I came prepared this time. Seated next to me on my right were four friends. On my left, there was a pretty woman who looked as frightened as I was about this film.
“Are you scared,” she asked with a shaky voice. “No,” I lied, hoping my fabricated confidence would get me her number. Besides, by the opening of the movie, the sad truth came out.
“Paranormal Activity 2” isn’t really scary. For those who have seen the first one, they know what to expect. For first-timers, the sheer hype of the movie has them scared when purchasing the ticket.
A pot fell in the movie. How scary. The pot fell again. Um, yikes. All the drawers pop open. Get me out of here. The baby’s mobile moved by itself. Shocking.
Paranormal Activity’s formula for scary is seeing the unseen do things, loud noises and the realistic camera effect. That is a great idea, but what about thick plot or giving the audience a more terrifying idea of what’s going on? Even if you have seen the first one, the sequel’s plot still has more holes than swiss cheese.
Here’s the premise: A couple, Kristi and Dan, welcome a newborn son Hunter into their family. Hunter has a teenage sister named Ali and there’s also the family dog named Abby. Strange things happen in the house and while everyone except Dan witnesses it first hand, he makes silly excuses for the activity like “It was the wind,” or “You’re crazy.” Even when seeing the acts on tape, he’s still skeptical. He pays for his mistakes later on.
It’s been said that this movie is more terrifying than the first one, but as far as I’m concerned, what happened in the first one, happened in the second one. It seems as though there were missed opportunities to make it scarier, but the producers were too lazy to do so.