Shadows on the wall.

Paranormal Activity 2.

This is a prequel to Paranormal Activity 1, at least for the first three quarters of the film, then the last quarter actually continues from part 1. So to get the full Paranormal Activity experience you should watch part 2, then stop at the point they mention the first film, watch the first film, then put part 2 back in to finish it off.

Something funny to note. These films are pretending to be “real” which is problematic – why keep the camera’s rolling? But ignoring that, we get a message from Paramount Pictures thanking the families for allowing us to view their footage, thus reinforcing the “real” tone of the film. Too bad that after the movie ends they have credits that include “costume designer” etc. That just made me laugh a bit.

Anyway, this movie is the same as part 1 in the sense that you have to wait a long time for something to happen. I don’t much like ghost movies and I like realistic ones even less. I don’t believe in ghosts so a door opening all by itself isn’t scary to me at all. Also, the jumps that happen in this movie amount to nothing. I like when you jump and then someone gets their head cut off. Like scaring me into jumping is fine if there is a payoff, otherwise it just gets annoying.

I have a proposal to the makers of this film, or to anyone who has the time or inclination to do it, why not drop the first 30-40 mins of both films, then splice them together to make one good movie, instead of 2 ok ones. There is some ok stuff here, like when the girl gets dragged down the stairs – although I found it amusing. I also like when the girl from part one kills the father, he was a douche.

But overall, this movie and the first are just ok. If you really believe in spirits you will probably think this is pretty scary. But waiting around for a shadow to cross over someone is not interesting to me, or scary. I know it’s fake, so who cares. If it was real, then why not just show me the cool parts, and not them talking at the pool about crap I don’t care about. It would be like watching Friday the 13th, but all the campers talk for 40 mins then one person see a bloody axe. Then another 10 mins pass and someone finally gets killed and then the movie is over.

2.5/5

J-Man.