Review: 'Paranormal Activity 2' only boasts of suggestive horror

Film: Paranormal Activity 2
Cast: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Molly Ephraim
Director: Tod Williams
Rating:  * *

Let me begin this review by admitting that I was unmoved by the first Paranormal activity. This specific genre is more than likely to affect people who are easily prone to suggestions while leaving the rest totally cold to it’s clumsily orchestrated eerie shenanigans.

The technical  team for the sequel  has changed  with some new additions to the acting cast. The characters include the Sloats (Micah Sloat and Katie Featherston),  from the first movie. Tod Williams’ follows the same pattern that his predecessor struck gold with-Steadycam, distorted images, low lighting and ponderous narration.

This story takes place in the home of Katie’s sister Kristi (Sprague Grayden) and her family consisting of  her husband, Daniel (Brian Boland), teenage daughter Ali (Molly Ephraim), brand new baby Hunter, and his nanny, Martine (Vivis). The family moves into a house, has a baby and then one fine day they find their home in a shambles. Is it a break-in?

The skeptic father prefers to believe that, while the teenage daughter loves the idea of a ghost in the house. They set up a surveillance system and discover that there is  paranormal malevolence involved and their lives could well be at risk. The look and tone of the original has been captured well .

This time the use of the steadycam is validated effectively by the installation of a high-end surveillance system in the house. The atmosphere is suggestive but the events don’t really play out to provide full satisfaction.  You feel adequately clued in by the long-drawn set-up. The development though, as was the case in the first film, is woefully short on scares. The climax is also pretty pitiful!