Paranormal Activity 2

GENERAL INFORMATION

Release Info: 22 October 2010

Director: Tod Williams
Writer:Michael R. Perry and Christopher Landon
Running Time: 1 hour and 31 minutes

Staring: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat and Molly Ephraim

Rating? R

SPOILERS? NO

REVIEWS

IMDB: 5.7 of 10

MY RATING: 7 or 10

STORYLINE

Daniel Rey and wife, Kristi; daughter, Ali; toddler son, Hunter, and their dog, move to Carlsbad, CA. A few days later their residence is broken into, however, nothing appears to be missing. In order to prevent re-occurrences, they install a number of security cameras that will record everything on a DVR. After they hire nanny to look after Hunter, she informs them that there is something wrong in their house and performs prayers, much to the chagrin of Daniel, who lets her go. He will subsequently regret this decision as more inexplicable and strange incidents occur, with Ali concluding, after a research, that their house may be possessed by a demonic entity.

MY REVIEW

I liked this movie. Not the best of the best, but solid.

This is a legit high quality sequel. Creep factor was pretty high and I was really happy with the plot and the twists that kept the movie going.

I loved the idea of proving more of the backstory for Katie along with her sister. It started to actually feel like the developing characters were coming together and forming a fully functional character! I liked this movie better than the first one. Yes, it was a little slow to start, but the final act of this movie was quite likely the best I've seen in a long time in this genre. Where this movie went in the right direction for me was the additional camera angles all over the house. I appreciated the filmmakers understanding our need to see MORE!

It's a pretty standard scary movie with some additional pieces that make it not suck!

The Shrine

GENERAL INFORMATION

Release Info:  14 October 2010

Director: Jon Knautz
Writer:Jon Knautz and Brendan Moore
Running Time:  1 Hour and 25 minutes

Staring: Aaron Ashmore, Cindy Sampson and Meghan Heffern

Rating? Not Rated

SPOILERS? YES

REVIEWS

IMDB: 5.6 of 10

MY RATING: 4 of 10

STORYLINE

After a young American backpacker goes missing in Europe, a group of Journalists link his disappearance to a remove village in Poland. They travel there in hopes of getting the story but as they unravel the secrets behind this mysterious village, they are pursued by hostile locals. Unable to escape, the become the next victims of the ritual human sacrifice. Forced into the gruesome relate of a true survival horror story.

MY REVIEW

The best that I can say about this movie is that it's a really good B Movie. It definitely take itself too seriously for its own good. There are lots of elements that could have been taken to a better place or even to a sense of humor. The characters were lack-luster and boring with little real plot enough to carry themselves through to the next scene. Nothing much to make me root for any of them to win or survive. It just feels wrong. Polish people played by non-Poles filmed in Poland which was OBVIOUSLY not Poland. Could have made that at least a joke.

The story follows Carmen, played by Cindy Simpson, who is a tenacious troublemaker journalist.(side note-- why is it always a tenacious journalist who finds the crazy mystery and has to solve it?) She's on the hunt for missing American Eric Taylor, played by Ben Lewis, who we already know was sacrificed by a bunch of weird robed Polish Locals. For some reason, she believes she is the only one who can solve this crazy mystery... Where is the Scooby Mystery Machine when we need it! We meet her cameraman boyfriend Marcus, played by Aaron Ashmore. He's not the voice of reason and sticks around while the others retreat to a seemingly safe distance.

I did like the idea of the setting in the rural creepy town of Albania Poland and all of the feels that it evoked. Seemed to me a little Hostel-ish in the weird setting and "Americans fall victim to the creepy guys from insert-a-country."

Yes, it's got some really creepy scenes specifically when the group gets lost in the misty forest and runs across the weird demon-like statue in the mist and find the corpse of the boy they are looking for in a chamber underneath.

I did visually enjoy the buff tool-wielding locals that were chasing them! :) But as a final note, the end is likely the best part but it's not a real winner for a scary or horror movie. It falls flat and leaves me wondering if I could have done it better.