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Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)

Director: Tod Williams

Time Out rating

Average user rating

19 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Serving as both a prequel and a sequel, this cost 200 times more than Oren Peli's $15,000 original, features six extra surveillance cameras and four more characters (if you count the dog) – but it’s only one tenth as scary.

For almost an hour, virtually nothing happens apart from the rattling of a few pots and pans in the kitchen – a more appropriate title would have been ‘Paranormal Inactivity Too’. This is a disappointing horror sequel on a par with the chronically inept ‘Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2’, featuring bland characters, over-familiar situations, tedious expository back-story and not a shred of imagination.

The alleged ‘found’ footage is prefaced by a title reading, ‘60 hours before the death of Micah Sloat’ – Sloat being the male character whose shocking demise marked the climax of the first film. After their comfortable suburban home is trashed, Christy persuades her husband to install CCTV cameras in the house and garden, to assure the safety of her teenage daughter (from a previous marriage) and their infant son, Hunter. These cameras then show us copious evidence of demonic (in)activity, capturing the mysterious opening of doors, the aimless nocturnal meanderings of the robotic swimming pool cleaner, and the mildly spooked behaviour of Hunter and the family dog. The sceptical father and the naïve teenage daughter, who is initially excited by the prospect of a haunting, are both later horrified by noises in the night, video-taped evidence of telekinetic activity and Christy’s increasingly wigged-out behaviour.

Only the cameo by Katie Featherstone, reprising her role from the first film and identified here as Christy’s sister, saves the film from complete disaster. The less said about Martine, the stereotyped superstitious Mexican maid, the better: her sole function is to provide patronising comic relief by wafting incense about the house, while rambling incoherently in Spanish about good and bad spirits. Eventually resorting to ‘Blair Witch’-style shaky-cam and ‘night vision’ images, director Tod Williams (‘The Door in the Floor’) fails to generate even a smidgen of terror, despite larding on the manipulative, over-amplified sound effects.

Author: Nigel Floyd

Time Out London Issue 2096: October 21 – 27m 2010

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User reviews of this film

hannah said...

Posted on Nov 20 2010 18:16 this film was no where near as scary as the first one but it was more impressive its worth the watch but only if your not expecting a scare go and see saw 3d if you want some blood- what film has ever been scary in the past coz no film has ever scared me (exept for paranormal activity 1 but only because i got told it was real and gullible me believed it was)

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cokooko said...

Posted on Nov 20 2010 14:02 eurgh boring much?!:L

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ladyhazel said...

Posted on Nov 14 2010 15:13 Good movie totally worth the money tho l actually never paid for my ticket... :) but regardless people saying its not scary plz try watching it alone with the lights off or on even.. then wirte ur comments again to what u think... no hard feelings, everyones entitled to give their own oppinion... and yeh l liked it very much!!!! Way better then the first as the first one was abit too boring.

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ladyhazel said...

Posted on Nov 14 2010 15:13 Good movie totally worth the money tho l actually never paid for my ticket... :) but regardless people saying its not scary plz try watching it alone with the lights off or on even.. then wirte ur comments again to what u think... no hard feelings, everyones entitled to give their own oppinion... and yeh l liked it very much!!!! Way better then the first as the first one was abit too boring.

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matthew smailes said...

Posted on Nov 09 2010 00:12 the film was good i think, jumpy at times, funny where baby gets dragged up side of cot i think haha

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Thomas Noctor said...

Posted on Nov 08 2010 16:34 Excellent film, great sequel, as good as the first was, this was way better, ignore the haters, they probably want to watch Transformers! Horror fans get to the cinema!

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roger rabbit said...

Posted on Nov 06 2010 18:40 YYYAWN Get a job in asda looking at cctv ..its more thrilling ....What drugs do you buy before viewing this visual shit cause they were not selling at my cinema . Honestly to charge money for this trash is daylight robbery a waste of ones life viewing it.

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Ben said...

Posted on Nov 05 2010 18:52 this film was miles better than the first one it was totally brilliant had me jumping loads totally worht watching.

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Sutton said...

Posted on Nov 02 2010 13:26 I really enjoyed this. The first film was good and this fitted in with the previous instalment nicely. The suspense was gripping at times and a number of people jumped. On the lines of other reviewer’s comments, avoid afternoon showings where there are teenagers…seems manners are no longer taught to the youth.

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scrumpyjack said...

Posted on Oct 29 2010 18:54 My brother wanted to see it, so I watched it again....and am of the same opinion of my last post. HOWEVER....a group of 4 teenagers found it necessary to converse at length after EVERY time they jumped. I sit in the front row but could hear every single word they said. Im not bothered about "oh...f***!" type comments...then silence, but Im talking discussions, to the extent that any tension build up to the next "jump" was ruined for everyone (?) but them. selfish behaviour spawned by 15/16 years watching scary movies at home. 20 years ago, when I worked at a cinema, it was a requirement that there was one floor staff per screen...guess that's history.

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critique said...

Posted on Oct 29 2010 11:33 Solid sequel, more of the same really, and not nearly as disappointing as the Time Out reviewer suggests. Similar to Keith Floyd (below), my enjoyment was hindered by a group of morons who must have been under the impression they were watching the movie in their own home.

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Richard said...

Posted on Oct 26 2010 21:38 Personally thought it was excellent, very similar to the original.

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scrumpyjack said...

Posted on Oct 26 2010 19:27 Entertaining with a few decent jumps....but daft behaviour in the presence of obvious evil is, as almost ever, ready to spoil things. Oh well. 6/10

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Dimitri said...

Posted on Oct 26 2010 13:38 I absolutley loved this film it was better than the first one and the way the mixed the first and second one in together was just brilliant whoever loves these types of films should go and watch it 5 stars!!!!!!!!!

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Matthew McKinnon said...

Posted on Oct 25 2010 11:59 @ Rooney Shortman:
"The Descent" was a descent horror film, wasn't it?

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