Paranormal Activity 2
for some language and brief violent material.
Reviewed by: Joseph Yates
CONTRIBUTOR—first time reviewer
| Moral Rating: | Extremely Offensive |
| Moviemaking Quality: |
|
| Primary Audience: | Adults, Older Teens |
| Genre: | Psychological-Horror Sequel |
| Length: | 1 hr. 31 min. |
| Year of Release: | 2010 |
| USA Release: |
October 22, 2010 (wide—2,900+ theaters) DVD: February 8, 2011 |
demons in the Bible
DEMON POSSESSION and Influence—Can Christians be demon possessed? In what ways can Satan and his demons influence believers? Answer
What is the Occult? Answer
THE OCCULT—What does the Bible say about it? Answer
ghosts in the Bible
FEAR, Anxiety and Worry… What does the Bible say? Answer
AFRAID OF THE DARK—How can I help my child to trust in God’s care when she is afraid at night? Answer
| Featuring | Katie Featherston |
| Director |
Tod Williams |
| Producer | Paramount Pictures, Jason Blum, Jeanette Brill, Akiva Goldsman, Oren Peli, Steven Schneider |
| Distributor |
Movies in this series: Paranormal Activity (2009), Paranormal Activity 2 (2010), Paranormal Activity 3 (2011), Paranormal Activity 4 (2012)
“Paranormal Activity 2” starts with a suburban American family moving into a new house. All goes well, and they enjoy living in their new home. Unfortunately for them, something is not right. Strange things start happening in their home. Several mysterious break-ins with nothing or next to nothing missing catch no one’s eye. Gradually, the disturbances start getting worse until the family realize that all is not well.
The family becomes rattled as things get worse. Even the little infant and dog begin to notice things. The mother in the family has her sister come visit, and she notices these things, too.
Moral Issues
“Paranormal Activity 2” is rated R for some language and brief violent material by the MPA. Language includes about 14 f-words, 1 a-word, 1 “d-mn”, “sh-t” (7), “G-d” (11), “J-sus” (2), and “J-sus Chr-st” (2). Other crude language includes “pee” and “cr-p” (2).
Sexual content includes several female characters in bikinis or low-cut outfits, and a few crude sexual terms, such as “p-ssy” (8)—once spelling it out slowly on a Ouija board—also “smash me”, “tool”, and “horny”. One female character remarks to another how men are touchy (implied as sexual). Another female character is seen naked in the bath tub with her body obscured in soap bubbles. It is implied that a couple is living together unmarried.
Negative spiritual content is throughout the movie. The main characters, a man with his wife and two kids, hire a foreign housekeeper who performs minor rituals in the house to “get rid of evil spirits.” The father objects to these rituals and fires the housekeeper. These rituals are performed multiple times and in different ways. Other rituals are mentioned, but not shown on screen (sacrificing goats). The father hints at atheism and unbelief in anything spiritual. Two sisters mention that they once visited a seance. A scene transpires where two characters play with a Ouji board.
The main plot of the movie focuses on ghosts, and later demons and what disturbances they cause to the family in and around their house. Multiple characters are affected by demons, and a couple characters become demon-possessed. ***SPOILER*** A demon-possessed character brutally murders three people, two murders of which are shown. The same character kidnaps another. ***END SPOILER***
Other spiritual content includes crosses and talk of witches.
Conclusion
The film starts by acquainting the audience with the family, to gain sympathy for their plight. However, with the use of so much evil spirituality, this goes nowhere. Seances are mentioned, a Ouji board is played with, and characters become demon-possessed. This is billed as entertainment. Jesus said in Revelation 9:21 that,
“Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts (NIV).
Today, people have become so engrossed supernatural evil as entertainment, when these things are all forbidden in the Bible. Every single spiritual thing in this movie is forbidden by God. If we shouldn’t do it, should we really watch it? Save your money, a better current choice may be “Red”.
Violence: Heavy / Profanity: Extreme / Sex/Nudity: Heavy
See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.
Unfortunately, the nasty maid frightened the husband with the idea that the only way to ensure the demon didn’t return was to sic it on a blood relative-the sister. So he did, and whether his actions actually sent the demon to the sister or the demon chose to do so anyway, the consequences were tragic: his family was not protected, but killed. Rather than trusting the power of the cross alone, he used witchcraft and paid for it dearly. I thought this moral of the tale was clear, Biblical, and vital. ***END SPOILER***
Moral rating: Average / Moviemaking quality: 5
The first film started its scares out small but it started building them right away. In this film, it takes almost half the movie before this family even seems to realize anything is going on. One of the reasons that “Paranormal Activity 1” was so scary was because the characters are terrified from the beginning, and, therefore, when even small things like keys fall off a counter, we are convinced that an evil force is behind, not a special effects man. When some scares do start, I thought FINALLY the movie is going to start, but then often times there would be a logical explanation for them, so we were back to square one with the family, not even knowing that something was going on. Some scenes even lead you to believe something scary is going to happen and then conclude with a lame joke.
When the scares finally do start, it is too late, I was so bored by that time I couldn’t even tell you how effective they were, honestly, because I had just given up caring by then.
The R rating is relatively mild with a little more violence than the first film and with just enough f-words thrown in probably so that viewers will think that an R rating will guarantee a scary movie. Guess what. It didn’t.
Moral rating: Average / Moviemaking quality: 2
Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: none
…it’s a very light, supernaturally-themed film compared to what’s out there.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Average / Moviemaking quality: 4½