‘Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2’ director Joe Berlinger can’t watch the new ‘Blair Witch’ movie as it will bring back "trauma".
The 54-year-old filmmaker’s horror sequel was savaged on release, much like the new rebooted film – which has flopped at the box office on its first week of release – and he admits he wanted his name taken off the project as he was so unhappy with studio interference.
He told Deadline: "I have nothing but respect for [Blair Witch helmer] Adam Wingard and I hope the film is great; I haven’t seen it yet. Ironically, I was in Toronto and just couldn’t bring myself to go see it and relive the trauma.
"What trauma? The studio recut the film and inserted scenes of gore against my will and I didn’t have the courage back then to just remove my name from the film. And then to be eviscerated by critics on a cut of the film that I did not sanction was doubly painful."
Berlinger explained that if his work has been included the way he envisioned it, he would have taken the criticism on the chin.
He explained: "That’s not to say that my director’s cut would have garnered a better reaction from critics per se, by at least I could have stood by the film for representing my vision and if people hated that version, it would have been less painful because it’s what I would have wanted to be seen."
He also tweeted a statement to rebut the claims that the film was in ‘financial disaster’.
He said: "It was still Artisan’s second highest grossing film in their history, the highest being the original BW. It grossed $48 million worldwide on a $10 million budget and did over $25 million on DVD… Pure gravy on DVD. I know because my DGA residuals on this film paid for my daughter’s college education."
Joe Berlinger can’t watch new Blair Witch
