Posts tagged Activity

Scary movies are supposed to scare you, make you think, or even make you want to close your eyes in disgust. “Paranormal Activity 2″ did none of those.

Did it raise my heart rate a little bit with some potentially freaky parts? Yes. Did any of those parts ever actually freak me out? No.

Now I didn’t expect much from this movie because, well, it is a sequel. With every hit movie (“Paranormal Activity”) comes a sequel that is of equal or (and more likely) lesser value.

…Now I am about to go off on a tangent here, so anyone not interested in a rant and more interested in a movie review, skip to paragraph 10…

Anywhere from “Halloween 2″ to “Porkys II: The Next Day”, Hollywood is littered with horrific sequels to help a production company make a couple million more off of semi-successful first movie.

Some directors (read: George Lucas) decide to make terrible 3 episode prequels to an extremely successful trilogy. Whether it be bad acting or just bad storytelling, sequels are rarely as good as the original.

The few exceptions come from the comic book movie realm in the form of Batman. The original Batman, with Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne, was a very good movie.

The first sequel “Batman Returns” was another great movie. However, I do acknowledge how terrible the next two Batman movies got with Joel Schumacher as the director (let’s be honest, The Governator is not the best Mr. Freeze). Now the Batman franchise did offer another surprise this past decade with “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight.” Now, back to the review.

“Paranormal Activity 2″ was sort of a let down when compared to its “prequel” “Paranormal Activity.” It lacked the clever camera angles that were so prevalent in Paranormal Activity.

Part of the problem was the fact that the footage that was used for the film came mainly from stationary security cameras. It also was very predictable.

Whether it be the stereotypical nanny sensing the bad demon or the father “not believing in ghosts”, this movie fell short on so many levels.

The plot revolves around a family who just had a newborn child named Hunter.

They experience a mysterious break in one summer night and decide to install some security cameras. We find out that Katie, our killer from Paranormal 1, is linked with our new family.

If you have seen the first movie then you won’t see any new “paranormal activities” in this sequel.

The doors slam shut, along with a very comedic baby and demon routine that provided some unexpected laughs.

Other than that, this is your typical over-priced sequel (“Paranormal Activity 2″ cost $3 million to make, rather than $15,000 for “Paranormal Activity”) that rides off the fumes of the franchises original hit. All in all, I give “Paranormal Activity 2″ a 1 out of 5.

Released three years after its 2007 precursor (written and directed by Oren Peli) “Paranormal Activity,” this equally low-budget, low-fi demonic horror film with underdeveloped characterization shows little maturity or any sign of significant improvement in terms of substance. Bottom line, its nothing worth losing sleep over, but if you’re in the Halloween spirit this weekend and have nothing to do then why not?

Alarmed after their lofty suburban home suffers from a string of what seem to be mysterious ransackings, in which nothing is taken except for a single necklace with sentimental value, Kristi (the sister of Katie from the first movie) and her husband Dan have security cameras installed inside and out in an attempt to figure out what exactly is happening.

Which, without giving anything away, is 60 days before the death of Micah (the guy who was thrown like a rag doll at the end of the first one).

This detail proves to be more beneficial and targeted upon the films budget and theme rather than being imperative to plot or characterization. Very little of the captured footage is actually reviewed or taken into consideration or brought up.

There are about two scenes where it is reviewed and integrally worked into the storyline but Dan’s teenage daughter, who had little to do with the installation, does it. In fact, little is learned or heeded from the footage, making for a bunch of flat characters that fall victim to demonic presence.

What did Director Tod Williams (hired by Paramount and Dreamworks) and writer Michael Perry have in mind then besides attempting to bank off of the precursor? The home security camera footage along with home video (taken by the family), though more stable and accessible in terms of angles this time around just got annoyingly convenient. How much room does this aesthetic distance give you to totally ignore other important elements of craft?

If it were a movie written, directed and produced by a bunch of college students then probably quite a bit. But it’s not. This is a covertly branded Hollywood blockbuster. There’s ploy and planning going on behind the scenes and it’s transparent throughout.

Haunted frying pans, haunted pool cleaners and haunted baby monitors, come on.

To be fair, there are a number of “jump” scenes that will in fact make you jump in your seat. The back and forth ploy of no sound then an earful of boom could scare anyone. Though, Williams and Perry could have just hired theaters to shoot off live ammunition during screenings to do produce the same deafening effects.

To credit this film beyond providing stock situations that enable stock responses would be allotting it too much. If you like the horror genre for the sake of it being the horror genre then this is your movie.