I didn’t want to watch this. I wasn’t sure how a sequel could be better or scarier than Paranormal Activity, and I certainly wasn’t sure I wanted to see one that was the latter. But then Steve ordered it off Amazon and then it was here and then suddenly I’m in bed and it’s on the telly and I end up being petrified for a full hour and a half and only get three hours’ sleep on a school night.
What’s pretty nifty is how we’re gently introduced to the family and find out the link to the first film, and that this is reinforced all the way through. In a nice way though, not one of those crappy Dan Brown ‘look, remember this thing happened, wait I’ll show you again in case you missed it because you’re a bit slow’ ways. The fact that there are more characters works well too – and adding a pet into the mix (the family’s dog, Abby) makes it even more realistic.*
The super scary bits that also make you feel a bit uncomfortable are where the family’s baby is involved. It’s well done and very creepy.
So basically, I liked it. I’ve heard that people generally didn’t, but as a fan of horror, it ticked all the boxes for me. All of them apart from the one for ‘Realistic Reason for Constantly Filming with a Handheld Camera’, which is ok because there are a handful of other boxes that are more important, including ‘Really Scary’ and ‘Not Like the Saw Franchise’.
*That might not be the case for everyone, but I am completely besotted with our cat Deeley and project my feelings about her onto any and all animals I see. And sometime humans too.
Rating: 
