Paranormal Activity 2

Whorticulture.com reviews Paranormal Activity 2

I want to start this review by saying my boyfriend HATED Paranormal Activity.  Hated it with three snaps in a Z formation.  He thought it was boring and stupid, and he ridiculed me for having him watch it.  Read our review of it here.  But wouldn't you know it, that boy GRIPPED me during Paranormal Activity 2.  As I type this, I'm working the pain out of my left hand from him squeezing it in fright.

Okay, now that I've thoroughly embarrassed him, I'll tell you a little about the film.  As you can tell from the previews, it brings back Katie (and Micah) from the original.  The sequel acts as prequel AND synchronous - it begins about 6 weeks before the original and continues until the day after the original ends.  It follows Katie's sister, her husband, and two children and gives a lot of explanation into the first.  It even kind of explains why they have a demon following them in the first place, although that scenario is shaky at best.

So I loved it.  I've been home for about 30 minutes and I'm still kind of freaked out.  But my concern is that the true terror comes from seeing it in a theater.  The scares are mostly loud noises (about 99% of them fall into this category), and I think the scare would be lost in a home viewing.  The audience screamed together, laughed together (it was surprisingly funny), and literally tensed up together.  As soon as the scene changed to one of the night shots, I heard people take a deep breath or whisper "oh god" in preparation for another scare.  Normally this would have bugged the hell out of me.  I freaking loathe when girls scream at movies.  While I didn't scream along with them, it all seemed to fit and I didn't mind it so much.

While most of the scares were loud noises, which I normally find cheap, I want to embarrass myself a little here and tell you that one of them scared me so bad I literally almost threw up.  I didn't just jump, I curled into a ball.  The guy next to me spent most of the movie in a ball, with his hands covering his face, and whimpering.  I found that hilarious.  But yes, I almost threw up.  And I would have been mortified had I vomited, so thankfully I contained that mess.

I won't give away the ending, but I will say that in comparison to the rest of the movie it was kind of weak.

Also, that whole "What happened to Hunter?" thing written in the carpet isn't in the movie, so don't expect to see it.  I discussed the teasers and the trailers with a lot of people, and that part always stood out to them.  But it does make sense that it wasn't in the film.

Anyway, go see it.  I give it a 8.5/10, deducting points for the weak ending and the cheap (although very well orchestrated) scares.  Just go see it in the theater.  Don't bitch at me when it's not as scary at home because I totally warned you.

Oh, and I want to give a shout out to 101.5 JAMZ for putting on an excellent show.