Kim Takes On: PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2

Paranormal Activity disappointed me. Here it was, this widely talked about horror movie; there was so much hype over the low budget film that when I decided to partake in apparent "phenomenon" I was completely disappointed and bored as hell watching it.

When the sequel was announced I wasn't surprised considering how much money the film grossed it would've been unheard of if they didn't follow through with a sequel. What did surprise me was the fact that the sequel actually did what the first film failed to do which was entertain me. One thing I can say about both Paranormal films is that they are edited really well. Also, I know none of this is real but it still impressive how real the effects do look.

The film is centered around Kristi, the sister of Paranormal Activity's protagonist Katie. Many have described this film as being more of a prequel but in all honesty everything with Kristi takes place around the same time as the first film. Of course the weird things are happening but this one gives a little more back story for the events of the first film and even a twist about the whole scenario and it does it properly without taking away from the scares or the film overall. It all starts when the family thinks they were burglarized and they purchase a surveillance system. This is where we see a lot of the weird happenings through out the house also they are constantly filming on their video camera due to the adorable toddler they have.

The film is good about helping you keep track of the time line of the film. They throw in little headers here and there so you can make comparisons to the first film. An example is when there's a video clip of Micah and Katie visiting the family, text appears saying something like "This is taking place 60 days before Micah's death."

Now I'm sure many of you are asking, "Was it scary?" I think it varies on the person because for me, since I know all of this is fake, I couldn't get into it like the others covering their eyes or sitting in the chairs hugging their legs. I will admit the effects are pretty cool and they do set up the scares properly (yes, I admit I jumped at a couple of scenes). Overall what won this film over for me was the fact that I wasn't waiting for most of the movie for anything crazy to happen. That's what bothered me about the first film, it was a waiting game. The first 10-15 minutes was obvious filler but after that there are things happening left and right, but most of the things they did in the movie were basically repeats from the original film (i.e., doors slamming, people getting dragged, loud foot steps, etc.) but they were properly executed to where they weren't coming off as overplay. I think the fact that they added a baby into the scenario upped the intensity for some people. There was a cool scene of the baby being lifted up from the crib and even I was nervous for a few worried the baby was going to get hurt because fictional or not I don't like seeing kids in scenarios where they could get hurt.

I can say that this film wasn't bad. This film seemed to up it's pace from the original and I actually was entertained with the sequel more than the first.