Paranormal Activity 2, directed by Tod Williams, presents a simple formula. Step one, bore the audience to tears with banality poorly disguised as gritty realism. Step two, try to recapture its attention with a series of supposedly terrifying events that don't really come off as anything but amusing ... that is, if everyone is still engaged enough to be amused by them.
I cannot refrain from making comparisons to the original. Like many who anticipated the sequel, I am a huge fan of the first installment. It had me from the get-go, establishing the presence of a demon at the start and purposefully following its terrifying reign of the household with a handheld camcorder. By the time it was done with me, I was pretty much convinced that the monster was lurking behind every creaking door or the cause of every crashing noise. For once, this was a horror movie that didn't involve unbelievably stupid college kids getting themselves killed in grisly ways. Instead, it was about people who were powerless to escape an inevitable fate, people for the most part like you and me, leading very ordinary lives.
Of course, the sequel attempted to retain this juxtaposition of the supernatural and the everyday that worked so well in the original. Nevertheless, Williams' execution of this approach quickly descends into painful monotony. Virtually nothing happens during the first 30 minutes. We have long, drawn-out scenes of everyone cooing at the new baby and engaging in meaningless banter. It felt like an episode of America's Funniest Home Videos, without the funny parts. Whenever the subject of a supernatural presence is finally brought up, the only climactic occurrence to take place after so much waiting turns out to be someone jumping at a strange noise or the pool cleaner randomly ending up outside the pool. And in between these oh-so-exciting moments, there is endless black-and-white footage of the living room, the front yard and the bedroom. I realize that we were supposed to be watching through surveillance cameras, but could we really not have fast-forwarded to actual events? Williams should have remembered that he was targeting moviegoers, not security guards.
None of the subsequent action during the second half does much to improve the experience. Nothing that happens is remotely frightening. The toddler experiences a funny anti-gravity moment up against his crib. The film ends with one of the most ludicrous neck-snapping scenes ever. And I wasn't the only one who thought that this seemed like a bad joke - sniggers erupted all around me at the theater. Moreover, apart from these borderline comedic elements, there are cheap throwbacks to the original aplenty. There's the massive bite mark and the obligatory body thrown at the camera. It is as if Williams was so devoid of any inspiration that he had to hide behind all the scary bits in the first movie.
All in all, this was nothing but a hollow imitation of Paranormal Activity. There are the camcorders, the demon and the suburban household, but none of the terror, suspense and creativity that characterized the first. It's a shame really - the baby could have made things much creepier.
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