Paranormal Activity 2

Last summer, I saw the first paranormal activitiy movie. I liked it, but I didn't understand why people found it so terrifying. Recently I saw the sequel, which, weirdly enough, happens before/at the same time as the first movie, this time focusing on the main character's sister and her family. The movie started off excruciatingly slow. Nothing happened during the first half of the movie other than a few pots and pans falling down every once in a while. Things finally get interesting when the family discovers that what the demon wants in the family's firstborn son, who happens to be an infant. As the mother fights hard to protect the baby, her husband continues to live in denial, but the demon prevails...

What I enjoyed most about this movie was how much it explained about the first movie as well as this one, even though it took quite a while for the explanations to come. There were only a few brief scenes where the history of the family and the curse was discussed between the two sisters, but it was good to know that the topic would be explained further in upcoming sequels. I, for one, am excited to see what happens next. As for you, don't be expecting anything too scary, it will disappoint in that category. I would describe it as spooky, interesting, and creative.

Review fro Los Angeles Times:

Just when you thought it was safe to auto-record your McMansion existence, along comes "Paranormal Activity 2" to make static video grays, a corner time stamp and well-placed bumps in the night further cause for audience nervousness.It's the sequel to last year's DIY horror hit "Paranormal Activity," a housebound creeper built on some marginal if appreciatively unslick and non-gory jitters. In true indie-explosion fashion, writer-director Oren Peli's $11,000 feature went from midnight-screening word-of-mouth to $100-million hit upon release from Paramount (which had the good sense not to stick logos and credits on what was intended to play like found footage of a ghost capture gone wrong).Any lingering questions, however, as to whether the follow-up represents a "Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2" scenario — in other words, what gives real shivers to Hollywood: killing a franchise with one bad sequel — can be easily laid to rest. This "Paranormal," set once again in a roomy two-story suburban house, is more of the same, for all the good and acceptably routine that that implies.
First off, there are more characters, in this case a Carlsbad, Calif., family composed of a dad (Brian Boland), second wife (Sprague Grayden), perky teen daughter from the first marriage, boy toddler, Latina nanny who senses bad spirits and German shepherd (whose alertness to things unseen is one of the movie's new goose-bump-raising assets).
There are also more visual perspectives, from the hand-held camcorder that various family members use to document initially happy — then increasingly worrisome — household events, to the six security cameras installed in the wake of an unexplainable burglary. Katie (Katie Featherston) is back, too, as the sister of this movie's young mom. If that sounds odd considering how the first film ended, this one's narrative is craftily arranged around its precursor's timeline, and on that front, that's all the plot you're getting here. (Robert Abele, 23 Oct. 2010)