Paranormal Activity

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Paranormal Activity

Just got back from seeing it. Easily the worst part of the movie was the crowd, kids trying to be comedians or talking through the movie. The theater I was in was a near sell out.

Anyway. It was excellent, not as good as the first, but I would still give it 4/5 stars, maybe 5/5 after more thought on it.

And if you were like me, don't worry about the kid stuff.

Now on to total spoilers, so if you click the box, you will have the story spoiled. Warning over.

Spoiler

PA2 takes place approx 2-3 months before PA1. It actually ties EVERYTHING together that I was worried about in the earlier spoiler box.

I'm a big fan of the original police ending, but now I prefer the theatrical ending based on Katie turning psycho and killing her brother in law and sister. Both of which were 2 of the most bad *** scenes I've seen in awhile.

The basement scene was just intense, as was most of the stuff with Katie's sister after she became possessed. Explaining why they would never tell or talk to Katie about what happened was genius too. Loved how they said that it would pass to a blood relative and he knew the consequences but had to do it to save his family. Little did he know, **** still came around for him.

The first 45-60 minutes of the movie were very slow, with some slight scares here and there. But that last 30 minutes, holy hell did it ramp up. Just shot perfectly. Obviously now there will be a 3rd one, just don't know how you go about it with the camcorder plot device.

Sorry, just rambling my thoughts out right now.

And yes, the end of movie was just freaky as hell as PA2 basically ends, goes into PA1, then back to PA2 with Katie. Awesome.

The more I think and write about it, the more I love it. I can't wait to watch PA1 again tomorrow just to realize the stuff that is tied in. Oh yeah, notice the picture of Katie and Micha was prominently placed on the wall to see. Also, because of morons around me, I couldn't make out what the Oujia board was spelling the second time.

The acting, top notch. There were several times I completely forgot it was even a movie, they were that convincing.

I'll think of more, I'm sure others will see it tonight and we can discuss more tomorrow. Want others opinions, but I was very skeptical to very much in love with it. Horror done right!

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Paranormal Activity

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20435816,00.html

Entertainment Weekly review^^^

I haven't read through it yet, but I'm sure it has some sort of spoilers. Even if it's just little ones.

Gave it a B+

It's spoiler free.

[Dog]

Re: Paranormal Activity

I am looking forward to seeing this. The first one was the only movie to ever "scare" me, so I am looking forward to seeing it.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: Paranormal Activity

The 1st movie bored the crap out of me.........so I will wait for this on netflix.

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Paranormal Activity

The 1st movie bored the crap out of me.........so I will wait for this on netflix.

Seriously, don't bother then.

It's pretty much the same type of film.

I would tell anyone that, if you didn't like the first one, you definitely won't like the second one. It's a waste of your time in all honesty.

This isn't a defending the movie type response, it's a very cut and dry, you like it or you hate it type of movie. If the first one bored you, trust me, you'll be bored in this one too.

[ElroyJetson]

Re: Paranormal Activity

scariest movie I've ever seen

[Blzer]

Re: Paranormal Activity

For once I'm not actually going to give a long review, probably because I just don't really know what to say without putting things into spoilers (and I don't like doing that).

I don't know... it seemed like the crowd and everyone else just responded more than I did. I thought it was creepy, I thought it was good... but given the elements that they had (more people, baby, dog, surveillance cameras, night vision, a previous story to build from, etc.) you'd just think that they wouldn't make a sequel unless they could guarantee an eerier premise.

It did nothing to disappoint the original movie, and for the most part it enhanced it, which was very good. This movie seemed to jump around a lot more without the rhyme and reason of the first one, which seemed to be like "Micah would turn off the camera then he'd turn it back on to record something." This time it just wanted to show us whatever it wanted to, and the surveillance cameras helped fill in most of the gaps to rid reasoning for them using a handheld camera all of the time.

There is one thing that I'll put in spoilers which isn't really spoilerific, but one thing I preferred from the first movie was:

Spoiler

The demon seemed to take more of a human entity in the first movie. Like, there would be a whole lot of footsteps and it would go from miniscule hauntings to many physical things, like turning on lights, shadows, dragging people, etc. This time, it just seemed to do things whenever it wanted to, and seemed to just take on the whole house at times. I guess you can choose which one would freak you out more, but I think the first one did.

The final issue I had was the audience. Were they horrible? No. But I'll tell you something, they were definitely a treat when I watched the first one. They stayed still in their seats and were respectful of everyone else who was watching. This time they just... annoyed the hell out of me.

I said this wouldn't be long, but it was very vague anyway so have at it. I liked it, but I hope that Saw 3D thrills me more.

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Paranormal Activity

For once I'm not actually going to give a long review, probably because I just don't really know what to say without putting things into spoilers (and I don't like doing that).

I don't know... it seemed like the crowd and everyone else just responded more than I did. I thought it was creepy, I thought it was good... but given the elements that they had (more people, baby, dog, surveillance cameras, night vision, a previous story to build from, etc.) you'd just think that they wouldn't make a sequel unless they could guarantee an eerier premise.

It did nothing to disappoint the original movie, and for the most part it enhanced it, which was very good. This movie seemed to jump around a lot more without the rhyme and reason of the first one, which seemed to be like "Micah would turn off the camera then he'd turn it back on to record something." This time it just wanted to show us whatever it wanted to, and the surveillance cameras helped fill in most of the gaps to rid reasoning for them using a handheld camera all of the time.

There is one thing that I'll put in spoilers which isn't really spoilerific, but one thing I preferred from the first movie was:

Spoiler

The demon seemed to take more of a human entity in the first movie. Like, there would be a whole lot of footsteps and it would go from miniscule hauntings to many physical things, like turning on lights, shadows, dragging people, etc. This time, it just seemed to do things whenever it wanted to, and seemed to just take on the whole house at times. I guess you can choose which one would freak you out more, but I think the first one did.

The final issue I had was the audience. Were they horrible? No. But I'll tell you something, they were definitely a treat when I watched the first one. They stayed still in their seats and were respectful of everyone else who was watching. This time they just... annoyed the hell out of me.

I said this wouldn't be long, but it was very vague anyway so have at it. I liked it, but I hope that Saw 3D thrills me more.

Spoiler

I actually felt the demon was the same. Did most of the same stuff, fluttered curtains, made stomping noises, slammed doors, slid the baby (what a freaky scene), etc.

In the first one Micha made an effort to discover that it was more a being than they did in this one.

[fishepa]

Re: Paranormal Activity

What exactly are these movies about? Just creepy stuff happening in a house?

[sb24]

Re: Paranormal Activity

What exactly are these movies about? Just creepy stuff happening in a house?

Yes more or less. 1st one was a guy and a girl living together, who decided to start filming while the sleep and catch weird **** happening. I guess I could explain more but Im bad with spoilers.

[ElroyJetson]

Re: Paranormal Activity

Yes more or less. 1st one was a guy and a girl living together, who decided to start filming while the sleep and catch weird **** happening. I guess I could explain more but Im bad with spoilers.

yup basically you need to watch the 1st one in order too understand the 2nd one

[Blzer]

Re: Paranormal Activity

Spoiler

I actually felt the demon was the same. Did most of the same stuff, fluttered curtains, made stomping noises, slammed doors, slid the baby (what a freaky scene), etc.

In the first one Micha made an effort to discover that it was more a being than they did in this one.

Spoiler

See, I think that was more of the difference though. The first time, Katie was being demonized/haunted and yet we didn't know why, but at first it would seem harmless. It only seemed to get worse when Micah provoked it (camera, calling it out, EVP, Ouija board, power, cross, etc.). The demon kind of decided to get angry at that and lash out at them more as things happened more.

In PA2, this demon actually had a motive. I think that was something else I didn't like either, that they read online that they had to sacrifice their first born son and blah blah blah. If the demon wanted the baby, why haunt them first? Just take the infant. That's why I'm saying it seemed cooler in PA when the demon was just getting more pissed, and here it seemed it just wanted to make a movie lol.

What I'm getting at here, though it sounds like I didn't like the movie, was this one was at the very least on par at the first one, but here were my shortcomings which I found to be inferior not in the movie's quality, but in what I found PA to be more unique and eerie in the first place. This is actually a pretty good "franchise" they have going on here, and if/when they come out with a third one you know I'm off to see it.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: Paranormal Activity

Well the nation has spoken ! Number one movie for the weekend with a wopping $41.5 million dollars made.

[Salhus]

Re: Paranormal Activity

Spoiler

The demon seemed to take more of a human entity in the first movie. Like, there would be a whole lot of footsteps and it would go from miniscule hauntings to many physical things, like turning on lights, shadows, dragging people, etc. This time, it just seemed to do things whenever it wanted to, and seemed to just take on the whole house at times. I guess you can choose which one would freak you out more, but I think the first one did.

At first I couldn't put my finger on it, but this is the same way I felt.

It was still scary, but the 1st was superior because, well, because it was 1st. I saw all the same elements in the first one.

But..

Spoiler

That scene in the kitchen when all the cupboards and doors slammed open simultaneously...damn. People jumped so much they ended up in the row behind them.

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Paranormal Activity

Remember one thing..

Spoiler

In the first one you heard the same things as you did in the second one. But in the second one you saw more because the simple numbers game. The first one had one camera set up in a bedroom where the 2nd one had 6 cameras set up throughout the house.

I found them both to be equally scary. Both to be simply perfect horror films. More of an old school feel to them instead of the over the top gore fests of Saw and others recently.

I welcome the 3rd one which will obviously be coming next year (no clue how you even do it though, but saw an interesting idea of using a Taps like service and using their cameras from both houses).