PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2.

I went into this movie nearly blind. I've seen (and own) the first film--which I declare is more creepy than scary. I didn't know anything about this one except that there was a baby and a dog. All I'd seen was the initial teaser trailer when it first came out. So I didn't know any of the story or anything. So let me spill that for you here. The movie is essentially a prequel to the first film. It starts roughly a month before the events of the first one and is about Katie's sister (Katie being the main chick from the original). Her sister, Kristi, has just had a baby named Hunter. She also has a step-daughter named Ali, who belongs to her husband, Dan. And, yes, they have a dog. Well, after what appears to be a break-in, the family puts up security cameras around the house. When further freaky stuff starts happening, Kristi jumps to the conclusion of ghosts, which both Ali and their nanny, Martine, believe, as well. But Dan (of course) thinks it's all nonsense. The movie is shown to us as a mixture of security footage and hand-held camera footage, usually recorded by the daughter, Ali.

All the characters get a good amount of screen time (except Martine), but I'd say we spend a great deal of time with Ali, especially in the latter half of the movie. The biggest different between this film and the first is that, in this one, the characters are actually likable. Yes, Katie and Micah make appearances (Katie moreso than Micah), and they stay pretty true to character. And although Dan essentially serves the same purpose as Micah (the joking, disbelieving male), and Kristi serves the same purpose as Katie (the freaked-out wife), they're both more enjoyable to watch. Dan is endearing, and Kristi doesn't go around being all whiny and bizarre. Though, again, it's Ali that really carries the movie.

But you really want to hear about the scares. You can forgive unlikable characters if the movie is scary enough, right? Well, let's put it this way: the first film relied on the "Day/Night" alternation. Every time we went to Night, we knew something even more hardcore than the previous Night was going to happen. And it starts pretty early. That's not the case here. Yes, we still have the Day/Night alternation, but where this one throws you off is where stuff happens in the daytime. That's right, in this one, you don't know when something is gonna happen. In the first, you were only uneasy during the night. In this one, you're uneasy all the time, never exactly sure when something will happen.

But the scare department is also where the film falters. I can easily split this movie into thirds. The first 30 minutes is dull. Almost nothing happens. The "scares" are so subtle, you don't even have to blink to miss them. In fact, I didn't realize until about the third time it happened that the pool vacuum cleaner thing was finding its way out of the pool by morning. By the end of "Night 1," I didn't think anything had even happened. We just saw some night shots around the house. And it felt very similarly for the next few nights. Hell, we had gotten almost a week in, and I was still waiting for something to happen. Then you have the middle 30 minutes. More stuff happens, but it's nothing spectacular. Think of the first few nights from the first movie. It's stuff falling down, loud noises, and other things like that. A couple jump scares, but nothing really creepy (in fact, the biggest creepy moment in this middle section is almost laughably silly--when the baby is moved).

However, there is a turn. The last 30 minutes of this movie--starting with the "cabinet" scene and up through the ending--are freakier/scarier than the entire first movie. Holy crap, it had me on edge. You never knew when something would happen, where it would happen, or who it would happen to. I ridiculed the "standing and staring" moments from the first film as stupid. However, when a certain character is just sitting there, staring into nothingness, it freaked me the hell out. I guess it's all in context. So while the first movie is a gradual "scare," this one is more of a slow burn. You get to know all the characters and get a few small moments... and then in the last 30 minutes, all Hell breaks loose. I swear, at the end of the movie, I've never felt so uncomfortable/nervous during a black screen.

There's really nothing else to say. It has some good comedy, usually from Dan. The characters are good and likable. The hand-held cam wasn't really a problem, and they really utilized it at times, playing with your expectations. Sometimes they'd pay it off, and the camera would turn and something would be there. Sometimes they wouldn't, and it's a bunch of built tension that will just linger uncomfortably until something does happen. The first hour is kinda boring, but that final 30 minutes totally makes it all worth it. I think it succeeds more than the first; however, it relies on the fact that you've seen the first one to get a lot of the connections. Overall, the last third totally saved it, and I do recommend it if you enjoyed the first on some level.


A Keanu 'Whoa'