Paranormal Activity2
The original Paranormal Activity creeped me out. After viewing the film in a packed theater with a frenzied audience, I went home and wasn’t able to sleep for nearly a month. I’m not exaggerating. I kept hearing noises that couldn’t be explained away. Doors would open and close themselves. One night, I swore that I heard coat hangers slide/ slam to one side of the closet. I haven’t been able to ease myself into watching the film again. Why tempt the fates?
To put it bluntly, I found the film highly effective and went into Paranormal Activity 2 with guarded expectations. Much of the first film’s verve came from the homemade feel of the production. Made for a ridiculously small amount of money in a home that could be found in any neighborhood across America, the fright and horror worked because everybody could relate to it. Now with the sequel, the movie’s producers have to try to recreate the lo-fi atmosphere and do everything in their power to make this go around NOT feel like a Hollywood sequel. Remember Blair Witch Project 2?
(I guess I’m going to end every paragraph in this review with a question. Feel free to jot down your answers and leave them in the comments section found below. Doesn’t that sound like a good idea?)
I’m happy to report that, for the most part, this movie works. The tone is captured perfect and the story feels like an organic extension of its predecessor. To keep the particulars and details light (as to not ruin anything), this macabre tale centers on another family in a different home located in the beautiful suburbs of sunny San Diego. There is a man and his wife, his daughter from another marriage and the couple’s newborn son. I usually give the actor’s and characters names here, but IMDB doesn’t feature any and I took down disgustingly unintelligible notes that don’t seem to contain anyone’s name.The baby’s name is Hunter, I think. Does it really matter?
Much like before, there are knocks and thuds heard at night. Objects inexplicably move and the family dog keeps barking at an empty hallway. After coming home to what appears to be a break in, the father decides to install a home security system and through these cameras, along with a handheld model that the daughter likes to keep running continuously, we see the shocking events unfold one night at a time. A menacing spirit is terrorizing the family but what does the menacing spirit want?
The security cameras are put to good use here. The original featured the one fixed camera in the corner of the doomed couple’s bedroom. Once we returned to that perspective, we knew that something was about to go down. Here, director Tod Williams is able to keep us guessing with 6 cameras, creating even more tension and fear. (The ad campaign should have read “Paranormal Activity 2: Now with multiple angles!!’) Williams also gets some amazingly natural performances from his mystery cast. Just about every minute of the film seems real, as if we are watching a stranger’s home movies. That is what’s fantastic about both of these flicks. They make the gullible side of you ponder; what if it’s real?
PA 2 isn’t as disturbing as the original (I’ve been sleeping just fine) and the entire film has a “been there, done that” tone to it that is almost inevitable with a horror genre sequel. But despite the familiarity, there are more than a handful of true shocking moments that will deliver the chills. This is a scary movie that will scare you. What more do you need?