Paranormal Activity 2 Information

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, the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Poland and Ireland.Paranormal Activity 2 is also the longest film in the franchise, with a run time of 101 minutes, or 1 hour and 41 minutes.

Plot

In August 2006, a "burglary" occurs at the home of Kristi (Sprague Grayden) and Dan Rey (Brian Boland), trashing their house and leaving only their infant son Hunter's bedroom untouched. The only thing stolen is a necklace that Kristi's sister, Katie (Katie Featherston), had given to her. Dan installs security cameras throughout the house after the vandalism. When the family begins to notice paranormal occurrences on the cameras, they realize they are being haunted. 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.

Kristi believes that their home is haunted and tells Daniel; Daniel reviews the footage but dismisses her claim. 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; she discovers that humans can make deals with demons for wealth or power by forfeiting the soul of their first-born son--Hunter was the first male to be born on Kristi's side since the 1930s.

The violence escalates; the family's German shepherd, Abby, is attacked and apparently suffers a seizure. 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 sees a 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. Ali begs Daniel to come home; after he arrives, she shows him the footage of Kristi's attack. He immediately calls Martine, who prepares a cross to exorcise the demon; Kristi will have no memory of having been possessed. Dan tells Ali he is going to pass the demon onto Katie so that Kristi and Hunter will be saved. 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 the houselights all go out. Using the handheld camera's night vision, he finds Kristi and Hunter have disappeared. Furniture begins toppling over, and the chandeliers shake. Dan chases Kristi into the basement, where she attacks him. He touches her with the cross, causing her to 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 Katie's house in the first film).

Three weeks later, Katie visits and explains that strange things have begun happening at her house. She returns home to Micah; the rest of the scene consists of the first minute of the previous film. On October 9th, a night after Micah is killed, a possessed and bloodstained Katie, breaks into Dan and Kristi's home and kills Dan by breaking his neck while he's watching TV. She then kills Kristi in Hunter's room, violently hurling her against the camera, and takes the baby. She leaves the room, cradling Hunter. The screen fades to black as Hunter's crying turns into laughter.

An epilogue text states that Ali was on a school trip and returned home to find the bodies of Daniel and Kristi three days later, and that Katie and Hunter's whereabouts remain unknown. Static sounds of Hunter, his toys and other technology are played during the credits.

Cast

• Sprague Grayden as Kristi Rey, Katie's younger sister
• Brian Boland as Daniel Rey, Kristi's husband
• Molly Ephraim as Ali Rey, Dan's daughter
• Katie Featherston as Katie (herself)
• Micah Sloat as Micah (himself)
• Seth Ginsberg as Brad, boyfriend of Ali
• Vivis Cortez as Martine, the nanny/housekeeper
• Jackson Xenia Prieto and William Juan Prieto as Hunter Rey, Dan and Kristi's infant son

Despite having supporting roles, Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat have been credited first in the credits.

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 to positive 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"; 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 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 5.7 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 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 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.

Soundtrack

• My Last Breath - Evanescence
• Electrical Storm - U2
• The Downfall of Us All - A Day To Remember

Sequels

See Paranormal Activity 3 for more information 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.

On October 21st 2012, Paramount announced that Paranormal Activity 5 will be released in October 2013. However, in mid July 2013, it was reported that the film is pushed back to January 3rd 2014, due to production problems.