Posted October 23, 2010
I'll admit that I went into Paranormal Activity 2 fully expecting to hate it. While the first had its moments of ingenuity and interesting demon activity, some of it got annoying after a while. I figured that the second would be even worse, but I was wrong.
The family the movie follows actually engages the viewer. There's something about them that has you hoping nothing bad happens to them. The stakes seem higher, because instead of two people, you have a husband and wife, their toddler, a daughter, a Spanish babysitter, and a dog. The upgrade from just one hand-held camera to a set of security cameras was a smart move. Every night begins with the same routine of static shots, so when something goes amiss, it packs more of a punch. Also, more of the ghostly activity happens on-camera, leading to more of the very clever wire work that they used in the first movie.
This movie also got more genuine fear out of me. Later on, there's a specific place in the house where the real shit goes down, and every time you see movement in that area, you're paralyzed with fear. The demon's activity isn't limited to the night time, either; there's a scene in the kitchen that sobers up the normally light-hearted mood found in the early day sequences. The ending completely caught me off-guard, twice.
I think one of the biggest improvements is in the acting department. While it was impressive that Micah and Katie ad-libbed almost all of their scenes in the original movie, I think a script really helped the family here.
All in all, I'd say it was an excellent movie to watch, and the best found-footage horror movie available.
The family the movie follows actually engages the viewer. There's something about them that has you hoping nothing bad happens to them. The stakes seem higher, because instead of two people, you have a husband and wife, their toddler, a daughter, a Spanish babysitter, and a dog. The upgrade from just one hand-held camera to a set of security cameras was a smart move. Every night begins with the same routine of static shots, so when something goes amiss, it packs more of a punch. Also, more of the ghostly activity happens on-camera, leading to more of the very clever wire work that they used in the first movie.
This movie also got more genuine fear out of me. Later on, there's a specific place in the house where the real shit goes down, and every time you see movement in that area, you're paralyzed with fear. The demon's activity isn't limited to the night time, either; there's a scene in the kitchen that sobers up the normally light-hearted mood found in the early day sequences. The ending completely caught me off-guard, twice.
I think one of the biggest improvements is in the acting department. While it was impressive that Micah and Katie ad-libbed almost all of their scenes in the original movie, I think a script really helped the family here.
All in all, I'd say it was an excellent movie to watch, and the best found-footage horror movie available.
