All Critics (126)
|
Top Critics (25)
|
Fresh (74)
|
Rotten (54)
|
DVD (9)
Like Oren Peli, who created the first film, director Tod Williams keeps the dialogue So-Cal dumb and colorless, which must be part of the scare plan but makes both these movies hard to sit through.
Even knowing what's likely to come -- the doors opening on their own, the skeptical characters scoffing at metaphysical explanations, the unheeded warnings from paranormally gifted guests -- doesn't make it any less nailbiting to watch.
It's simultaneously a lot more expensive and a lot cheaper.
Demons of mediocrity, be gone! Here we have a shrewd sequel a touch better than the original.
What's unusual about these movies is that we know those scares are coming, and the filmmakers' drawn-out approach makes them even more effective when they finally arrive.
he jolts, when they come, are bigger, causing actual physical thrills and chills, at least for me.
While the meagre rationing of shocks is undoubtedly frustrating for the bulk of the movie, this allows the final act plenty of room to crank the fear factor up to 11.
The good ol' child-in-peril gimmick is the only new thing offered by Tod Williams' follow-up to Oren Peli's 2007 hit.
Instead of being trapped in one bedroom, this family has quite a few escape routes that they use quite a bit, which doesn't really help build a sense of dread. It just makes you think, "Get out of the house, fools. The door's right there."
The scares in Paranormal Activity 2 aren't as frequent or always as well built as the original film's, but those that exist are still pretty effective.
Not only drags out too long, it fails to pay off at the end.
[A] title card end[s] the film on another ominous ellipsis, ominous primarily because it guarantees the need for a third film, most likely to be released in 3D, it is assumed.
...you have to sit through eighty minutes or so of tedium for the final ten or fifteen minutes of confusion and mayhem. (Blu-ray Combo Edition)
For me, the meager payoff wasn't worth the effort in time and patience. The bother wasn't worth the wait.
I enjoyed Paranormal Activity 2 and I'd recommend it even if you weren't a fan of the first.
I anxiously await the third leg in the series.
Revealing more of the mystery reduces the scare factor but ups the intrigue.
PA2 actually isn't that frightening, but it complicates the questions of documentation, memory, and history in ways that make any possible answers at least a little unnerving.
full review at Movies for the Masses
It isn't as tense as the first film, and sometimes you do wish it was as simple as its predecessor. But it's certainly a must-see horror sequel.
Effectively creepy, but it leads nowhere...
More Critic Reviews
Top Critic
