Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)
First off, welcome to new viewers from Canada and the UK. Things are really popping off.
On to this movie. I saw the first Paranormal Activity and it was pretty meh. Acting was crappy but I will say that it was very fun to watch in a movie theater. I sat next to this latina lady who spent the whole movie on her boyfriends lap and kept yelling “Aye Papi” at every scary moment. That wasn't what made the movie fun though. It was the pop out scares for sure.
Unless you really liked the first one, there is no reason to watch Paranormal Activity 2. It's the same movie, just with a different side of the family. The acting blows, it's super slow in the beginning and super faced paced in the last 5 minutes.
Plot time. We begin by meeting the family. They have a baby and it's crying. I think it might be possessed! You learn that this family is related to the couple in the first one. The mom is Katie's sister. Set six weeks before Paranormal Activity, everyone is this prequel is at a party at the family's house back by the pool. They go back inside to find the place trashed and think they were robbed. I think they were ghostisized. Here comes my first problem with the plot of a movie about demons. If you think you just got robbed, would you install security cameras or an alarm system? They went with the cameras. To me the alarm would have been more preventative but what do I know, I've never owned a house.
Night 1: Cameras on. Show different areas of the house and they look dark and creepy. Then something happens. Ghost's kills everyone? No. Ghost writes all over the walls? No. Ghost beats up the daughter? No. Ghost turns off the pools lights? Yes. Boom. The next morning their latina maid says she feels bad spirits in the house. I'd listen to her. Later in the day the mom and the baby are in the kitchen and the high top chair gets ripped over. I jumped. Then the mom and dad get ready to do it in the bath tub. I'm not sure if it's more or less hygienic but I was glad that I didn't have to watch it.
Night 2: My producer alerts me that this movie is unrealistic because a baby that big wouldn't have a mobile for it is a well know strangulation hazard. Then said mobile moves on it's own. Does nothing in terms of scaring me.
Night 3: Nothing happens
Night 4: Everything that happens in night 3 happens again.
Night 5: At this point I am just waiting for the dog to hear something because I guess animals have that 6th sense. The maid is home alone babysitting this time. There is a really loud bang. The door in the baby's room that was once closed is now open. Maid tries saying some prayers or anti-curses. Dad walks in on her doing that and fires her. There is no need to have that crazy around the baby in his opinion. That was a stupid move and now I don't care about the dads safety. Have at him ghost/demon/phantom.
Night 8: The things that are moving on their own are getting hard to see. You have to be super attentive to notice that a door just cracked open because it's so dark. I guess that helps build up suspense but still, maybe we don't need some many nights with only a chandelier slightly swaying. Anyway, the baby is standing up in it's crib clearly looking at something. The baby's door opens on it's own but the mom doesn't care. While in his room there is a loud bang and I jump again. A bird crashed into the window and died.
Night 10: A pot falls from one of those hooks where people hang them over a kitchen island. I never got the who hanging pots thing. I guess I'm just more of a cabinet guy. They hang the pot back up and then it falls again. Cabinet would solve their problems, jus sayin.
Night 11: A stove turns on. Boo
Night 14: In the rest of the movie, things actually happen making it the SPOILER SECTION. The dog finally sees something. The parents go out on a date, leaving the daughter as babysitter. The dad honks at the mom to hurry up and my producer alerts me that women love to be honked at. Noted. First thing that happens is the boyfriend sneaks in. Horror movie handbook tells us that this isn't good. He also brought an Ouija board with him. Strike 2. Also why sneak into a house full of security camera's. You aren't going to be able to hide so just come in the front door. First time using the board the bf messes around and spells a naughty word. Second time the spirit takes over and spells out the baby's name. The daughter falls asleep and the TV changes to just white noise. A shadow moves over the girl and jolts her, which is pretty cool. The front door opens and she walks over to lock it. Then there is a huge bang on the door. She stupidly goes outside to check on the noise and the door slams shut behind her. I have been yelling at the movie things like “don't go out there” and “no” all movie.
Skip over to the camera in the baby's room and something is moving the baby. It then picks the baby up into the air and places him on the ground. The baby walks downstairs and then somehow gets picked back up into his crib. Girl has still been locked out for like 45 minutes. She gets back in at the same time that the parents get back and dad yells at her. Goes into this whole there is no ghost talk(which I will discuss later). The daughter says she is dreaming that someone is watching her. It's probably real.
Night 17: Daughter thinks she hears something downstairs and a toy car keeps moving by itself. The next day the mom is in the kitchen and with a loud bang all the cabinets open. I jump. The girl and her sister think that by ignoring everything that is happening, it will go away. I guess the same kinds of things happened to them when they were kids. The daughter does some research and thinks that the demon is there to claim their first born son after her great great grandma made a deal for wealth and then never paid the spirit. The baby in this family happens to be that first born.
Another Night: Basement door opens and the dog goes down to investigate it. Does some serious barking. All of a sudden it gets dragged and slammed and makes that awful hurt dog noise. The dog and the daughter are the only people that I don't want to be ghost bludgeoned that this point. Why hurt the innocent dog! Pots start clanging. At this point, if I was living in the house, I would just hand the demon that baby myself. The dad leaves with the daughter to take the dog to the vet. The mom is the only one left and she checks on the baby. A light goes off. Then she gets dragged all the way downstairs into the basement. Very awesome. She breaks free only to be dragged down there again. She is stuck down there for three hours and comes out looking even more possessed than usual.
The next day the daughter is home along and see scratches made all over the inside of the basement door. She also notices a bite mark on the moms thigh. In the first one, that signified the possession taking place. The dad is finally believing that the demon is real and comes up with the idea to transfer the demon from his wife to her sister. Talk about worse brother-in-law of all time. It's night time and the dad goes in for the mom and she lurches at him. I jump. All the lights in the house go off and everything is smashed. Dad goes after mom who is now in the basement. Things down there are very, very cluttered. We are now in full on night vision. We see the mom and she has demon teeth. He fights her off by using a cross. The demon is fully transferred and she has no memory of ever being possessed. You think everything is great but it's just a fake ending(see the movie #2 to refresh yourself on the fake ending). We see the dad laying on the couch and a blur move through the house. It's the sister moving super fast. She snaps the dads next. He's dead, not really a bummer. She works herself upstairs and kind of push/throws the mom to her death. She grabs the baby and then disappears. The movie now in text says that the daughter got home from a trip in a week to see the two of them dead. The sister and baby's whereabouts are unknown.
BACK TO REALITY
What to take away from this movie: On a conceptual level, I am really tired of the ghost or possession movie where some or all of the characters don't believe in something supernatural till the end. We are there to see a movie about ghosts and I know you want to develop the characters and give them more of a range but come on, we all already know they they will believe so why waste my time. Just like the boyfriend in the first, the dad didn't believe something was up until the very end and it's just frustrating. I want to make a ghost movie where the characters all believe from the beginning but it ends up just being a noisy furnace. That's a shamalalalan twist for you. Also why put in security camera's if you don't watch the tapes? If the dad just watched the same things we were seeing, some lives could have been saved.
Favorite Scene : The mom dragging. I dug it.
Favorite Lines : None at all
Rating : 4.5 heath bars. Although the movie wasn't too bad, the acting is bad and the characters aren't that great either. For three quarters of the movie, nothing happens. While that isn't always a bad thing (some movies like House of the Devil make that work by building suspense and making it look nice) in the end you are just watching security camera's and home movies from a family that's not your own. Who wants to do that? So what if a light flickers and the family doesn't see it. I'm bored. I will say that like the first one, watching this movie with a few people helps.
Alternate Ending : seems obvious enough to me. Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters! They might have to cross the streams on this one but they'll get the job done.
What I would do if I was the main character : I doing this as if I was the dad. First it's my house and I want to look tough. I challenge the demon to a honor dual. Just kidding. I really take no chances and immediately call a young priest and an old priest. Hope that they take care of business.
What happens in the sequel : I just watched it and will be posting in the very near future.
More like Lack of Activity, amiright?
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