Paranormal Activity 2

splashthecash

Hey, just saw this trailer this morning...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qt_002jXjs&feature=popt00ie14

I don't see the point to a sequel for this..the first did its job, gave a few scares left the ending open to interpretation. typical Hollywood, it'll suck the life out of this story.

chin_grin

http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/38309/paranormal-activity-2-whats-the-mirror-we-investigate

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh!

Thought the first was quite boring. Had some good scare moments, but was too runofthemill. I had to fast forward through the sh*tty 'this bit is meant to create tension' dialogue to get to the scary bits.

I'll hold out until I watch this one though. Maybe this time they got lead characters that I'd give a damn about!

Renn

I had to fast forward through the sh*tty 'this bit is meant to create tension' dialogue to get to the scary bits.

Um, that's weird Why would you fast forward through it? Can't really comment on the tension building etc it if you actually haven't bothered to watch it in full.

chin_grin

Renn wrote: »

Um, that's weird Why would you fast forward through it? Can't really comment on the tension building etc it if you actually haven't bothered to watch it in full.

Yeah, I agree it does sound a bit off. But it was getting to the point where it was tedious and predictable. I really didn't care for the main characters at all and all they were talking about it how continually freaked out she was getting and how blasé he was getting. Hence, fast forwarding.

- talking bit, building tension.
- night time bit, something happens
- more talking bit. Tension peaked. Main two characters are getting annoying.
- night time bit, something else happens.
- fast forward boring talking bits. Get to night bits.
- ends. "meh".

But saying that I will probably come back to it again......in light of this second one. For continuities' sake.

Renn

Nah I'm just saying that you can't really get the full experience if you start fast forwarding through bits. Not saying I particularly liked it but thought it was better than what the critics were saying (I have it in my head that the critics generally hated this, could be well off on that).

Galvasean

The Japanese horror industry called. They want their little girl back.

mikhail

Renn wrote: »

Nah I'm just saying that you can't really get the full experience if you start fast forwarding through bits. Not saying I particularly liked it but thought it was better than what the critics were saying (I have it in my head that the critics generally hated this, could be well off on that).

82% on Rottentomatoes. I suspect there are a lot of 3/5 reviews in there, but they didn't hate it. I'm under the impression that it divided audiences more than critics.

johnny_ultimate

I hate audience reaction clips in trailers... do people actually watch films like that?

Not too pushed about this as wasn't the biggest fan of the first. Some decent scares towards the end, but the 'handheld' camera horror genre is already getting a wee bit overdone. Plus, the bits when it wasn't nighttime where painful!

Renn

I loved how the first one caused Spielberg to be locked in his room while watching it. They should have left him there

Zero-Cool

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I hate audience reaction clips in trailers... do people actually watch films like that?

Not too pushed about this as wasn't the biggest fan of the first. Some decent scares towards the end, but the 'handheld' camera horror genre is already getting a wee bit overdone. Plus, the bits when it wasn't nighttime where painful!

Loved the 1st one. Great cinema experience (as usually its a nightmare with knacks). There wasn't girly silly screams but people were jumping and would leave out a shriek, was quiet funny. And with the night scenes, as soon as the clock starting slowing down, the whole place became ninja silent waiting for something to happen on screen. Looking forward to this.

Anyone tell me when the girl appears in the trailer, the baby is missing from the cot but are they in the mirror? I can see a shape but not sure if it's the kid.

PirateShampoo

sheehy83 wrote: »

Anyone tell me when the girl appears in the trailer, the baby is missing from the cot but are they in the mirror? I can see a shape but not sure if it's the kid.

Your correct, the baby is standing in the crib in the reflection in the mirrior, but clearly isnt there in the original (cant think of a word to explain it)

Zero-Cool

Ya, just finished reading the link from above (should have read it first )

That message about Hunter is just weird. I hope they just go batshiit with this and do pure mental disturbing stuff. They won't be able to get away with just footsteps and doors banging.

Although I have to admit, after seeing PA 1, I was fully sure (and still am) our gaff had a demon!

amacachi

Won't be seeing this, first one was the most unutterably boring experience of my life.

amacachi

amacachi wrote: »

Won't be seeing this, first one was the most unutterably boring experience of my life.

The hype surrounding the film did the film a disservice, I saw it in its original incarnation when it first came out and enjoyed it. Like Donnie Darko and countless others it suddenly became a phenomena and was touted as the most original and innovative film in decades only to turn out to be a rather average supernatural thriller which was highly derivative of The Last Broadcast and Blair Witch Project.

filmfan

Only watched the first one on DVD few nights ago, was dreading every time the video slowed down at night! To be honest we're still a little creeped out at night from it!

If a movie stays with you for a few days after I think it's effective, so have to give it marks for that, it did it's job well. However the second one doesn't look quite as good but I'll reserve judgement for now!

amacachi

Deleted User wrote: »

The hype surrounding the film did the film a disservice, I saw it in its original incarnation when it first came out and enjoyed it. Like Donnie Darko and countless others it suddenly became a phenomena and was touted as the most original and innovative film in decades only to turn out to be a rather average supernatural thriller which was highly derivative of The Last Broadcast and Blair Witch Project.

Nothing to do with the hype tbh, just the simple fact that nothing happened. If anything the hype is the only reason I watched it til the end.

Scuid Mhór

Trailer makes it look alright, but I doubt it'll be on par with the original. Gotta milk a franchise for all its worth though. Such is life in the movie business.

ultain

chin_grin wrote: »

Yeah, I agree it does sound a bit off. But it was getting to the point where it was tedious and predictable. I really didn't care for the main characters at all and all they were talking about it how continually freaked out she was getting and how blasé he was getting. Hence, fast forwarding.

- talking bit, building tension.
- night time bit, something happens
- more talking bit. Tension peaked. Main two characters are getting annoying.
- night time bit, something else happens.
- fast forward boring talking bits. Get to night bits.
- ends. "meh".

But saying that I will probably come back to it again......in light of this second one. For continuities' sake.

Have to admit I've fast-forwarding my way through quite a few films (shame on me) but some films do ask for it..regards paranormal activity 2..defo give it a view, but i see shades of the ring about it. What is it with film makers these days? can no one do a solid haunted house film without some ones head blowing up..'Drag me to hell' was one of the best to come out in awhile...'The haunting' (the original) and the 'entity' are two of the best

filmfan

Drag me to hell was good all right, funny how movies tend to get less scary in the sequels though

Mr Freeze

sheehy83 wrote: »

Although I have to admit, after seeing PA 1, I was fully sure (and still am) our gaff had a demon!

You are not alone!

Loughc

CKWPORT wrote: »

You are not alone!

Sure you're never alone when you live with a demon!

Phony Scott

I'm pretty optimistic about this after reading a review over at Bloody Disgusting. I thought the original was good creepy fun, but a novelty. It really depends on when and where you see it. Watching it during the daytime is ineffectual upon leaving the theatre, whereas seeing it at night time is an unnerving experience. I also think it's a bit of a waste of time watching this film outside of the Halloween season, but that's just me. As for the sequel, and if that review is anything to go by, more of the same suits me fine. Who is going to see it tonight at the Horrorthon?

Decuc500

I'll be seeing it tonight at the Horrorthon. It got a great review on Aint it Cool News as well from one of their more knowledgeable contributors.

00112984

Seeing it tonight at Horrorthon and looking forward to it. While I wasn't blown away by the first one, I liked it. It was really only a few weeks later that it freaked me out a bit. Little things like having to get up during the night to go to the bathroom I found myself hopping back into bed just a little livelier than usual.

shadowcomplex

Saw this tonight, it scared the ****e out of me

Cactus Colm

shadowcomplex wrote: »

Saw this tonight, it scared the ****e out of me

Me too, but I am a wimp when it comes to horror movies. Thought it was a bit better than the first one. Although most of the people I was with didn't agree.

It's very much the same as the first film though.

seamus

Same style and formula as the original movie, effectively. Still very well done, very cleverly and tightly linked into the first movie, there are no inconsistencies except

The girl playing Katie is very obviously about a stone heavier in this movie even though it's supposed to be immediately preceding the first one

.

Like the first one, there's no major plot here except a haunted house. Again, like the first one there are allusions to a background story arc, but they don't explore it in any detail. But this is the point of the movie's style, it's meant to present an everyday life, not some magical mystery tour.

If you enjoyed the first one, you'll enjoy this. Is it the same hackeyned frights used over again? I guess, but it's the simplicity of them that made the first movie so good in the first place. If you didn't like the first movie, you won't enjoy this.

I preferred the first one, my wife preferred this one. I liked the first one for two reasons: It was primarily situated in the bedroom, evoking that very primal fear that we have as humans of something evil invading our personal space while we sleep.

It also only had a single camera, with noises and frights done off-screen. This uses the same technique, but with multiple cameras, how can anything be done off-screen?

.

7/10

NunianVonFuch

seamus wrote: »

there are no inconsistencies except

The girl playing Katie is very obviously about a stone heavier in this movie even though it's supposed to be immediately preceding the first one

.

Only when you

see her near the start. Once it syncs up near the end she's clearly lost the weight again, prob due to sleepless nights

seamus wrote: »

I preferred the first one, my wife preferred this one. I liked the first one for two reasons: It was primarily situated in the bedroom, evoking that very primal fear that we have as humans of something evil invading our personal space while we sleep.

It also only had a single camera, with noises and frights done off-screen. This uses the same technique, but with multiple cameras, how can anything be done off-screen?

.

I don't get why you ask the question at the end. You saw the 2nd one so you know how

No camera in basement as there's no point of entry to the house in there

I liked the additional stationary cameras, helped you get a feel for the layout of the house a bit more than the first.

Personally I prefer the 2nd one having seen the first only a week or so ago. Both are really good effective scare films but like all movies avoid the hype before seeing them or you'll be disappointed.

seamus

NunianVonFuch wrote: »

Only when you

see her near the start. Once it syncs up near the end she's clearly lost the weight again, prob due to sleepless nights

Yeah, maybe, perhaps. I don't think so personally...

I don't get why you ask the question at the end. You saw the 2nd one so you know how

No camera in basement as there's no point of entry to the house in there

There are instances where you are shown one camera (e.g. in the sitting room) and a sound comes from elsewhere that there's a camera (e.g. the kid's room), but it doesn't show that camera. Or maybe I misread where the noise was coming from.

Mr Freeze

Is it a prequel or sequel???

seamus

It's a bit of both actually. It's written in such a way that the first is effectively a subplot of the second. You could seamlessly edit the two movies together into a single 3-hour film, where both the start and the end come from the second movie.

NunianVonFuch

seamus wrote: »

It's a bit of both actually. It's written in such a way that the first is effectively a subplot of the second. You could seamlessly edit the two movies together into a single 3-hour film, where both the start and the end come from the second movie.

Just like the first two Godfather films, only y'know, better.

seamus wrote: »

There are instances where you are shown one camera (e.g. in the sitting room) and a sound comes from elsewhere that there's a camera (e.g. the kid's room), but it doesn't show that camera. Or maybe I misread where the noise was coming from.

Ah right gotcha. Artistic licence! Or maybe

the bit when the power is gone?

We can only go by the tapes released to us by the police anyway so we're at the mercy of their editing techniques!

Phony Scott

I enjoyed it more than the first film, but in some cases for the wrong reasons. There were bits that were laughable, namely the soon to be infamous

robotic swimming pool cleaner

and the bit involving

baby dangling madness which surely evoked the ghost of Michael Jackson!

Pretty much more of the same, but ampted up more, which I'm fine with. 3/5

Zero-Cool

Just saw it. Love the 1st one, this was a big disappointment.I like the way the story worked with the 1st film but this was just meh. Way more tension and scary bits in the first.

PS. Michael Jacksons ghost hahahahahahah

00112984

I loved it. Much preferred it to the first one though I think that the fact that I saw that on DVD and PA2 in a packed cinema could account for that.

Genuinely enjoyed it. Sure, there are some plot holes which could be explained away in PA3 like

when the daughter was locked out of the house and the baby was walking around inside with the demon in the house, why didn't the demon just get him then? I presume we'll learn in PA3 that the demon has to work through a human to interact physically but he could still move the baby in the cot and lift him so I don't know what he wasn't able to do, if you get me.

Anyway, something small that didn't take away from my enjoyment.

Got a stupid little kick out of

the pool cleaner but I expect that that would not work outside of the cinema in terms of tension-filled giggles and guffaws.

While I wasn't blown away by the first PA I did like it but I think PA2 served the first film well and made good use of the bigger budget it had. The scene where

Kristi was sitting in the kitchen and all the cupboards and drawers blew open was pretty cool and loud jumpy scenes like that were what I thought were lacking in Paranormal Activity

My worry is that the "brand" will get overworked like Saw. There's the obvious potential for a sequel

where we find out where Katie takes Hunter but also a prequel where we find out about the sisters' childhood though how that would work given the CCTV/digital camera formula would be an issue.

Another question is what will happen in PA3. Hollywood being Hollywood we're not going to see

anything bad happen to the baby so I hope the temptation isn't there to just turn it into yet another cop-out exorcism/religious moral movie

Anyway, really enjoyed it and would recommend.
7.5/10

razorblunt

Just back from hit, hadn't seen PA but the ending was ruined for me so I went ahead and watched this, nice little slow burner I must say, though I felt the actual jumps didn't serve the build ups as well as they could have.
Must go back and watch the first now.

The Cool

Just back from seeing this too and I must say I really liked it - I liked how it

ties together the time sequence with the first film, and answers some of the questions from the first, basiaclly adding new depth to the story as a whole

It would have been way better if there hadn't been a load of loud idiots sitting behind us acting the maggot the whole way through though :mad:

Ardennes1944

much prefered the first one. thought the ending was very poor of this

El Guapo!

Just back from seeing it now. I much preferred the first one though. Hope they don't try to milk it with a PA3. Although knowing hollywood they prob have 4 more lined up :rolleyes:

Fete

Phony Scott wrote: »

I enjoyed it more than the first film, but in some cases for the wrong reasons. There were bits that were laughable, namely the soon to be infamous

robotic swimming pool cleaner

and the bit involving

baby dangling madness which surely evoked the ghost of Michael Jackson!

Pretty much more of the same, but ampted up more, which I'm fine with. 3/5

Haha, I know what you mean. I got distracted trying to figure out how

the dad got it to fly out of the water

for a good bit of the movie. Also the bit

with the pot dropping and Kristie pulling a runner

had me smiling.

Overall I thought it kicked ass as a movie. Loved the first one too but this is definately better. I was scared ****less at some points.

Suspiria79

I'm hearing great things about Katie's rack. That's the selling point of the movie for me. Otherwise I could just go out and buy a video camera and make my own version.

Midnight_EG

Went to see it tonight, I honestly think it should be up for Comedy of the Year!


All the lads in the cinema were laughing while all the girls were screaming, was funny :pac:


Good movie though, in a funny horror way :P

xzanti

I went to see it yesterday and it didn't scare me as much as the first one, but I did enjoy piecing the plot together from the first one.. Over all I enjoyed it, glad I saw it in the cinema, still got a few good jumps

sedantez

Really liked the first one - watched it on DVD alone and it scared the crap out of me. Saw PA 2 in the cinema last night - the build up is rubbish, really boring and unengaging... however when it gets going its good, plenty of jumpy moments and effects are great. I also like the way it ties in with the first movie. Overall, worth a look but be prepared to sit through a boring first hour.

chin_grin

So, I rewatched the first one (all three different endings!) and decided that it was highly enjoyable.

The second (of course) is no different. But it's verrrrrrrrrrrrrrry slow to get going. There are too many jump shots to different parts of the house where absolutely nothing happens for my liking. I know that's probably to give you a sense of the surroundings. But it p!ssed me off royally.

Why is it that the male characters in both films are idiots though? I mean in the first Micah

tries to be the alpha male and goes against Katies advice on bringing in a ouiji board.

And just has a general disregard for the obvious emotional stress going on with his girlfriend.

Same in the second where the father just annoyed me.

Also, did anyone get a weird "vibe" when Micah had the camera and was filming the daughter? I think he says something like "nice" whilst filming her with the baby in the pool. I might have misinterpreted it as his longing for a child. But seeing that this isn't mentioned in the first one I thought it very creepy.

All in all it was a good tie in to the first. With a few scenes stolen from the likes of Rec (

the night vision scene in the basement

).

At a push I'd give it a 7/10.

Overature

In each of the original endings from the first film Katie ends up dead, but in the end of the 2nd one it just says that she has disappeared, why cant they make both fit together?

kryogen

Unless there is more of the lead actress from the first ones rack on camera i dont have much interest in this, apologies, not a total perv but it was the best thing int he movie

Is there more?

Phony Scott

kryogen wrote: »

Is there more?

Yes, there is...you total perv

La frog fairy

ok saw the number 2, and got confused..its not bad or at least its not as bad as usually number 2s are but when the action finally starts to kick in then the camera is blank! the whole in the downstairs/basement where no security cam are is of course where all the actions happened but in the complete dark AND not really believable as if it was me, carying a camera with me around to record stuff would be the last on my mind if ghost or spirits were after me !!

Anyway, the ending was very disappointing, even more so fro mthe 1st movie, it ends on less than 1 minute and not much about it really...very disappointed but then again 2nd movies rarely carry on very well.

chin_grin

La frog fairy wrote: »

ok saw the number 2, and got confused..its not bad or at least its not as bad as usually number 2s are but when the action finally starts to kick in then the camera is blank! the whole in the downstairs/basement where no security cam are is of course where all the actions happened but in the complete dark AND not really believable as if it was me, carying a camera with me around to record stuff would be the last on my mind if ghost or spirits were after me !!

Anyway, the ending was very disappointing, even more so fro mthe 1st movie, it ends on less than 1 minute and not much about it really...very disappointed but then again 2nd movies rarely carry on very well.

Yeah you see don't the

electrics go and they're plunged in to darkness or the lights won't turn on in the basement. So he uses the NV mode on the camera to see. Pretty much a set up for the earlier scene where the dad is testing the night vision on the camera so it can go all first-personey and Rec-like (with her coming out of the darkness right at you). Probably the best scare of the whole film.

splashthecash

saw the first one and have no inclination to watch the second one although I know its set in another house with another family...one question:

1. What is the connection with the characters in PA1 and PA2??

Thanks