It was clear as
day that Paramount would orchestrate a sequel to the 2009 surprise
hit "Paranormal Activity". Hell, even "The
Blair Witch Project" had a
sequel. A really bad one, but a sequel, nonetheless. "Paranormal
Activity 2" is not like
that one, though. It doesn't attempt to change the rules of the game.
That would have been a recipe for disaster. The camcorder
first-person experience is back and upgraded. It's just too bad that
they couldn't devise a more interesting story.
The target of the supernatural pranks is the Rey family. Already you
can notice an upgrade to the original. We go from two people to a
family of four : mother, father, teenage daughter and new-born
infant. An apparent burglary at their house prompts them to install a
camera system throughout the house. Notice, the second upgrade. Now,
we not only get images from a camcorder, belonging to the teenager,
but also from the cameras spread inside, in a number of rooms, and
outside the house, pointing directly at their swimming pool. No
outside front door camera, though. That might have proved useful. Now
here's the kicker. The mother, Kristi (Sprague Grayden) is actually
Katie's sister. The Katie from the first movie, who was haunted and
harassed by, it seems, the same demon. She makes some appearances in
this movie too, as well as her boyfriend, Micah, who Katie will end
up killing, as we already know from the original. Oh yeah, I forgot
to tell you, this is a prequel. Everything that happens in this movie
leads into the first one.
I truly believe the idea of a sequel or prequel to a camcorder movie
takes a lot away from the realism. Why ? Because, you're too aware
that it's a sequel/prequel. So much so, that you end up trying to
spot references, thinking back to events in the first movie and
pointing out moments that are simply executed the same way they were
in the original. It takes away from the fun. So, if you've seen the
first movie, I can, in good conscience, encourage you to skip this
one. The reason why it fails is simple. It fails, because it tries to
sell audiences the same formula, only slightly altered. Slightly
altered as in it's a little different, but in essence it's the
same. It just won't do. Oh, and sometimes they do cheat by
withholding certain camera angles for the sake of generating
suspense, when in fact it would seem natural to give us all the
images relevant to what's happening. I mean, this is supposed to be a
mockumentary, not a horror movie. The action feels less real, and
more choreographed than the first movie. It's just another example
of little things that take away from what made the original so
freakin' scary and effective.
They've
announced another sequel. Soon we will be blessed with "Paranormal
Activity 3". The creative
level of the series is fastly approaching the deep dark bottom of the
abyss. While the original beat out a "Saw"
movie at the box-office, I'm sure this franchise will meet a similar
fate at the hands of some other up-and-coming horror franchise.
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