Paranormal Activity 2

Saw the movie today. Only a handful of people in the theatre but it was a 2:30 show.

Here goes......... I had some mixed feelings about PA2. I would sum it up as not quite good enough.

It's a decent flick but can't measure up to the original with the scares or the ending. Actually for me, the ending felt somewhat rushed and just wasn't that scary. Disturbing, yes. Scary? No. And the pace was a tad slow at times.

The film does in my opinion, an excellent job actually, at establishing the introduction of the characters and very nicely ties in the events of this film with PA though there are some unanswered questions.

Why if Katie's sister is having problems with things going all "paranormal" doesn't Katie then mention this while talking about it to Micah when filming during their paranormal events. And how did that burnt pic get into their attic? But I digress.

I had mixed reactions to the explaining as it were, of the demon's intent and motives outlined by the one of the character that actually uses their brain in this movie and does some investigative work.

I thought it an interesting twist that nicely tied the events of both movies through the obviously frustrated demon and ultimately using Katie to get the job done though it had some help from one character that ultimately involves betrayal. People should be talking about this.

One major nitpick?

The slow buildup up in tension never comes close to delivering anything to what PA did and I really let down with the general lack of overall good scare moments and just how few and far between the great ones there were.

I was hugely disappointed with this. My biggest nitpick of the movie.

The best ones take place in the kitchen and with the daughter on the couch. That entire sequence in the basement where the mother takes the baby, was annoying and fell flat. Not going to lie to you, that second kitchen scare got me though.

One of the few truly, good scare moments.

Also, the the scene with the daughter sleeping on the couch is another. Why, oh why, couldn't they have had more scenes like this? What she experienced was genuinely creepy. I just wished they had more of these types of scares throughout the movie.

It would have been brilliant. And what was the deal with the demon and the basement?

Unlike others, I found the acting was just fine in my books. I saw nothing that indicated lousy, unconvincing acting for the most part. Just a couple of parts that felt forced.

But for all the hype, I still walked away thinking that despite a great job of tying in the events and the overlap between both movies, that it felt like they struggled to come up with something fresh to scare us with this time.

And how can they possibly do a third PA with what happened at the end and the fate of several of the characters? Who gets haunted next?

The movie is going to be successful and I did enjoy most of it despite my nitpicks but still...... They dropped the ball somewhat.

A couple become increasingly disturbed by Paranormal Activity in their home that maybe linked to their an infant son. His teenage half-sister against their father wish tries to uncover the truth.

This sequel /prequel contains some quality direction by Tod Williams who takes over the reigns for this instalment. With the usage of static security camera's and some thought out camera work it gives P2 a slight edged and a grander film quality over it's predecessor. However, the jump out sound moments aside the sound effects and design appear less creepy this time around.

The whole cast are fantastic. The acting is plausible and natural by the leads, notably Molly Ephraim who plays the inquisitive everyday daughter and Vivis Cortez as the 'help'. Those with young children and pets will be left a little more disturbed by this follow up and fans of the first will be pleased by Katie and Micah's return.

Sadly, for the most part its purpose is to build up to a big scare at the end. Again it's simply another story told through the eyes of a camera lenses and the writers inject some unnecessary connections and exposition to the goings on which takes away some of the mysteries random edge.

It's nearly 15 years since the 'The Blair Witch Project' used the camera point of view and while Paranormal Activity 2 looks better than the first it goes over the same old formula.

If you enjoyed and were scared by 1st you'll be blown away by Paranormal Activity 2. Yet, old school haunted house fans maybe left less chilled and thrilled.

After experiencing what they think are a series of "break-ins", a family sets up security cameras around their home, only to realize that the events unfolding before them are more sinister than they seem.

When Paramount announced that they were going to do a sequel to PA, I was skeptical. Let's be honest, it felt like they were trying to cash in on the surprising success of PA. Then the trailers were released, which weren't really special, and the film wasn't screened to the critics. Either Paramount was trying to keep a tight lid on it or it must be a really, really bad sequel. I mean, the only person in the casting list is Katie Featherston, who plays Katie, which is still pretty vague. Fortunately, PA2 is actually a worthwhile sequel that retains everything that made the original scary.

With a much higher budget, PA2 boasts a bigger cast and has more elaborate scares and security cameras to capture the events. But, as you all know, bigger sometimes isn't better, and, in this case, it's true. What made PA so great was its amazing simplicity. The scares were limited to doors creaking, lights flickering, and footsteps thumping. In this film, I'm not going to even mention what they do. However, saying that, the film does have some very scary scenes, even more so than the simple scares in the original. It's apparent while watching the film that PA2 relies more on jump scares than on maintaining an atmosphere like PA, which may be good or bad news depending on which you prefer more. However, the film still retains the slow buildup of scares in PA as the film reaches to the end, where all hell breaks loose. It's also agonizing to see things move on their own that our characters don't notice. Don't you just hate that feeling of dread?

Most of the cast do a great job because they are more innocent than the victims in the first film, including a baby and a dog. Please, just spare the baby and the dog! I'm also glad to say that the climax is much better than the one in the first film, if you could even call it a climax in that film. However, the sequel does have the same main problem of PA: The ending. It's just as anti-climatic and disappointing coming off from a huge buildup.

If you didn't like the first film, just skip this sequel. It's more of the same in terms of structure and style. However, if you liked the first film, you'll definitely enjoy this. I thought the storyline was rather clever in that it ties in with PA. Overall, even though this isn't as scary as PA, PA2 should be an example of how to make a proper sequel to a great first film which stays true to the original's overall tone. And considering the fact that we are familiar of the set up before, PA2 still has its own share of effective scares. Now that's an accomplishment.

As a longtime horror aficionado, and huge fan of the first film, I was looking forward to seeing this. I just did. I wish I hadn't. This is not a patch on the original. Its not even a true sequel, as the credits state it is "inspired by the motion picture, Paranormal Activity"!

It's slow, terribly-clichéd and -- as a long-time horror fan of all kinds of horror films, especially the psychological ones -- not very scary. The film takes forever to get into, has very few scares, is highly unrealistic (thus ruining the whole "found footage" feel) and nosedives into tired Hollywood scare tactics towards the end, with screeching sound design and people diving at the camera.

Very, very disappointing.

Six months before Katie and Micah are terrorised by a demonic force in their own home (as documented in Paranormal Activity), Katie's sister Kristi (Sprague Grayden) and her family suffer from a series of similar terrifying supernatural occurrences that appear to be focused around toddler Hunter.

Having recently watched the first Paranormal Activity, I was keen to discover what new tricks the film-makers had devised to ensure that the prequel remained fresh and unpredictable. In short: they hadn't! With the exception of some preposterous exposition in an effort to link the plot of Paranormal Activity 2 with events in the original, the format of this film is virtually identical to the first, only a lot more monotonous.

Once again, the action consists of spliced together video footage, primarily from the series of security cameras installed in Kristi's luxurious home after an apparent break in, but also from the hand-held camera belonging to her teenage stepdaughter Ali (Molly Ephraim). As the supernatural events escalate, Ali desperately tries to convince her sceptical father Daniel (Brian Boland) that something is terribly wrong in their home (apart from the fact that the parents let an Alsation sleep in the baby's room and haven't installed stair gates!).

For much of the time Paranormal Activity 2 feels like the cinematic equivalent of a Where's Wally book, only instead of wasting time searching for a bespectacled man in a stripy outfit, the idea is to try and spot almost imperceptible movement in an otherwise seemingly static environment, the most likely result of which will be eye-strain rather than abject terror.

After much unspectacular supernatural malarkey, the malevolent demon finally musters up the energy to make more than a baby's mobile rotate slowly or a saucepan fall off a hook and delivers some genuinely effective scares (accompanied by very loud noises to wake up those who might have dozed off), but when all is said and done, this second movie is far too similar to its predecessor to be considered a worthwhile follow-up.

4.5 out of 10, rounded up to 5 for IMDb.