Paranormal Activity 2

A prequel (and effectively a sequel) to the successful low-budget film of 2009, Paranormal Activity 2 takes us into the footsteps of the Kristi Rey, husband Dan, Step-daughter Ali, newborn son Hunter and the family dog Abby.

Whilst the film takes place before the events of the first film, the scenes are largely similar though take place all around the house, and are not limited to the bedroom as in the first film. Whilst this certainly allows more creative licence in how the scares are generated, it perhaps makes it too easy to use jump scares. Whilst this is a director's ideal route, by focussing on mostly pitch-black scenes to create the scares, the first film comes across as more original and more deserving of its plaudits.

As the films progresses, the 'paranormal activity' increases both in frequency and levels of hostility, from the pool cleaner moving by itself to Kristi being launched across the house. It certainly ups the entertainment value but one can't help but feel the over the top nature of these events drags the film into becoming a farce instead of gradually taking things to the next level in more subtle fashion.

Both leads from the first also make an appearance, something of a strange occurrence for the audience who somehow clearly missed the disclaimer stating that the sequel was 'filmed' two months before Michah's death from the first film. Bizarrely, audience members were unable to digest this information.

Their involvement seems to be simply to provide a sense of familiarity to the piece, and reassurance for the Reys, who are slowly being tormented and seeking any help they can get to rid the house of its anomalies.

Taking the film to the next level, the latter stages are reminiscent of [REC] and its sequel in the manner of providing nightvision handycam footage in a claustrophobic basement, the location chosen as the hotbed of the house's paranormal activity. An action-packed finale sees a familiar face return and introduces another element of the horror genre, though personally I felt it was a rather unncessary jaunt into the realms of the absolutely farcical and another case of directors not being satisfied with a soft ending.

Whilst the sequel (or prequel) provides enough scares to keep everyone happy, and it certainly does most things right, it often feels like it's trying to hard to emulate the first film. Whilst this isn't necessarily a bad thing, the manner of the finale sadly destroys what could have been a wonderfully enigmatic finish to a well-executed follow-up.

7/10