Last year, the original "Paranormal Activity" was the little movie that could. Made for an extremely low budget and utilizing a mostly word-of-mouth marketing campaign, the first movie was a huge success. And deservedly so, as the first proved to be a very entertaining movie and one of my favorites from last year.
The sequel arrives almost a year to the date from the first and it has a lot to live up to. And that it does, serving up a film that acts as both prequel and sequel all in one. My review will reveal some plot elements in the synopsis, so if you want to go into this cold, I'd advise skipping the next paragraph.
As the movie begins, we're introduced to Christina and her family. Christina is coming home from the hospital with her brand new baby son, Hunter. Soon, the family experiences a weird break-in and as a result, they install a series of surveillance cameras to keep a record of what's happening. As this unfolds, we learn that Christina is the sister of Katie from the first movie, and soon both Katie and her boyfriend Micah both show up to visit the family, and we learn that these events take place 60 days prior to the climatic events of the original film. Weird things continue to happen which leads Christina to believe that this has something to do with the weirdness that she and Katie used to experience when they were little girls.
OK, so that's it, no more about the story, if you want to find out more than seek it out on the internet or better yet go see it yourself. I was not expecting this close a tie-in to the first movie and I have to say, I was very pleasantly surprised by it.
Like the previous film, this is made of "found footage," which of course has become it's own sub-genre in this type of thriller. Where this ups the ante from the first this time around is in it's use of six stationary cameras and only using one handheld. I also tend to think it's there to strike back against the critics that will complain about the camera jumping around too much. Although I'm also inclined to believe that this won't satisfy the critics any more. Really, if you're not a fan of this type of sub-genre thriller, I implore you... stay home, don't go see it and spare yourself the "pain."
The slow build up and lack of big scares early up may also fuel some criticism, but it's necessary to both build the false sense of security and to get you involved with the characters. It does this extremely well.
I love the usage of the six surveillance cameras. Though the action depicted on them might just be happening on one part of the screen, the use makes you examine the whole screen and makes the startling moments all the better. Director Tod Williams uses these cameras tremendously well and the pure storytelling is right on target. As are all of the performances (again, I don't want to say too much at the risk of revealing too much).
"Paranormal Activity 2" leaves things wide open for another sequel and if it follows the same path as this movie and is a continuation, then I say bring it on. The excellent "Saw" series is coming to an end as of next week (review to come) and so another Halloween-timed horror series would certainly be welcomed by those of us who are fans of the genre. In the meantime, if you're a fan of the first "Paranormal Activity" then by all means, go see the second. It's a terrific night at the movies.
source:http://www.the-trades.com/article.php?id=12209
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