If 2007's Paranormal Activity blurred the line between primal and amateurish, its sequel erases that boundary entirely; unlike the first film, this follow-up doesn't blow half an hour establishing its artlessness. So the impression is less of calculated ineptitude than of seasoned professionals (director Tod Williams made The Door in the Floor) playing dumb, as a checklist of household items---frying pans, endlessly shutting doors, a pool cleaner with a mind of its own---test viewers' reflexes. While security-tape footage provocatively refuses to direct your eye, the explicit backstory---something wants the newborn nephew of one of the original's victims---is less scary than a toaster.
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