Paranormal Activity 2

Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)

69% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 42 reviews)

Runtime: 91 minutes

Directed by: Tod Williams

Starring: Brian Boland, Sprague Grayden, Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat

From: Paramount

Yep, I wasn’t planning on seeing this movie already; in fact I had pretty much left myself in the dark on what the sequel was going to be about. I enjoyed the first movie a lot when I saw it last fall. My view on it is assuredly different from many other people as I first heard about it from the website Dread Central on their podcast back in the fall of ’07 and since then it’d be periodically mentioned but many of the listeners there grew frustrated with the process of hearing about a movie heavily hyped by the site and yet hardly anyone could go and see it as it only had a few random screenings around Los Angeles and that was it… until a miracle happened last year and via viral marketing it became a shockingly huge hit and even was number one at the box office for a weekend, something I could have never predicted when I first heard about the almost no budget film back in ’07. Anyhow, I had fears about the sequel; it was being made very quickly so that it’d be out at this time, there is a different writer/director (although the guy who came up with it all, Oren Peli, would still be on as a producer) and just by history most horror sequels are crap compared to the originals. Just look at the Blair Witch Project sequel; I’d never seen it but the more traditional film to the found footage original is HATED by most horror fans.

But, it was the opportunity to see the first PA and the sequel back to back last night (which was done at various locations across the country) made me go out and see it… and this was a very wise choice on my part. The first movie had a real small crowd show up at the huge auditorium at Winter Park. The sequel drew a larger crowd but it still looked small in such a large room. Also, I sat far away from everyone else; I don’t know why but it made me feel like I had leprosy or something! Anyway, the crowd seemed to enjoy PA2 quite a bit, yelling and shrieking at all the jump scares and freaking out during the night scenes and all the tension those scenes had. When the end credits hit-after a long moment of just a black screen-there were many relieved sighs. The film also worked on me and at least at the moment I’d say it’s a little better than the first. It’s very similar to the first but a fresh spin it put on things with the focus being on a family rather than a two person couple and you get some security camera footage in the house along with a handheld camera.


I’m not sure how much I should reveal here, but the family in question is actually the sister of Katie (Featherston) and it takes place at the same time as the first Paranormal Activity. The two movies go together very well and some things in the first are elaborated upon here (such as learning more about the demon in question) and a viewing of the original movie before you see this one may not be the worst idea. Revealing much more than that about the story would probably ruin things so I’ll shut up about that.

On another topic, though, if you were a fan of the busty Katie, then you should enjoy the one scene she has where you see her in a bikini top. I didn’t complain about that scene myself!

So, if you loved the original, you should see this with a crowd and enjoy the scares and frights with an audience; if you hated the first (and I know some personally who did; that disappoints me but to each their own) then your opinion on this won’t change as the two are very similar. As I'm a fan of the first... that's why I dug this and I think it's pretty incredible to think that many IMAX screens are showing this for the rest of the month. Again, no way could I have predicted back in '07 that there would be a sequel to this, and I could see it on an IMAX screen, whether a legit one or a much smaller one.

I’ll be back Monday night with a new review.