Devil’s DVD Disappointment: Paranormal Activity 2

For all its faults, I’m a pretty big fan of the first Paranormal Activity movie. It accomplished much with very little – having little to begin with a) forces the filmmakers to be creative while it b) forces the audience to “fill in the gaps” with their own thoughts and imagination, thereby making the terror that much more horrific – nothing that any filmmaker or effects house on Earth can throw on the screen will ever be as frightening as the things you can see in your head. In Paranormal Activity 2, Director Tod ‘Kip’ Williams (former indie-darling director of festival hits The Adventures of Sebastian Cole and The Door in the Floor) and a team of writers are smart enough keep the premise same enough to be recognizable (Blair Witch 2, anyone?) while, knowing they had a guaranteed audience and hit on their hands, aiming for more ambitious targets. Unfortunately, it’s a bit of a miss, and the end result, while not a bad film, is certainly not as good as the original.