Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)

After the success of Paranormal Activity, it was inevitable that we were going to get a sequel.  The setup of this film is that it tells the story before the events of the first Paranormal film where Katie’s sister Kristi experiences strange things going on not long after the birth of Hunter.

This film follows the same path as the first one. It knows what went down well and repeated it here. There are moments of silence followed by a loud bang. There was a film critic in the UK who came up with the term ‘cattle prod cinema’ which is essentially something that makes you jump and then moments later the effect is forgotten. Paranormal Activity basically invented this and it got used by pretty much every found footage film that followed ever since.

The idea in the film is that the demon/spirit is in Kristie and she has a son which is the first son in the family so the dad and daughter come up with an idea to transfer the demon/spirit to Katie. I think that this is a clever way of dealing with the spirit/demon and yet tie up the loose ends perfectly. The way that the film links with the first one so well is something I like because I think that prequels should do that otherwise why bother. The fact that Katie comes back to the house to kill everyone from Ali and take Hunter is a nod to the first one but I thought it was well done. It didn’t make me jump like the ending of the first one did but it’s still a good ending. Apparently there was a version of that ending where you hear a neck break implying that Hunter died which would have been a terrible way to end the film and doesn’t make sense because why would Katie go into another room that doesn’t have a camera because of course Katie wants to spare our feelings.

The performances are better in this film. Sprague Grayden is perhaps the most famous person in these films because she’s the only one I had heard of before seeing the film. She had been in shows like Sons of Anarchy and 24. Its easy to feel sorry for her because she doesn’t deserve anything that happens to her. She doesn’t know that the demon/spirit has been transferred to Katie nor would she want it to have happened. Brian Boland is fine as the dad and Molly Ephraim is also fine although she would pop up in The Marked Ones. Katie Featherston continues to play Katie well but is totally brought down by Micah. I was so annoyed when he came back. Ok I know it made sense for him to come back but he’s even more annoying than he was in the first one.

I think that Paranormal Activity 2 is better than people give it credit for. Yes it rehashes a lot of things from the first film but I think it does them better in this film. The film is well directed and despite all the characters displaying annoying tendencies at some point during the film, its still an enjoyable film.