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Movie Details

Title:   Paranormal Activity 2
Director:   Tod Williams
Year:   2010
Genre:   Ghost
Times Seen:   1
Last Seen:   08.04.12

Other Movies Seen By This Director (0)

Notes History
Date Viewed Venue Note
08.04.12Netflix It's kind of crazy to me that this is now a 4-part franchise that seems to be stretching thinner and thinner with every release, but I can't deny that the formula works so why not.

I do kind of wish I had seen this before watching the 3rd one. It would've made much more sense with the grandmother and whatnot.

Anyway, this was kind of exactly what I expected with the addition of a few really kind of stereotypical terrible things thrown in to make it not as good as the first. For one, is there some secret test or union that you have to join when you decide you want to be a housekeeper or nanny or whatever that if english is not your first language you must possess expert knowledge in the occult and have any number of tricks up your sleeve in how to deal with pesky paranormal phenomena? If all my knowledge came from movies I'd swear it was true because this is like the 100th nanny that in tune with the spirit world that the stupid homeowners don't believe and fuck themselves because of it. Also, the husband's stubborn disbelief is really weak, especially considering that Meeeeekahh in the first film handled the ramp-up much more believably while still getting the same result (i.e. doing nothing). All this escalating weird shit happens in like 10 days and your entire family is telling you something's weird and you still don't believe it? Ugh.

But except for that, I liked it. I am really taken with the jarring editting and scene structure of these movies. Every shot brings a little bit of rediscovery with it as you constantly have to re-check what time it is, which room you're looking at, and how much time has past since the last cut. Then you get these "Night #23" title cards that say "ok watch closely for the first where's waldo sign of the scary shit that's about to come on screen because you may very well be scared by a loud noise..... NOW! AH FUCK!!!! now it's daytime again relax." Just over and over this works for some reason. It's worked on me 3 times and I'll probably see the fourth one too (there goes the neighborhood!!!).

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