PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2

With Molly Ephraim, Brian Boland, Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Sprague Grayden, Seth Ginsberg

Written by Michael R. Perry, Christopher B. Landon, Tom Pabst
Directed by Tod Williams

Picking up from Olen Peli's low budget hit (which took a few years for the studios to pick up on), this prequel takes the viewer deeper into the origin of the dark force which terrorized Katie and Micha in the first movie.

Here Kristi and her family is systematically being disturbed by strange happenings around their house, growing from little odd happenings to more intense danger. This time the story is told in a similar fashion, but via home security cameras. With an engaging and systematically building sense of dread, the movie-makers lay out another convincing and effective scary movie without the aid of sudden music stings or bloody special FX gimmicks, cutting to the heart of fear with the building of suspense and moments of serious panic when these realistic sympathetic characters are threatened more violently by this unseen entity.

Admittedly I wasn't expecting too much (being a follow-up to a huge success), but this prequel is as engrossing as the original, with some clever twists and a very good tie-up to that storyline.

4 / B
- Paul Blom

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- A - B - C

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A: Multi-Viewing Potential

B: Could Enjoy A 2nd Look

C: Once Should Suffice