Paranormal Activity 2

The success story continues: after "Paranormal Activity" grossed over $193 million worldwide last year at a production cost of just $11,000, Part 2 is now coming to our cinemas. Director Tod Williams, who most recently impressed with the successful John Irving adaptation "The Door of Temptation", has taken over the director's chair from Oren Peli and has teamed up with TV veteran Michael R. Perry, who is a producer and writer for series like "Dr. House", "Millennium" and "Law & Order New York", they've put together a sequel that uses the successful elements of the first installment and continues them consistently.

"Paranormal Activity 2" opens with an image of a happy young family: Kristi (Sprague Graydon) and Daniel (Brian Boland) are bringing their newborn son Hunter home to his sister Ali (Molly Ephraim). The next shots show a now slightly older Hunter curiously exploring the house. That, meanwhile, has been outfitted with numerous video cameras after Kristi and Daniel find their home completely trashed one day. Nothing to worry about? Oh yes there is, because now strange occurrences are piling up: Things falling off for no reason, doors opening and closing on their own, and ominous noises robbing the family of sleep. But at this point, no one has any idea what horror is yet to come...

With many times the budget of Part 1, "Paranormal Activity 2" can naturally employ some more elaborate special effects. However, the film rarely makes use of them, and that's a good thing. Because, as in the first installment, the real horror here comes from the little things, the noises that we all know from everyday life, but which can be extremely creepy at night and with no discernible source of origin.

Overall, "Paranormal Activity 2" may sound like a pure rip-off of the first film, and that criticism is warranted in some moments. However, there is one point that absolutely justifies the existence of the sequel and while not to give too much away here, it may be revealed that the events from this second film take place before those from Part 1. This is revealed relatively quickly when Katie from the first film suddenly appears. If she didn't really look healthy at the end of "Paranormal Activity", there's not much of that here (yet). We do learn that Kristi is Katie's sister and that Katie's husband Micah, who is also seen again, has six weeks to live.

The question now becomes: how is it that Katie's sister has to go through the worst horror and that there wasn't even any mention of that in the first film. And that's where the great strength of "Paranormal Activity 2" comes in. The way Williams ties the two films together and revisits some small elements of the first film (remember, for example, the burnt photo Katie finds in her house) is absolutely successful and should more than satisfy fans of the first film - as should the ending, which of course won't be given away here.

Sure: for long stretches, nothing much really happens in "Paranormal Activity 2" either. But when the evil demon strikes again, it does so more than effectively. The film has some very good shock effects to offer, which are even better done than those of the predecessor. If you didn't really like that one, you won't like the second scary home video show either. But fans of the first part can be happy: this sequel is absolutely successful and therefore also for fans more than worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp