Paramount’s swiftly-generated sequel to their memorable no-budget lo-fi sleeper hit of 2009 shares a one-year turnaround with another found-footage follow-up, Joe Berlinger’s much-maligned BOOK OF SHADOWS : BLAIR WITCH 2. The similarities end there, as this sequel is entirely faithful to its predecessor, reproducing its portentous mood and key jolts while maintaining continuity as fastidiously as the SAW franchise. (PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 mostly takes place in the weeks leading up to the first film’s events, serving as a feature length prologue to that film, albeit one with a post-script confirming what happened following the 2009 film’s conclusion).
It’s an effective enough sequel, successfully finding chills and loud shocks in small details or relatively mundane set-ups (bemusing scratches on a cupboard door, kitchen drawers suddenly opening by themselves) while relying a lot on extended shots of very large rooms where something may or may not be about to happen. Kudos to this franchise (a $40 million opening weekend suggests there will be further entries) for favoring the muted, slow-burn approach to horror in an era of in-your-face, instant-gratification genre filmmaking. Some of the creepiest moments (a baby’s dream catcher moving by itself, a shadow creeping up on a character as she naps on the sofa) are the stuff of old-school, less-is-more haunted house horror movies and work very well in this context.
There’s certainly a vivid sense of foreboding to be found within the lengthy build-up to the more overt (though non-gory and brief) bursts of action. Prior to Micah’s death and Katie’s disappearance, her sister and her extended family (including perky teenage daughter and infant) find their expensive-looking, pool-accompanied home (and 50 inch flat-screen) wracked by strange goings on. An apparent “break-in”, during which the house is thoroughly trashed, inspires Dad to install half a dozen security cameras in strategic parts of the house. The rather silly, almost obligatory Ethnic Housekeeper (yep she knows all about demons and spirits) suspects supernatural foul-play and, as in the first movie, the fixed, sometimes fast-forwarded vantage point picks up a steady escalation of spooky incidents while a sinister throb on the soundtrack represents the presence of the unseen demon. Something in the sisters’ childhood has evidently followed them into adulthood, and a reasonably hair-raising possession climax leads to a decision resulting in Katie’s fate in the earlier movie.
Inevitably, just as if Joe Berlinger had made a second BLAIR WITCH movie that duplicated the format of the original, familiarity with this kind of stuff can seriously dilute the overall impact. At its worst, this movie feels like a retread, and the contrivance of having to sustain the action via a character’s inexplicable video camera documentation of unfolding events (even filming herself doing the inevitable laptop demon research!) creaks the loudest. The first film, though it followed a decade’s worth of faux-vertex horror pictures, still felt fresh and surprising, while this one plays more like a companion piece than its own movie.
Nonetheless, while its not a patch on the movie it studiously adheres to, this straight-forward Bad House movie for the CLOVERFIELD generation is still proficient at unhinging an expectant audience looking closely at lengthy single-take long shots in search of, er, paranormal activity. The sense of déjà vu is overcome with sufficient frequency by genuinely frightening moments, most notably the teen daughter’s babysitting experience.
– Steven West
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
