Film Review: Prequel ‘Paranormal Activity 2’ Deftly Exploits a Baby as Emotional Scare Tactic

Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on October 23, 2010 - 12:57am

CHICAGO – From its first “The Blair Witch Project”-like film in Sept. 2009, “Paranormal Activity” now reigns as one of the most profitable films ever made based on return on investment. But just a short 13 months later, “Paranormal Activity 2” returns to theaters with content and panic tactics that are much of the same.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

That said, the main difference is the film’s masterful exploitation of one of the most emotionally scary instruments you could imagine: a baby. Because the second film was marketed as such an enigma and people typically know very little about the new film going into it, the other surprise is that “Paranormal Activity 2” is actually a prequel rather than a sequel.

“Paranormal Activity,” which was released on Sept. 25, 2009, had a production budget of $15,000 with a worldwide box-office gross of $193 million. Paramount/DreamWorks acquired the U.S. rights to “Paranormal Activity” for $350,000. “Paranormal Activity 2,” which has a much larger estimated budget of $2.75 million, is again written by Oren Peli with the addition of Michael R. Perry.

Read Adam Fendelman’s full review of “Paranormal Activity 2”.

This time, though, the sequel is directed by Tod Williams instead of Oren Peli. Katie Featherston reprises her role as Katie in “Paranormal Activity 2,” but she actually plays a relatively minor, supporting role. Micah Sloat, who received the ultimate unfortunate ending in the first film, only briefly appears in the second.

“Paranormal Activity 2” makes you keenly aware that the film is showing Micah just 60 days before his death in the first movie. In the prequel, Micah is a walking, soon-to-be dead man and doesn’t know it.

“Paranormal Activity 2,” which is written by Oren Peli and Michael R. Perry and directed by Tod Williams, stars Katie Featherston. The film is rated “R” for some language and brief violent material with a run time of 91 minutes. The film opened on Oct. 22, 2010.

Continue for Adam Fendelman’s full “Paranormal Activity 2” review.