Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (October 3, 2022)
With a budget of only $15,000, 2007’s Paranormal Activity went on to make more than $193 million worldwide when it got a wide release in 2009. Now that’s a fine return on investment!
Given the money involved, a sequel quickly hit screens via 2010’s Paranormal Activity 2. Though more expensive, it still cost a mere $3 million, and its $177 million ensured we would continue to get sequels apparently forever, as 2021’s Next of Kin marked the series’ seventh entry.
But I’ll get to that one on a later date. Activity 2 acts as a form of prequel to the first film.
The Rey family moves to Carlsbad, California but they soon encounter trouble. A few days after their arrival, they experience an apparent break-in, though oddly, they find nothing missing.
After the Reys set up video surveillance cameras, they learn that something supernatural may be at work. As time passes and more odd occurrences take place, they start to fear a demonic presence bedevils them.
Formal billing for Activity 2 favors Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat, the two leads from the first film. In this case, their connection to the action comes through Kristi Rey (Sprague Grayden), the Rey family mother and sister to the prior flick’s Katie.
This feels like a stretch, as I think the franchise would’ve probably worked better as an anthology. Yes, the original told us of a curse that haunted Katie and family since childhood, so that means the link to her sister doesn’t come out of the blue.
Nonetheless, given how barren of inspiration the first film was, it seems like a bad idea to continue that thread. That said, given how much money the inexplicably popular original flick was, it comes as no surprise that those involved went back to a similar well.
At least Activity 2 comes with ample room for improvement. The initial movie offered such a relentlessly slow and boring experience that the sequel must work better – right?
Unfortunately, not really. In a case of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, those responsible for Activity 2 decided to repeat the pace and vibe of the first film for its sequel.
As result, Activity 2 offers another slow, tedious experience punctuated with occasional jump scares. Like the first film, it delivers basics about the participants and not much more, which leaves it low on narrative development.
Once again, much of the movie consists of shots in which virtually nothing happens. We get “slice of life” video segments with the Reys and others as well as seemingly endless security cam shots that show a house at rest.
As with the first flick, all of this exists as nothing more than prologue for those aforementioned “boo moments”. I get the intention, as it seems clear the filmmakers hope the many “nothing” shots will lull the viewer into a sense of complacency that will allow major impact when things go south.
In theory, that worked for the first movie. An audience might have viewed it unaware of the style and felt shocked by what they found.
However, virtually everyone who went into Activity 2 saw the prior flick, so its nearly identical stylistic choices become a hindrance. The slow-boil approach in the original feels like something that can work once but not again.
Which Activity 2 demonstrates – I guess. Given how bored I became with the prior movie, I can’t claim this one actually fares any worse.
Nonetheless, at least the first film brought some novelty value and left us unsure where it’d go. With Activity 2, we find such a repeat of the original’s approach that nothing along the way boasts the ability to shock or surprise.
Again, at no point during Paranormal Activity did I feel shocked, surprised or entertained. But at least I recognize that it did something then unusual with its approach.
A sequel to that tale needed its own novel path to become something more than a semi-remake. Unfortunately, because it comes with such a similar style, it just feels like a stale rehash.
That said, Activity 2 probably offers the more stimulating movie, if just because we get a little more “action”. Very little actually happened in the prior flick, so even though much of Activity 2 remains stagnant, it does engage in a little more plot material.
This feels like faint praise, though, as awfully little occurs during Activity 2. The second half manages to pick up the pace somewhat, and the film attempts narrative beats beyond just perplexed inhabitants of the “haunted house”.
In an objective sense, I prefer Activity 2 to its predecessor simply because it offers a more coherent attempt at a story. However, it loses points because it sticks so closely to its predecessor’s template.
As such, we wind up with another monotonous journey. Activity 2 threatens more life than the first film, but it still lacks enough actual substance to keep us with it.
