Yesterday watched the film Paranormal Activity 2 a 2010 American supernatural horror film directed by Tod Williams and written by Michael R. Perry. The film is a parallel prequel to the 2007 film Paranormal Activity, beginning two months before and following up with the events depicted in the original film.


After experiencing what they think are a series of "break-ins", a family sets up security cameras around their home, only to realize that the events unfolding before them are more sinister than they seem.


The people behind PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 clearly learned a lesson from the debacle of BLAIR WITCH 2: BOOK OF SHADOWS; they’ve hewed scrupulously close to the original film in style and tone. The result is probably the best true sequel that could have been made to PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, without avoiding the pitfalls that come with creating a close-but-not-too-close approximation of a singular success. Paranormal Activity 2 follows the "bigger and more" ethos of sequels, while sticking to the ground rules laid down by the first surprise hit of a film. Of course "bigger and more" is a relative term. Here we get a slightly bigger home to be confined in and more people: two parents, a teenage daughter, a maid, an infant and a dog. The latter two make good use of the rather spooky thing that babies and pets do when their attention is fixed on something invisible to others. More cameras too: instead of the one image of the bedroom we get to cycle through six static security cameras (brought in by the family when they return to find their furniture and belongings in disarray, seemingly following a burglary, although nothing was taken). These changes aren't enough to distort or taint the basic premise.


I have to say that this film really did scare me, I spent half my time hidden behind a pillow as the suspense and dramatic tension was just too much to handle. The thing that always makes a film scarier is when it looks like it is real life, the dialogue doesn't sound scripted and because the actors are not famous (have just been in the paranormal films) it just adds to the realism. The jumpiest bit of the film was when all the kitchen cupboard doors and draws suddenly flew open causing a massive unexpected sound of crashing and banging. Everyone in the room with me screamed and carried on screaming!


I think the fact that they used a baby really added to the disturbing nature of the film as the child just seemed too innocent to be surrounded by such awful events. I particularly didn't like the bit when the baby gets dragged out of the bed, I found that really disturbing, but it definitely added to the genre of horror.


It was good horror film which didn't take anything away from the first Paranormal Activity. Apart from being terrified i did actually really enjoy it.