Paranormal Activity 2

Paranormal Activity 2

Director: Tod Williams

Written By: Michael R. Perry, Christopher Landon, Tom Pabst. 

Photography: Micheal Simmonds 

Starring: Brain Boland, Molly Ephraim, Sprague Greyden.

Year: 2010.

Country: USA. 

I hated the first Paranormal Activity movie, I thought it was boring, self-inflated, unintelligent and unimaginative. I feel like Oren Peli is the guy who only studied film because he thought it would be easy and not out of genuine interest. And don't go giving me shit about it only having a tiny budget, go watch a Belgian movie called Man Bites Dog, It has the exact same budget and that's a masterpiece. 

 Paranormal Activity 2, I thought, might be worth giving a chance. Different director, different writers, different actors, bigger budget. Every potential to be a better film than the original. I was wrong, it's worse! 

The entire fist act of the film is handheld footage of a couple (Brain Boland and Sprague Greydey) documenting the first year of their baby's life. This is a nice way to introduce the characters, but it goes on way too long and it feels like you're being forced to sit through home videos of someone you don't know's ugly kid. 

 One day the family of four and one dog come home from a day out to discover their home has been broken into; nothing is stolen, but the place is turned upside down. The dad pays to have top of the range home security-cameras installed all throughout their house in case whoever it was decides to come back. The  not at all racially stereotyped Latin housemaid, however, seems to think it's something else; she thinks it may be a daemon and starts trotting around the house praying with her swinging incense burner.

 The rest of the film is a slow montage of banality; feeding the baby, swimming in the pool, making dinner and every now and then they'll fit in a scary falling high-chair. Most of the 'paranormal activity' that happens is so stupid and dull that it feels like satire. You have to wait exactly one hour and six minutes before something remotely jump-worthy happens. All this leading up to an absolutely absurd ending. 

 The only good thing I can come up with about Paranormal Activity 2 is that the farther character is quite likeable, but that's it. 

 Paranormal Activity 2 is more tiresome and pretentious than the original. How these films have built up such a fan base, I will never understand. Just watch Poltergeist instead, it's scarier and you'll have more fun.

Score: 1.5/5