Paranormal Activity 2

Plot

In August 2006, a "burglary" occurs at the home of Kristi (Sprague Grayden) and Daniel Rey (Brian Boland). The entire house is trashed except for their infant son Hunters bedroom. Dan installs security cameras throughout the house after the vandalism, which capture many strange occurrences. Martine (Vivis Cortez), the Hispanic family housekeeper and nanny, goes into Hunters room after hearing a loud bang and senses a demonic presence in his room. She takes him downstairs and attempts to cleanse the house of "evil spirits" but when Dan arrives home and catches her burning sage, Martine is fired.

Kristi believes that their home is haunted and tells Daniel. Daniel reviews the footage but dismisses her claims. Kristi talks to her sister Katie (Katie Featherston) about being tormented by a demon when they were little girls. Dans daughter, Ali (Molly Ephraim), begins investigating the mysterious occurrences, and discovers that humans can make deals with demons for wealth or power by forfeiting the soul of their first-born son. She also discovers that Hunter was the first male to be born on Kristis side since the 1930s.

The violence quickly escalates; The familys German shepherd, Abby, becomes aware of the demons presence and is attacked. Dan and Ali take Abby to the veterinarian, leaving Kristi alone with Hunter. When Kristi checks on the baby, the demon assaults her and drags her down to the basement, where she stays for an hour. Finally, the basement door opens and a possessed Kristi walks out. The following day, Ali is home with Kristi, who will not get out of bed. She finds the basement door covered in scratches and the word meus (Latin for "Mine"), etched into it.

Ali goes upstairs to check on Hunter and sees Kristi there, with a strange bite mark on her leg. When Ali tries to get Hunter, Kristi furiously orders her not to touch him. Now terrified, Ali begs Daniel to come home. After he arrives, she shows him the footage of Kristis attack. He immediately calls Martine, who prepares a cross to exorcise the demon; and tells them that Kristi will have no memory of being possessed. Since the curse can only be transferred to a blood relative, Dan tells Ali he is going to pass the demon onto Katie so that Kristi and Hunter will be safe. Ali begs him not to because it is unfair to Katie, but Dan sees no other way to save his wife and son.

That night, when Dan tries to use the cross on Kristi, she attacks him, and all the houselights go out. Using the handheld cameras night vision he finds Kristi and Hunter have disappeared. Furniture starts to topple over, and the chandeliers begin to shake. Dan chases Kristi into the basement, where she attacks him. After he touches her with the cross she collapse. Dan hears demonic growls and finally, the shaking stops. Dan puts Kristi to bed and burns a photo of a young Katie (the same photo Micah later finds in the attic of his and Katies house in the first film).

Three weeks later, Katie visits and explains that strange things have started happening at her house. She then returns home to her boyfriend Micah (Micah Sloat). On October 9, the night after Micah is killed, a possessed and bloodstained Katie breaks into Dan and Kristis home and kills Dan by snapping his neck while he watches TV. She then kills Kristi in Hunters room, violently hurling her at the camera, and takes the baby. She leaves the room, cradling Hunter, and the screen fades to black as Hunters crying turns into laughter.

An epilogue text states that Ali was on a school trip and when she returned home three days later, she found the bodies of Daniel and Kristi. Katie and Hunters whereabouts remain unknown.

Cast

Production

Paramount and DreamWorks hired screenwriter Michael R. Perry to create Paranormal Activity 2. Oren Peli, the director of the first film, served as a producer for this prequel. Kevin Greutert, director of Saw VI, was initially hired to direct the prequel; however, Lions Gate Entertainment exercised a clause in Greuterts contract to have him direct the final film in the Saw franchise. Both of the actors from the first film, Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat, reprise their roles in the prequel. Tod Williams directed Paranormal Activity 2, which started production in May 2010 and finished filming in only three weeks.

Marketing

In a special promotion set up by the films producers, participants had a chance to win a free movie ticket if they were in the top twenty cities to demand the film, via Eventful.com. The teaser trailer was seen with The Twilight Saga: Eclipse upon its release on June 30, 2010. Cinemark pulled the trailer from several Texas theaters after receiving complaints that it was too frightening. In Mexico, it was attached to the 3D version of Resident Evil: Afterlife. A second theatrical trailer was released on October 1, 2010. The trailer was attached to Devil, My Soul to Take and Jackass 3D.

Release

The film was released in the United States on October 22, 2010. The film was made available in IMAX format as well as standard.

Critical reception

Based on 130 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, Paranormal Activity 2 has an overall 58% approval rating from critics, with an average score of 6 out of 10. Rotten Tomatoes states that "Paranormal Activity 2 doesnt cover any new ground, but its premise is still scary—and in some respects, its a better film than the original." Artist Direct calls it "one of the scariest films of all time." Entertainment Weekly said that the film "blends shock and suspense and smart and scary"; reviewer Owen Gleiberman called it a "shivery-skillful, highly worthy fear-factor sequel" and wrote, "The images all point down, which is subtly disquieting, and each one is composed with enough wide-angle space and distance, and enough nooks and crannies, so that even when nothing is happening, the often dead-silent shots tend to grow scarier the more you look at them... It made me jump, sweat, and chew my fingernails." Positive reviews tend to view the film as effectively frightening, whereas negative and mixed reviews focus on the movies perceived slow start. By comparison, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received a "mixed or average" score of 53, based on 23 reviews. Roger Ebert, who awarded the original film three and a half stars, awarded Paranormal Activity 2 one-and-a-half out of a possible four stars.

Box office

Paranormal Activity 2 broke the record for biggest midnight gross for an R-rated film with $6.3 million, beating the previous record-holder Watchmen by $4.6 million, and broke the record for biggest opening for a horror movie of all time. On its opening day, Paranormal Activity 2 placed number one at the box office, making $20,100,000 and finished with a total of $41,500,000 estimated over the weekend, placing first at the box office. It has currently grossed $84,752,907 in North America and $92,759,125 overseas, giving the film a worldwide total of $177,512,032.

Home media

Paranormal Activity 2 was released on DVD/Blu-ray and video on demand/pay-per-view on February 8, 2011, and includes an unrated directors cut and deleted scenes. Paranormal Activity 2 was placed at #1 for top Blu-ray and rental sales for its first week of being out.

Sequels and spin-offs

Paranormal Activity 3 is a 2011 American supernatural horror film, directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. It is the third film of the Paranormal Activity series and serves as a prequel, set 18 years prior to the events of the first two films. It was released in theaters on October 21, 2011.

The fourth installment, Paranormal Activity 4, was released on October 18, 2012 in the United States. It was planned to take place five years after the events of Paranormal Activity 2; Katie and Hunter have moved into a new house and their neighbors, Alex and her mother, begin experiencing paranormal events taking place in their own home. Although a box office success, Paranormal Activity 4 was a critical failure.

On October 21, 2012, Paramount announced that Paranormal Activity 5 will be released in October 2014. However, in mid July 2013, it was reported that the film was pushed back to October 2014, with the spin-off film Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones being pushed back to January 3, 2014. Paramount later moved Paranormal Activity 5 to March 13, 2015, and then to October 23, 2015, also giving the film a new title (Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension).