Normally this is where the starring part goes but apparently we’re still supposed to believe that all this is happening for real so I couldn’t find a proper cast list and I’m not going to bother trying. Excuse me if I seem a bit sleepy but it’s because PA2 was basically putting me to sleep. Going against what I’m sure is popular opinion, I didn’t find the movie scary at all....

Follow up:

Don’t get me wrong, there are moments in here that will have you jumping in your chair but a jump scare is cheap and easy and the film won’t be keeping me up tonight. I just don’t get why this film is scaring the crap out of people. Every horror movie has a jump scare in it. Jason’s hand bursting out of the water, the infamous look in the medicine cabinet mirror, then open it, then close it and ‘BOOM’ there’s the bad guy and of course who can forget the turn around and run into someone you think is the killer but it’s really just your friend. It’s not hard to make someone jump. I should know because the kids love to hide outside the bathroom door and I enjoy getting a good jump scare in a theater because the reaction is always the same. Everyone screams and then they laugh. It’s hilarious to watch but it’s not very effective.

I wanna have the crap scared out of me so I’m turning lights ON as I go to bed. I’ve seen a few movies at home that made me have to get up and lock the front door so I could finish watching them. Now that’s scary. I’m sure you’re wondering what the hell the difference is and it’s the exact reason that I think PA2 fails. The movie isn’t creepy. Make your heart skip a beat? Yes. Creep you the hell out so the hair stands up on the back of your neck? No.
The first film didn’t have much of an effect on me either but it had some moments in there that I thought were at least creepy. Every time Katie just stood there for hours next to the bed and the clock would speed up while she just rocked in that weird fast forward kind of way was creepy. The footprints in the hallway. Creepy. PA2 skips all those moments and goes straight for the loud bangs, doors slamming shut and the obvious girl getting dragged around. I do find it impressive to watch someone get dragged around though!

I’ll give you the good parts of the film before I rattle off the endless stream of annoying things. I liked how it tied into the first film. By watching the second you get a bigger picture type deal on the reasons behind the first film. It shouldn’t be a secret now that the family in the second film is related to Katie from the first one and it’s her sister’s family that is being haunted now. What we finally get is a much better understanding of why they’re being haunted in the first place. Basically the second film explains why everything happened in the first film so think of this more as a prequel.

Seriously though, that’s it for the good things. Now the bad things, which some people won’t probably think are that bad really. First of all, it’s the same friggin movie. It looks the same, it’s set up the same and pretty much the same things happen. There’s no surprises here except for when you hear a big bang or see a door open and then slam shut. Some people may think ‘Hey great, I loved the first movie so I get to be scared all over again.’ I think it’s just lazy filmmaking. If the first movie was pumpkin pie than the second one is pumpkin pie with whip cream. They’re basically the same but now they’ve added a little bit. Why are we accepting this? Do something new! Don’t put the same crap in a new wrapper and sell it back to me again. I wanna see something different!

Tis the motto of Hollywood though, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. We dished out our money the first time so we’ll do it again. I don’t expect them to throw the rule book out the window but the movie employs the same cheap scares the first one did. Give me a little change! I guess they must have changed something though because I don’t remember seeing one thing from the trailers in the movie. It seems to be an ongoing complaint because I read tons of comments all over with people saying the same thing. It sucks when something is advertised one way and turns out another but this is pretty blatant. You draw people in because they’re interested in what they saw in the trailer but you don’t show them any of that at all and give them something different.

That has sparked the curiosity though. Now people are starting to wonder how many endings there are or what will be on the DVD when it comes out. After seeing the film it seems like a lot of the stuff that was missing would fit in well at the end so even I have to wonder. Speaking of the ending though, what the hell happened here? It was the most lame ending I’ve seen in quite a while. Actually, the ending isn’t even original and riffs off the first film as well. Not to mention that it’s over so fast, almost like they didn’t know what the hell to do so they just threw it in. I hope there’s another ending out there that adds more to this because what’s on display in the theater was bad.

Finally, they’ve removed all the creepiness of the first film. Katie standing around the bed was freaking creepy and even though they manage to get a little bit of that in here, the rest of the movie is stuck with jump scares. It just wasn’t creepy and that’s what left me yawning. I’m disappointed that the film is just a rehash of the first movie. They use the same types of scares and it’s packaged in the same way. The only addition is a crying baby and a barking dog. I literally feel like I watched the same movie but with a better explanation and a quick end it now finish.

In the end if you liked the first movie then I can’t imagine you’d hate this one. Hell, it’s the same movie. Save yourself $10 and just watch the first one again, at least it managed to be a little creepy. This is a perfect example of what’s wrong with movies today. The first one made money so they churn out another one without even trying to make it better. Already they’re talking about a third film and I hope they go a different way with it. If I have to watch another in the dark, night vision camera movie with slamming doors and some girl getting dragged around I’ll have to stab myself to death and I’d hate to do that right before Halloween.

Source: Will (The Film Reel)