Paranormal Activity 2 **** (2010, Brian Boland, Sprague Brayden, Molly Ephraim) – Classic Movie Review 3,830

Tod Williams’s 2010 found footage supernatural horror film sequel Paranormal Activity 2 is a stonking spine-tingler that will really creep you out.

Director Tod Williams’s 2010 found footage supernatural horror film sequel Paranormal Activity 2 stars Sprague Grayden, Brian Boland, Molly Ephraim, and Seth Ginsberg, with Micah Sloat and Katie Featherston reprising their roles as Micah and Katie from the first film. It is mostly a prequel to the 2007 Paranormal Activity, beginning two months earlier but concluding after the first film ends.

Daniel Rey (played by Brian Boland), his wife Kristi (Sprague Brayden) and their daughter Ali (Molly Ephraim) move to Carlsbad, California, with their toddler son and their dog. Soon there is a break-in, but weirdly nothing has been stolen.

This nice, ordinary all-American family think there might be some intruder in their home, so they set up security cameras around the place, recording stuff. The Spanish-speaking nanny they hire to look after the kiddie tells them something’s up and says prayers, annoying dad, who fires her – a big fat mistake, as the intruder turns out to be a little devil. Katie’s sister Kristi starts to suspect that a supernatural entity is tormenting them.

With a brilliantly eerie atmosphere, mounting tension and some big chills, Tod Williams’s horror sequel to the 2007 hit Paranormal Activity is a stonking spine-tingler that will really creep you out. Most people didn’t think they would be able to pull it off again – but they have. It is amazing, then, that it is better, slicker and smarter than the original, with constant scares and a high fear factor throughout.

The story is by Michael R Perry, with screenplay by him and Christopher Landon and Tom Pabst. Production began without a completed script, and three weeks into filming production was shut down and a writer’s room was assembled. Christopher Landon was one of the writers brought in, and one final solo script attempt by him revived the production.

There are two versions – the cinema release at 91 minutes and the unrated director’s cut at 98 minutes.

It opened at midnight on October 22, 2010 in the US and UK.

It was a big hit, grossing more than $177 million against a $3 million budget.

Tod Williams is the writer and director of The Door in the Floor (2004) starring Kim Basinger and Jeff Bridges, and based the novel A Widow For One Year by John Irving.

More Paranormal Activity

Paranormal Activity 3, a prequel set 18 years before the first two films, was released on October 21, 2011. Paranormal Activity 4 was released on October 18, 2012. A fifth film, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, and a sixth film, Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension, were released in 2014 and 2015. A seventh film, Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin, was released in 2021.

http://derekwinnert.com/the-door-in-the-floor-2004-jeff-bridges-kim-basinger-jon-foster-classic-movie-review-1507/

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3,830

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com