It's back -- the unconscionable "you demanded it" phenomenon that no one asked for has returned with a second helping of spook-show hype, and this time around, a bigger budget means bigger scares. It doesn't mean a better movie, but no one behind Paranormal Activity 2 cares about art. They're out to make a big fat pre-Halloween profit, and this combination con job and genre joke will definitely rake in the green. The gullible target audience for this 85 minutes of mediocrity clearly doesn't want suspense, narrative, or characterization. All they want is a recognizable set-up, an hour of inference, and a last act which acts like a rollercoaster of jumps and anticipatory lulls. Unfortunately, they get their heart's desire.
It is several months before the tragedy of the first film -- read: prequel -- and Katie's (Katie Featherston) sister Catherine (Sprague Grayden) has just had a baby with new husband Frank (Brian Bolden). He also has a teen daughter (Molly Ephraim) from a previous marriage. At first, everything seems fine with the new family. The baby grows and starts walking. Dad and Mom settle into parenthood. And Martine the nanny and Abby the family German Shepherd watch over them all. One day, they discover their house trashed by unseen intruders, so Frank decides to install surveillance cameras, hoping to prevent another crime. What he and the rest don't expect is that the lenses will capture something far more frightening. Something supernatural. Something angry. Something...demonic.
Here's a given -- if you fell for the first film (and director Oren Peli's inert lack of directorial finesse) then you are going to simply adore Paranormal Activity 2. It's everything the original promised -- and precisely that. Nothing more, and sometimes a lot less. Now helmed by Tod Williams, from a decently fleshed-out script by Michael R. Perry, the film is still stuck with pacing that would make a glacier seem hurried and shocks that could only frighten an unknowing newborn kitten, but at least we don't have to put up with the incessant whining of Katie and Micah, the original's protagonists, for an hour and a half. Instead, the new brood is far more familiar -- concerned mom, perky daughter, fun but highly focused father. They don't argue and spend their pre-terror time clearly enjoying each other's company. Of course, once things start going "thump" in the time-coded night, tempers and tedium rise.
Thankfully, the use of the cameras is far more rational here. In the original, Micah simply wanted to document the supposedly odd things going on in the house. He then took the viewfinder and went voyeur nuts on his entire life. In Part 2, the cameras are both practical (as evidentiary proof) and unobtrusive. We never wonder why Molly or Frank are walking around with a camcorder. Each time we see such a POV shot, it's more or less explained . While it doesn't make the found footage aspect of the film any more real, it does remove a huge stylistic stumbling block.
Still, there remains a massive flaw in this and any other type of "horror as it happens" narrative. Once you have footage of your loved ones being literally tossed around by unseen forces, common sense would suggest being a bit more proactive in your response. Trying to argue it away just isn't going to work. Toss in the manipulative facet of an infant in peril and Paranormal Activity 2 goes from shameful to shameless. While a far cry from the awfulness of the first installment, this fetid follow-up only makes one long even more for the brilliance of The Blair Witch Project.
It is several months before the tragedy of the first film -- read: prequel -- and Katie's (Katie Featherston) sister Catherine (Sprague Grayden) has just had a baby with new husband Frank (Brian Bolden). He also has a teen daughter (Molly Ephraim) from a previous marriage. At first, everything seems fine with the new family. The baby grows and starts walking. Dad and Mom settle into parenthood. And Martine the nanny and Abby the family German Shepherd watch over them all. One day, they discover their house trashed by unseen intruders, so Frank decides to install surveillance cameras, hoping to prevent another crime. What he and the rest don't expect is that the lenses will capture something far more frightening. Something supernatural. Something angry. Something...demonic.
Here's a given -- if you fell for the first film (and director Oren Peli's inert lack of directorial finesse) then you are going to simply adore Paranormal Activity 2. It's everything the original promised -- and precisely that. Nothing more, and sometimes a lot less. Now helmed by Tod Williams, from a decently fleshed-out script by Michael R. Perry, the film is still stuck with pacing that would make a glacier seem hurried and shocks that could only frighten an unknowing newborn kitten, but at least we don't have to put up with the incessant whining of Katie and Micah, the original's protagonists, for an hour and a half. Instead, the new brood is far more familiar -- concerned mom, perky daughter, fun but highly focused father. They don't argue and spend their pre-terror time clearly enjoying each other's company. Of course, once things start going "thump" in the time-coded night, tempers and tedium rise.
Thankfully, the use of the cameras is far more rational here. In the original, Micah simply wanted to document the supposedly odd things going on in the house. He then took the viewfinder and went voyeur nuts on his entire life. In Part 2, the cameras are both practical (as evidentiary proof) and unobtrusive. We never wonder why Molly or Frank are walking around with a camcorder. Each time we see such a POV shot, it's more or less explained . While it doesn't make the found footage aspect of the film any more real, it does remove a huge stylistic stumbling block.
Still, there remains a massive flaw in this and any other type of "horror as it happens" narrative. Once you have footage of your loved ones being literally tossed around by unseen forces, common sense would suggest being a bit more proactive in your response. Trying to argue it away just isn't going to work. Toss in the manipulative facet of an infant in peril and Paranormal Activity 2 goes from shameful to shameless. While a far cry from the awfulness of the first installment, this fetid follow-up only makes one long even more for the brilliance of The Blair Witch Project.
