Jaden Jordan
- Aug 9, 2019
- 3 min read

Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)

Updated: Aug 3, 2021

The Breakdown: Paranormal Activity 2 follows Katie, the sister of Kristi from the first film, and her family as strange occurrences start plaguing them.

Watch If: You're looking for something vaguely spooky to put on in the background of your Halloween party.

Not If: You're trying to multitask.

SECONDARY FACTS

Overall Rating: 2.2/5

Length: 1:31

Country: USA

Language: English

Scare Factor: 2/5

Gore Factor: 0/5

REVIEW

THE QUICK AND DIRTY

It's too boring to pay attention to, but too visually reliant for you to do anything else. Also, the only POC character is the magical maid who swoops in and tries to save them despite the father being an ass to her the entire time, which is some shit.

PREMISE: 2

I don't have an issue with sequels on base, but I can't stand sequels that are incapable of standing on their own. If it is only entertaining in its context of related media, then it's not a good film. I don't mean that no sequel should rely on it's original, what I mean is that, if the movie would bore you enough to turn it off, you know, the way this one does, then it's not well done. I did enjoy the way this film attempted to give more depth to the first installment, and did manage to address some questions without overwriting or ignoring too many facets of the original. It also makes a crutch out of the characters- forming a story that requires you to care about the people in the film without putting any work into earning that investment.

ACTING: 2

It's difficult to criticize the acting in this film when there really wasn't much acting being done. Part of the enjoyment in horror comes from the reactions of the characters that are forced to exist in the parameters of the universe. But all the characters in Paranormal Activity 2 either aren't around to see the scares, or write it off so quickly that we arn't shown much fear, and as a result this film just isn't scary. The actors feel tired, as though being in the film isn't worth the effort it is costing them to do so.

VISUALS: 3

There is one scene where a character is dragged through the consecutive security camera views that is both chilling and visually intriguing.Unfortunately, the vast majority of Paranormal Activity 2 consists of half-assed throwbacks to the cool parts of Paranormal Activity. It feels like someone watched the reactions to the first and said "They liked these parts, let's make a movie that consists of only these scenes." The side effect of this kind of decision is what I like to call the 'First Pirates' effect: essentially when you do something so many times that any ounce of entertainment that it originally had is sucked out, like the decade after the first Pirates of the Caribbean came out where TV networks played it every day until no one could stomach it anymore. That's what happens in Paranormal Activity 2. You can only watch so many doors close slowly in the background before it just isn't scary or interesting anymore.

ATMOSPHERE: 2

There really isn't one. It doesn't even really manage to feel like a decent found footage film in that it feels like everything is being performed for the cameras, rather than passively being captured by them. It's boring, and annoying, and you spend the entire film hopefully suffering through it just in case something cool happens. It doesn't. If you try to do something else during it, you end up having to rewind, because so much of this film happens in the background, without dialogue or any non-visual cues what--so-ever. But the visual cues aren't engaging enough to get you invested.

DELIVERY: 2

The only value this film has is in the context of its series. If you intend to watch any of the successors, you, unfortunately do have to suffer through this one. There are plot points and twists going forward that make absolutely no sense without this one. But it is, at its core, boring. If you don't want to finish the series, don't waste your time with this one.