By There’s a big issue with a lot of horror movies, and that is once you know the gimmick, once you can’t be surprised anymore, it isn’t as scary. This is one of the major reasons that most sequels to horror films fall flat on their face. This week sees another successful horror film get a sequel in the form of Paranormal Activity 2.
In an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the first one before the excitement over it fades away, Paramount brought on Tod Williams and rushed this second movie out in just under a year. Same concept, same story, but this time we are experiencing the story of the sister of the first film’s lead character, Katie. Did they miraculously catch lightning in a fixed, night vision camera shot twice or are we once again treated to another middling horror sequel?
There's a big issue with a lot of horror movies, and that is once you know the gimmick, once you can't be surprised anymore, it isn't as scary. This is one of the major reasons that most sequels to horror films fall flat on their face. This week sees another successful horror film get a sequel in the form of Paranormal Activity 2.
In an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the first one before the excitement over it fades away, Paramount brought on Tod Williams and rushed this second movie out in just under a year. Same concept, same story, but this time we are experiencing the story of the sister of the first film's lead character, Katie. Did they miraculously catch lightning in a fixed, night vision camera shot twice or are we once again treated to another middling horror sequel?{{page_break}}
To begin with, Paranormal Activity 2's story is forced more than most horror films. You might not realize it until the very end when the film sacrifices its own slow build in order to connect to the original, but once that happens it's hard not to realize that the studio desperately wanted this to tie into the original film even if it ruined the movie doing so. Thanks to the fact that the family we watch this time around — mother Kristi (Sprague Grayden), father Daniel (Brian Boland), daughter Ali (Molly Ephraim) and newborn child Hunter — the movie has to bend over backwards in its short running time to connect everything, and it's worse off for it as it tells the story of Katie's sister Kristi.
Tod Williams also has nowhere near as firm a grasp on how or why the static camera can be so scary. Pretty much copying what he saw in the first film, tossing in more Blaire Witch style shaky cam stuff and then playing loud noises every once in a while seemed to be his general motif. Where the first one had you scared every time the cameras clicked over into night mode, this one actually bores you eventually. Williams doesn't seem to understand why establishing normalcy is so important to get a really solid scare. In an even odder occurrence he actually does do this by showing the same shots each night early in the movie ad nauseam, but completely abandons the sequence once things get moving. It's like driving down a road at 40 and then suddenly gunning it to 150 without your passengers knowing why.
This isn't to say that Paranormal Activity 2 is the worst horror sequel ever or that it doesn't have its scares. By making the victims of the demon an entire family (and their dog) instead of just a couple, the scary factor definitely gets amplified for many of the scenes, especially those involving Hunter, who also happens to be the most adorable child in the world. It's an odd feeling to be thinking what a cute kid is on screen and then jump out of your seat in the next second. The movie is also scary because fixed cameras and repeated shots are simply a tense way to go about things. Your eyes constantly scan a familiar scene to see what is going to jump, and your lack of ability to ever see more of a room keeps you trapped and at the director's whim. As I've said, however, this director doesn't understand the power he's wielding, and instead of depending on his fixed camera for scares, he Blair Witches it far too much and ruins his established shots. It's also clear that the "bigger" budget let the film do a few more things, but money doesn't buy you scares because it can't teach a director what makes something truly terrifying.
As far as the cast goes (they do get credit this time around, taking away a bit more creativity that the original had) they do their job well enough to fake it. However, their performances seem far more affected than those of the original. This could just be my mind playing tricks on me, but it felt more like they knew what they were part of instead of really trying to be part of something. Again, this is the downfall of a sequel; you're always going to be compared to the originality and strengths of the original and sometimes it can easily affect the viewing of a movie.
Where we end up is a film that is easily scary simply given the virtue that fixed cameras and night vision along with loud noises and demonic power scare the crap out of us. However, thanks to a director and studio who clearly were more interested in copying and connecting than creating and originality we get a much lesser film. The end result is a film that scares because it has scary things in it, not because it was well made.
If you do see this one, however, see it in a theater. Much like the original, it will be twice as scary with a crowd that is into it.
Overall Score: 6.00 (Okay. 6s are just okay. These movies usually have many flaws, didn’t try to do anything special, or were poorly executed. Some will still love 6s, but most prefer to just rent them. Watch more trailers and read more reviews before you decide.)
Paranormal Activity 2 is a sequel that relies too heavily on copying its predecessor. Scary simply because it has scares in it, the originality and creativity of the original are gone and left behind with a bigger budget and lots of shaky cam.
