Paranormal Activity 2

Paranormal Activity 2
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Tod Williams
Produced by	Oren Peli Jason Blum Akiva Goldsman
Screenplay by	Michael R. Perry Christopher B. Landon Tom Pabst
Story by	Michael R. Perry
Based on	Characters by Oren Peli
Starring	Brian Boland Molly Ephraim Katie Featherston Seth Ginsberg Sprague Grayden Micah Sloat
Cinematography	Michael Simmonds
Editing by	Gregory Plotkin
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	October 22, 2010 (2010-10-22)
Running time	99 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$3 million
Box office	$177,512,032

Paranormal Activity 2 is a 2010 American supernatural horror film directed by Tod Williams and written by Michael R. Perry. The film is a parallel prequel to the 2007 film Paranormal Activity, beginning two months before and following up with the events depicted in the original film. It was released in theaters at midnight on October 22, 2010 in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Poland, Ireland, the United Kingdom and Canada.

Plot

In 2006, a "burglary" occurs at the home of Kristi (Sprague Grayden) and Dan Rey (Brian Boland). Every room is completely trashed except for their infant son Hunter's bedroom. The only thing stolen is a necklace that Kristi's sister, Katie (Katie Featherston), had given her. Dan installs security cameras throughout the house to watch over Hunter. Martine (Vivis Cortez), the family housekeeper and nanny, attempts to cleanse the house of "evil spirits," and Dan fires her after catching her burning sage. Katie and Kristi talk about being tormented by a demon when they were children. Dan's daughter, Ali (Molly Ephraim), begins investigating the mysterious happenings after she is lured outside by loud banging and the door shuts and locks behind her apparently by itself. She discovers that on occasion, a human can make a deal with a demon for wealth or power by forfeiting the life of their first-born son. She also realizes that until Hunter, there had not been a male child born in Kristi and Katie's family since the time of their great-great grandmother.

The violence continues to escalate and Kristi is tormented further; the family's loyal German Shepherd Dog, Abby, is attacked violently off-camera and apparently suffers a seizure. Dan and Ali take the dog to the vet, leaving Kristi alone with Hunter. She goes to check on the baby and is violently assaulted by an unseen force and dragged into the basement, where she stays for just over an hour. Finally, the basement door opens and Kristi walks through the living room.

The following day, Ali is home with Kristi, who will not get out of bed. Ali hears noises and eventually looks at the inside of the basement door and finds it covered in scratches. She also sees a word, Meus (Latin for "mine"), scratched into the door. After hearing noises, Ali finds Kristi upstairs with Hunter, and Kristi aggressively tells Ali not to touch Hunter. When Dan arrives, Ali, who has watched the security tapes from the night before, begs him to view the footage of Kristi's attack. After watching the tape, he immediately calls Martine, who prepares a cross that will exorcise the demon; Kristi will have no memory of having been possessed. Dan tells Ali that he is going to pass the demon onto Katie so that Kristi and Hunter will be saved. Although Ali begs him not to because it is unfair to Katie, Dan sees no other way to save his wife and son.

That night, when Dan tries to use the cross on Kristi, she violently attacks him, and all the lights in the house go out. They turn the hand-held camera's night vision on, and find that Kristi has disappeared along with Hunter. Furniture all over the house begins toppling over, and the chandeliers shake. Dan chases Kristi into the basement and she attacks him. He touches her with the cross, causing her to collapse to the floor. The ground rumbles and demonic growls and roars are heard, until 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 Katie's house, as depicted in the first film).

Three weeks later, Katie visits and explains how strange things have now begun happening at her house. Kristi tells her to not talk about it just as Katie told her before. She returns home, where she finds that Micah has purchased a new video camera (the rest of the scene consists of approximately the first 2 minutes of the previous film). On October 9th, three nights after Micah is killed, Katie, possessed and bloodstained, breaks into Dan and Kristi's home and kills Dan by breaking his neck. She then climbs the stairs and attacks and kills Kristi in Hunter's room, violently hurling her against the camera and taking the baby. Katie leaves the room, cradling Hunter. The screen fades to black as Hunter's crying dies down and turns into laughter.

The film ends with text stating that Ali was on a school trip and returned home to find the bodies of Daniel and Kristi Rey on October 12th 2006, and that Katie and Hunter's whereabouts remain unknown.

Cast

• Katie Featherston as Katie
• Sprague Grayden as Kristi Rey, Katie's sister
• Brian Boland as Daniel Rey
• Molly Ephraim as Ali Rey, Dan's daughter
• Micah Sloat as Micah Sloat, Katie's boyfriend
• Seth Ginsberg as Brad
• Vivis Cortez as Martine, the nanny/housekeeper
• Jackson Xenia Prieto and William Juan Prieto as Hunter Rey, Dan and Kristi's baby son
• David Bierend as Surveillance Camera

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 Greutert's 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.

Marketing

In a special promotion set up by the film's 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

Paranormal Activity 2 received mixed reviews. Based on 123 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, Paranormal Activity 2 has an overall 59% approval rating from critics, with an average score of 6 out of 10. Rotten Tomatoes states that "Paranormal Activity 2 doesn't cover any new ground, but its premise is still scary — and in some respects, it's 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." Positive reviews tend to view the film as effectively frightening, whereas negative and mixed reviews focus on the movie's 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. The movie has a 5.8 rating at the Internet Movie Database.

Box office

Paranormal Activity 2 broke the record for biggest midnight gross for an R-rated movie with $6.3 million beating previous Watchmen with $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 director's 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.

Sequel

Main article: Paranormal Activity 3

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 film broke financial records upon release, setting a new record for a midnight opening for a horror film ($8 million), the best opening day for a horror film in the United States ($26.2 million), the highest opening for any film in October, highest opening for a film in the fall (September–October), and setting a record opening for the franchise ($52.6 million)

See also

• The Turn of the Screw

External links

• Official website
• Paranormal Activity 2 at AllRovi
• Paranormal Activity 2 at Box Office Mojo
• Paranormal Activity 2 at the Internet Movie Database
• Paranormal Activity 2 at Rotten Tomatoes