From what I've seen, reactions to Oren Peli's 2007 Paranormal Activity have been pretty polarized. Either it's praised as a truly terrifying low budget masterpiece, or it's mocked as a laughable attempt at another Blair Witch Project-like payoff. Personally, I found Paranormal Activity both brilliant and terrifying. But then, I also love The Blair Witch Project. For me, PA was such a success because of its simplicity and subtlety, its slow build and antagonist you never actually see. It was The Invisible Man meets Alien and Poltergeist. Like any movie it had its flaws, but for whatever it may have lacked in character likablility it made up for in overall horror.
I put off watching Paranormal Activity 2 for a long time because I was afraid that it wouldn't live up to the standard set by the first film. Happily, my fears were misplaced. As it turns out PA2 contains all the elements that made PA so great, and brings even more to the table. Where as the first film focused on the lives of only two characters - one of whom was admittedly an annoying douchebag - the sequel follows the lives of the whole Rey family - daddy Daniel, mommy Kristi, teen Ali, and infant Hunter. Also, as PA2 is a prequel, we once again meet the starring couple of PA - Micah and Katie - though only briefly, and get to see a little bit deeper into their story. By taking a bit longer for the paranormal aspect of the story to become apparent, PA2 allows the audience to become even more involved in the everyday lives of the Rey family, so that when the haunting starts, unlike so many movies, we do actually care what happens to these people. Another improvement from PA, the manifestations of the haunting in PA2 take on even more subtle methods to begin with, so that, unless you're paying close attention and really thinking, you may even miss a few. Similarly, when things really take off in the sequel they get even darker and more terrifying than they did in the first film.
On a more technical note, to the credit of its writers and director, Paranormal Activity 2 found a nice, clever way to dispense with the excessive use of the handcam technique by makeing use of security cameras to get long, steady shots of whole portions of the house. So if all that jerkiness tends to make you queezy PA2 will sit alot smoother on your stomach than some of the other documentary-style films. The handcam is not entirely gone however, but is used only to break up the tedium of the unmoving security cameras and to get in close for those particularly emotional or horrifying scenes.
Overall I thought Paranormal Activity 2 was a great success and I highly recommend it. Specially if you enjoyed the first film. Or even if you didn't. As I've said, to me, this movie goes above and beyond its predacessor in many ways. Now I just have to worry about whether the film makers have screwed up Paranormal Activity 3, coming out mid-October. This will be yet another prequel, this time documenting the childhood horrors of sisters Kristi and Katie who starred in the first two installments. We'll see how that goes.
I put off watching Paranormal Activity 2 for a long time because I was afraid that it wouldn't live up to the standard set by the first film. Happily, my fears were misplaced. As it turns out PA2 contains all the elements that made PA so great, and brings even more to the table. Where as the first film focused on the lives of only two characters - one of whom was admittedly an annoying douchebag - the sequel follows the lives of the whole Rey family - daddy Daniel, mommy Kristi, teen Ali, and infant Hunter. Also, as PA2 is a prequel, we once again meet the starring couple of PA - Micah and Katie - though only briefly, and get to see a little bit deeper into their story. By taking a bit longer for the paranormal aspect of the story to become apparent, PA2 allows the audience to become even more involved in the everyday lives of the Rey family, so that when the haunting starts, unlike so many movies, we do actually care what happens to these people. Another improvement from PA, the manifestations of the haunting in PA2 take on even more subtle methods to begin with, so that, unless you're paying close attention and really thinking, you may even miss a few. Similarly, when things really take off in the sequel they get even darker and more terrifying than they did in the first film.
On a more technical note, to the credit of its writers and director, Paranormal Activity 2 found a nice, clever way to dispense with the excessive use of the handcam technique by makeing use of security cameras to get long, steady shots of whole portions of the house. So if all that jerkiness tends to make you queezy PA2 will sit alot smoother on your stomach than some of the other documentary-style films. The handcam is not entirely gone however, but is used only to break up the tedium of the unmoving security cameras and to get in close for those particularly emotional or horrifying scenes.
Overall I thought Paranormal Activity 2 was a great success and I highly recommend it. Specially if you enjoyed the first film. Or even if you didn't. As I've said, to me, this movie goes above and beyond its predacessor in many ways. Now I just have to worry about whether the film makers have screwed up Paranormal Activity 3, coming out mid-October. This will be yet another prequel, this time documenting the childhood horrors of sisters Kristi and Katie who starred in the first two installments. We'll see how that goes.
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