Paranormal Inactivity

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You know what still works for me here with the second Paranormal Activity film? The formula of forcing us the audience to stare at a static image of a large space with lots of doorways and rooms included inside the frame for such a long time that you work yourself into a fit, wondering when the scare is coming. It sets my nerves on edge, in a good way.

Unfortunately this here sequel gets in its own way too many times. There are too many cameras that they edit back and forth between cutting up the tension they're building, for one. For another, if you thought Katie and Micah were unlikable - and I did yet I still liked them, if that makes sense - then multiply that by a whole family of relatives and then divide out most of the personality, while adding in a couple of new dashes of particular grossness (hello, father who stares way too long at his daughter painting her toes in bed). I mean two years after the fact I can immediately recall Katie and Micah's names but here less than 12 hours after watching PA2 I have no idea what any of these people's names were.

But the biggest problem is that, besides answering a couple of questions that nobody ever had when they left the first film - find out why Micah likes video-cameras! - they never manufactured a purpose for the sequel to exist. I mean we get that it's for money, that's fine if you just give us something new to savor. The scares here are entirely redundant reenactments of the things that happened in the first film. See doors open by themselves and weird shadows move in the darkness. See a woman get dragged across the floor by an unseen force. Okay we'll do it twice in a row, because we're Part 2 yo! See someone get thrown into the camera with full-force at the end! The one example of this that worked for me worked because it was transferred to an infant and that's admittedly fucked up. But it doesn't add anywhere near up to a nearly two-hour film. This could've been extras on the DVD and everybody except the studio's wallet would've been better off.
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