Blu-Ray Review – Paranormal Activity 2

Published on June 11, 2011

Paranormal Activity 2

(2010)

By Jason Marsiglia

Out of 4

When Paranormal Activity hit the scene, it went over like gangbusters. Most that had seen it were freaked out, and those who hadn’t turned out in droves to check out what all the fuss was about. While I didn’t think it lived up to its almost mythical reputation upon its release, I did, however, really enjoy the film, and found it a nice throwback to moody ghost films of the 60s and 70s, where tension and dread were what made movies scary, without the employ of gruesome shock value.

But then a common, albeit inexplicable thing began to happen. Suddenly “bashing” Paranormal Activity was the “hip” thing to do, and slowly but surely, even the people that initially enjoyed the film were no longer content to defend it. This bizarre, herd-following phenomena happened after The Blair Witch Project back in 1999 as well, particularly when it was revealed that the “footage” in question was fake – something that oddly, was a deal-breaker for many viewers. Nevermind the film scared the shit out of them, once it’s been “debunked” it’s no longer just good filmmaking but an elaborate “cheat”. Heavens. So while I continued to stand by Paranormal Activity, the people standing with me dwindled. The Paranormal Activity party was over, and I was left behind to sweep up the confetti. Such is the life of a film critic.

Now comes Paranormal Activity 2, a film so drab and pointless that I found myself joining the original film’s nay-sayers in the fucking parking lot.

The movie serves as a prequel to the original film, focusing on Katie’s sister Kristi’s family who has just welcomed home a newborn baby boy named Hunter. Once the tot is home, “weird shit” starts occurring. Seems there is a demonic force in the house that has taken a particular interest in Hunter. The superstitious nanny knows something is amiss, and is promptly fired for blessing the house with “her witchcraft”.

When it appears that someone broke into the Rey family’s home and ransacked the place, the family have surveillance videos installed all over the house. This of course being the slightly more high-tech version of Micah’s sole camera in the original film – this time we’ve got a liquor store-style view of every corner of the house, so we can see disembodied shadows cross the floor and the front door open and shut on its own. Also on hand for the up-close and personal touches, teenage daughter Ali’s personal hand-held camera which she carries everywhere. From there, the film “settles”, and when I say “settles”, I mean it gets so comfy with its set-up that it forgets to actually do anything.

There are two major things that shoot PA2 right in its coattail-riding foot. First? Irritating characters – in a film full of adults, it’s pretty sad that the two kids (one of whom is an infant, don’t forget) are the least annoying people in the film. Mom? Dad? If you were on vacation and we had ourselves a Paranormal Activity meets Home Alone situation going, it might have been easier on the nerves. Instead, the mom (Katie’s sister) is largely there to be a sounding board for everyone else’s theories, and the dad, well – think of all of the moron characters in movies like this who literally have to have the house caving in on them before they stop and go, “Gosh, maybe something strange is occurring and I should concern myself with my family’s panic!” Father of the Year, this guy ain’t, and he gets a LOT of screen time to be a douche.

The second problem is pacing. The original Paranormal Activity was aces in that department. Things started small. A weird noise here, a footstep there. And as the nights ticked by, the occurrences became more and more threatening until they reached a fever pitch in the film’s finale. Not so here. Paranormal Activity 2 doesn’t even bother spinning its wheels until well after an hour, and the movie is 2/3 of the way over by that point. You can’t make me sit and watch the fucking pool cleaner skimming the bottom of your pool every night, and expect me to get the goose bumps, and you certainly can’t make up for it by throwing all your tricks in during the finale. A few eerie moments during the last bit hardly make up for the wasted time before it. Watching the ghost play “Ding-Dong-Ditch” with the kids isn’t frightening, no matter how many times a dog barks at “nothing”.

Now, I’ll admit, a scene or two got me. The scene with the kitchen cupboards and drawers was nicely choreographed, and frankly, the image of a screaming baby being slowly dragged out his crib by invisible hands is really quite jarring. Actually, the whole “infant’ angle in general didn’t sit well with me. Kids in peril? Shit, I love me some Goonies. But toddlers that can’t even talk yet? That sets me on edge a bit, and while the film didn’t scare me because of it, I couldn’t help but feel my teeth grind a little whenever little Hunter was being toyed with at night. I also liked Molly Ephraim as the teen daughter. I thought she’d get on my nerves quick (and she did), but she winds up being the character with the most brains of the group, and keeps her head on a swivel. In a house filled with dipshits and demons, you wind up rooting for her quick. Also, they found a clever way (however big a stretch) to link this and the first movie together, so I guess there’s that. It also deserves some credit for sticking with the gimmick that made the first film work, and not going all “Hollywood” on us like, Blair Witch 2 did.

C: Molly Ephraim, Brian Boland, Sprague Grayden, William and Jackson Prieto, Katie Featherston. D: Tod Williams. Sub genre: Ghosts. Time: 97 minutes. Aspect Ratio: (1.78:1) Widescreen. Rated R: Strong language, sexual references and brief violence.

The Best Digital Bang For Your Hard-Earned Buck:

In keeping with the whole “found footage” motif, the Blu-Ray comes with scant extras. Like the original, we get Two Versions of the Film with some extra footage that adds nothing to the film except six minutes.

They also provide a Teaser Trailer (1:07) and the usual Digital DVD Copy.

Sequels: Paranormal Activity 3 is due out this fall.

Remake: No, but this is different – Japan made a spin-off of sorts the same year (the following month, actually) called Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night that follows a Japanese couple with a very similar situation. Whether or not it’s linked to the American films in an “official” capacity is up for you to decide.

Bottom Line: Sequels always have big shoes to fill, and most can’t live up to it. Most of the time, it’s because they try too damn hard and are crushed under their own weight. How do you top a film made so cheaply, but so innovative that it was scary out of sheer simplicity? You sure as shit don’t press your finger to the vinyl and slow the spin to a crawl. Paranormal Activity 2 didn’t have to run circles around its predecessor, but even a half-assed attempt at participating would have been nice.