By Malice Intended

Daniel (Brian Boland) and Kristi Rey (Sprague Grayden) are ecstatic over the birth of their son Hunter. As they welcome him into their spacious split level home, an uninvited guest begins to make its presence known. Though this guest cannot be seen with the naked eye, it does more than enough to send the Reys into a state of panic. Daniel disregards the whole thing a series of unrelated coincidences, while Kristi recognizes the malevolent visitor as a relic of her childhood.

Paranormal Activity 2 is the sequel to the very effective Paranormal Activity. It follows the same premise as the first one, and is executed in exactly the same manner. This time Oren Peli hands over the directing and writing reigns to other parties, and the budget has been upped considerably. None of these changes are obvious, and matter little as the results are nearly identical.

The premise is left relatively untouched. Everything is presented in documentary fashion as though it were “found footage”, or in this case evidence of the Paranormal Activity described by the title. This time everything is captured via a home surveillance system that Dan installs after the home is burglarized (or so it appears). HD home video footage is used just as in the first film, though to a far lesser extent. The montages involving the surveillance footage have a channel surfing effect. They also serve to disorient the audience a bit. The demon has a much wider playground this time out, and it’s hard to tell exactly where it will strike.

Special effects are practically nonexistent. There are no explicit acts of violence. Like the first film, Paranormal Activity 2 refuses the audience any “money shots”. The demon is never seen in its true form. Its presence is suggested by low fidelity rumbling on the soundtrack as well as doors and other inanimate objects that appear to move on their own and these techniques produce results. The filmmakers don’t have to do much to put the audience on edge and they know it. Some sequences revolve around fairly disquieting ideas and maintain tension for impressive stretches of time.

One flaw that has unfortunately been carried over from the first Paranormal Activity is the extremely tedious and drawn out first act. Some of the scenes that stitch the visual gags together also become an endurance test. This will really try the patience of less forgiving audience members, and even those who are willing to roll with the punches might be tempted to deduct points from the films overall score.

The actors are given the rather thankless task of guinea pigs for a film that is essentially an extended parlor trick. They won’t win any awards, but their reactions to the situation seem genuine. They generate sympathy if only because we all wonder how we would react when faced with the unknown. The stars of the first film, Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat, make numerous appearances throughout the film and are even worked into the plot.

Paranormal Activity 2 is the perfect film for the Halloween season. It is a series of jump scares clinging to a clothing line of sustained tension. In years to come these movies will be remembered more for their premise and novelty than as truly great films. That does not detract from their effectiveness. They are the natural reaction to years of torture porn and slasher revamps. Those with an aversion to blood and gore should count themselves lucky, so long as they don’t have a problem being made to jump out of their seats every few minutes.

3.5 out of 5

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