Paranormal Activity 2

Like Oren Peli, who created the first film, director Tod Williams keeps the dialogue So-Cal dumb and colorless, which must be part of the scare plan but makes both these movies hard to sit through.

...reaffirms familiar scare tactics...taps into a certain kind of eeriness implicit in the threat to suburban domesticity, which was precisely what made "Poltergeist" so frightening back in the day.

Less scary than a toaster.

Even knowing what's likely to come -- the doors opening on their own, the skeptical characters scoffing at metaphysical explanations, the unheeded warnings from paranormally gifted guests -- doesn't make it any less nailbiting to watch.

It's simultaneously a lot more expensive and a lot cheaper.

Demons of mediocrity, be gone! Here we have a shrewd sequel a touch better than the original.

Earns some really nice chills, especially once we hit the big finale.

This demon is more like a lousy roommate, turning the lights on, leaving the cabinets open and making loud noises in the kitchen while everybody's trying to sleep.

Paranormal Activity 2 is surprisingly boring, not scary and lazily made. This is hands down one of the worst horror movies that I've ever seen.

It's the scariest movie in years.

To put it simply, if you've seen the first film, then you've seen this film. There's nothing new offered here, so there's not much of a point in bothering with it.

While the meagre rationing of shocks is undoubtedly frustrating for the bulk of the movie, this allows the final act plenty of room to crank the fear factor up to 11.