By: Henry J. Fromage
The sister of Paranormal Activity’s protagonist/villain is haunted by a similar ancient demon. What does it want and how many will it kill to get it?
A Toast
The Paranormal Activity series does what’s more important for horror films… make you jump.
Kind of like this. Wtf, Google image search!
It also does a better job than most of making the day just as unsettling as the night. When you remove the safety zone of daylight convincingly the tension goes to 11. Likewise, PA2 uses two very original devices to communicate horror and build the pressure. They recognize and react to what’s going on like the rest of the characters, but they can’t vocalize it… which puts you in some shoes you don’t want to be in.
I also love how these films are set in suburban McMansionland. A small part of you roots against their slightly plump, scotch-guarded survival. When the Dad starts referring to stenchiladas and the fires the maid, I started to wonder if what’s haunting them is “The Ghost of Machete.”
Guess what, crackers? Now he’s invisible.
P.S.: Richard Rodriguez- feel free to use this idea.
Beer Two
The sad thing about sequels, especially for gimmick-dependent horror films, is that it is very hard to show us something new and scare us all over again. Paranormal Activity 2 does this much better than most, but it still has to resort to some slamming doors and loud noises to stretch this one to feature length. Drink a beer during these parts and you’ll get along just fine.
Beer Three
This beer goes to the ending. I’m not going to go all Spoiler Alert on you, but the end really doesn’t measure up to the original (either ending). The first one ends on a genuinely creepy note that employs the best method possible to get a movie to stick in your subconscious… uncertainty. Your mind can then create and extrapolate more fear, allowing you to take that horror film experience home with you.
Yay!
This one follows an excellent (and nice and uncertain) climax with twenty minutes of plot wrap-up that do the opposite of what should have been done… showing the monster and thereby erasing all of the fear we had. This accomplishes what should have been impossible, making a bloody rampage boring. Drink a beer to that.
Yeah murder, demons, whatever…
Verdict
Watch it. You watch scary movies because they make you jump, and this movie certainly accomplishes that.
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