it! I noticed though, that the easter eggs from the DVD copy are missing. I've been looking for a copy of the film with the eggs everywhere but can't seem to find it. Is it possible to do a new Artisan removal edit including the eggs? I know I'm new to this site, but trust me, I have adored this movie since it was released! Thank you!

Hey, I'm glad you enjoyed the edit so much. I've had several people ask me about the secrets of esrever features missing in the past. The reason is because they were a feature made for home video viewing at the time created by Artisan / Lionsgate. They were never meant to be part of the Joe Berlinger directors cut and weren't included in the DC script either, though to make things clear.. I did not edit them out myself. The Artisan Removal edit was created using the 'streaming' version of BW2, which is actually the highest quality visually, though it doesn't include the secrets.

I guess when streaming services (like Amazon Prime) reached out to Artisan / Lionsgate for a copy of BW2 they maybe by mistake gave them a more raw version of the film. I'm not sure what happened, but it worked out for me since I was able to build the edit over it. At this current time the Artisan Removal Edit will remain the way it is and I won't be making further changes to it. (sorry)

Though I would like to point out that Blair Witch 2 is now OFFICIALLY releasing on Blu Ray, with all the bonus materials included on the DVD over at Imprint Why I point this out is that they have more special features listed as TBC, under the already existing ones we know about.. I've reached out to them and suggested that they ask Lionsgate one more time for the directors cut as a special feature (if they haven't already)

Here are the special features of the Blu Ray release below.
Special Features & Technical Specs:

1080p high-definition presentation on Blu-ray
Audio Commentary by director Joe Berlinger
Audio Commentary on select scenes by composer Carter Burwell
NEW Interview with director Joe Berlinger
NEW Interview with director of photography Nancy Schreiber
More NEW Special Features TBC
The Secret of Esrever – featurette
Soundtrack Trailer and Live Performance by Godhead
Shadow of The Blair Witch – documentary (2000)
Burkittsville 7 – documentary (2000)
Cast Interviews
Godhead – music video
Trailer
Audio English 5.1 Surround + LPCM 2.0 Stereo
Original Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
Optional English Subtitles