No need for a part 3…
Needless to say, there are spoilers ahead, so don’t say you were not warned.
Okay, demon. You toyed with my nerves and expectations once already with Paranormal Activity. And like the many curiosity-seekers over the weekend that contributed to your $41 million gross, I too saw Paranormal Activity 2 (although, I think it should have been titled Paranormal Activity 0), and you managed to rattle me twice.
It’s time to call it quits, however.
Paranormal Activity tapped into a certain “YouTube world” zeitgeist, updating the standard spooky house yarn stuffed with creaks, groans and inconspicuous terrors. Amidst a glut of in-your-face cinematic horrors, PA kept it classy and low key, further emphasizing you sometimes needed to show very little to build tension (similar to Robert Wise’s The Haunting). A sequel was inevitable and, surprisingly, it works. But not without a few strains of wear and tear.
Paranormal Activity 2 greatest detriment is many of the scares rely all too often on what worked in the original: Opening doors. A dull bass-filled rumble. Shadow play. An invisible attacker. And, like the first film, the story makes it a point to make the male lead an unlikable buffoon, ignorant to what’s occurring around him. The dad in this film is not just ignorant to the fact that he can check in on the security tapes regularly for proof of odd goings-on, but he conveniently wakes up too late to the sound of his dog barking incessantly and struggling with an attacker downstairs in the middle of the night. I’m not sure what night time drugs this dad is taking to make him sleep so soundly, but I need to get them. I can wake up to the sound of my dog farting and think we have an intruder in our house.
Luckily, for this entry, there’s a bit more to savor than the visceral thrills. With three (!) writers on board this time, some eerie back story comes to the fore. A sense of reason is applied to the demonic force’s motivation and we get to learn a bit about Kristi and Katie’s past as siblings, but it’s just ambiguous enough to leave you asking questions. Further, we learn that the demon – who apparently hates clean swimming pools – can be passed off to someone else in a karma-killing Ring-esque fashion.
With $41 million banked at the box office and probably millions more on the way with Halloween approaching, Paramount’s execs, I’m certain, have already started talks of a part 3, thus adapting to the Saw release template (“If it’s Halloween, it must beâ¦Paranormal Activity.”). After all, we now have a possessed Katie and infant Hunter out there in the world doing who knows what (no, seriously, what is she going to do with that baby now that she has it, eat it?). But studio suits – moreover Oren Peli and his producing team – would do well to leave it alone and explore other pastures. If part 2 felt strained – especially with moments of exposition that felt way too forced – I can’t imagine the audience buying into a yet third sequence involving a girl being helplessly dragged down the hall by her feet.
Paramount: Like any family living in a haunted house, get out while you still can.
Source: Ryan Turek, Managing Editor
