Paranormal Sequel Perfect for Halloween-time Outing

By Morgan Holder
Edited November 1, 2010

If you’re looking for a movie with jump-out-of-your-seat scenes , Paranormal Activity 2 delivers.

Prequel and sequel all in one, the movie is set around the same time as its counterpart, Paranormal Activity, which was released last October. This time, the budget was increased from an estimated $11,000 to an estimated $2,750,000 as Director Tod Williams took over for Oren Peli. Paramount Pictures made an effort to release as little information as possible until the release of the film. This included footage as well as the names of cast and crew members.

Paranormal Activity 2 focuses on what happens before, during and after the events in the original film, but this time, the main characters aren’t Katie (Katie Featherston) and Micah (Micah Sloat). Katie’s sister, Kristi, has the lead role with her husband Dan, children Ali and Hunter and German Sheppard Abby.

Baby Hunter has just arrived from the hospital and the family is using their personal camera to catch all of the exciting moments when the family experiences a “break-in”, persuading Dan to install security camera systems throughout the house. By using personal camera and security camera footage only, the film provides audiences with a much more realistic feel than average horror film.

Audiences who saw the original will be familiar with the timestamp in the bottom corner as well as the dark bluish lengths of footage shot at night. However, Paranormal Activity 2 takes it up a notch. After watching the first movie, viewers may be inclined to think that all of the frightening scenes will happen when the screen goes dark, but that is far from the case in this new flick. Paranormal Activity 2 will leave audiences on the edge of their seat no matter what time of day it is on the screen.

Overall, the movie is a success as a sequel . The camera work and acting not only give the audience a creepily realistic feel, but they also provide non-stop screams and spine tingles. In addition, the plot does not hurt the original film at all, but rather adds to it. While Paranormal Activity 2 is based on the first film, the filmmakers did a great job of making sure the facts and ideas from the original movie stayed the same.

The trailers are right when they say “Nothing can prepare you for what’s next.” There is no way of determining what this movie will bring until you see it.