With Brian Boland, Molly Ephraim, Sprague Grayden with Micah Sloat and Katie Featherston
“What is happening to Hunter?”
No, I’m not one of those people who saw this movie at midnight – I was worse. I saw it at 10pm the day before its official opening. Look, I had two good reasons to see this. The first one is that the first movie scared me a little and I thought it was well done, and the second reason is because the director of this film, Tod Williams, directed one of my favorite movies – “The Door in the Floor”.
“Paranormal Activity 2″ is a very interesting film. It’s marketed as a sequel, but the film acts as a prequel, parallel and a sequel to the original film. The first film was essentially a gimmick. It relied on the audience being tricked into believing what they were watching was “real”.
The new installment ups the gimmick. This time there is handheld camera footage, but a majority of it is footage from the security cameras that are installed inside the house. The addition of a German Shepherd named Abby and a baby named Hunter add to the thrill of the film.
The first films plot was very ambiguous and vague when it came to the exact paranormal activity that partakes inside the house. In this film, it builds off of what little explanations we were given in the first film, and we slowly start to understand why these things are happening.
The addition of the dog adds to the suspense of the film, since the dog is able to sense things that the characters don’t. The low growls and ear perks that the dog does tells us that’s something is there. The addition of the toddler, Hunter, makes for a lot of dramatic effect, especially when we see the being moved by whatever entity is moving him.
“Paranormal Activity 2″ is the perfect example of how to make a very good sequel. It creates its own right; it brings in new aspects without abandoning the aspects that made the original film so good. I don’t think these films are for everyone, but if you did enjoy the first film – you will really, really like the new installment.
I still can’t get over the fact that Tod Williams, who directed one of the best films of the last decade, “The Door in the Floor”, made this film. That’s reason enough alone to see this film.
Rating: 8/10
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Tags: Paranormal Activity 2, Paranormal Activity 2 review, Tod Williams
Frank Mengarelli
Good review. I’ve read mostly negative things about the film so it’s nice to see something positive. I really enjoyed the original film but I still have reservations about the sequel. I don’t think I’ll be rushing to see this one but I’ll definitely watch it when it arrives on DVD.
If you liked the first film, I would almost bet that you’ll really like this film. I thought it was really well done.
I was majorly surprised to see Tod Williams was hired to do this when it was announced. But he does domestic drama well and it seems, from the trailers at least, this sequel deals with that a bit.
Wow, I’m surprised to hear the “Door in the Floor” connection as well. I have no interest in seeing this, and I wonder what happened to Williams to get him stuck with this?
Williams has only made three films, PA 2 being his third and ”The Door in the Floor” being his second. Seems to me he is very selective and PA 2 should hopefully put him on the map.
Good stuff, it had me freaked out, and although it doesn’t do anything new that the first one did, it still has that great effect of creepiness.
I liked the movie it acusly made me whant to get to know why did tod williams write it what was he thinking of