Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)

This is going to come off as a shock to a lot of people, most of all me-this movie is not terrible. Actually, it’s pretty scary and well-made. If you’ve read enough of my reviews, you’ll know that I am not the biggest fan of the 2009 sleeper hit no-budget horror film Paranormal Activity. Actually, I stand it to be one of the single worst movies I have ever seen. And why is that? Because nothing happens in that entire movie. I have famously recapped the entire movie to my friends like this-“Annoying hipster couple. Boring daily life. Door moves. Expletives. Girl stands. Expletives. Other creepy stuff over the course of an hour with extremely long pauses in between. Expletives. And actual good final few minutes. WAIT, IT’S ACTUALLY PRETTY-and it’s over.” That, my friends and readers, is Paranormal Activity. And now let me sum up Paranormal Activity 2. “Actually interesting characters. Actual things happening. Surprisingly good movie. Knock-out ending.” Boom. I just blew your mind. This movie is better than its predecessor for multiple reasons. The first reason is the characters. In the first movie, the main characters Katie and Micah (who both appear in this movie), were extremely unlikable. I was rooting for the demon by the end. But here, things are different. For starters, these two are both in the movie less. They are supporting characters, and not the mains. And for the character of Katie, who apparently is the unofficial main character of this franchise, I liked her here. I thought that her character was much better here. The actress, Katie Featherson (the character was named after the actor), must have taken some acting lessons or something. Because she was really good here. I actually begun to like her character in the original more. And for Micah-well-the only good part was that he was in the movie less. He still majorly annoyed me. But there are a lot more characters here. Still, over the course of the film, there are about six or seven speaking roles (and a dog and a baby). And with the movie divided among them, the film works. The film works very well. The movie revolves around the family of Katie, mainly consisting of her sister, her new husband, the husband’s teenage daughter, the couple’s new baby, and their maid. And also Katie and Micah. Crazy things begin to happen around the house. The house gets trashed about 15 minutes in. And at that moment, I knew that this movie was going to be better than the first. Because something actually happens. And also, the movie isn’t only filmed from the perspective of the hand-help camera. Also, there are security cameras set up around the house, which work extremely well to the film’s advantage, especially in the climax of the film (actually, the camera was the inspiration for Micah to get a camera, which records the original film. The movie mainly takes place before the events of the first film, but has a small portion of the film at the end taking place right after the events of the original). This movie works. It scared me. It surprised me. It had me looking over my shoulder. And for Paranormal Activity 3, which comes out in theaters next month, I will actually do my best to go see it in theaters this time. I haven’t been this terrified by a horror film since Insidious or maybe The Last Exorcism. But, in all seriousness, the fan above my head is probably possessed. Someone call Bill Murray.
8.5/10