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PARANORMAL ACTIVITY - REVIEW

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As rubbish as  The Blair Witch Project  was on the whole, at least it opened up new avenues and possibilities for the horror genre. The Blair Witch's ending at least proving, albeit very briefly, that the "handheld" style could indeed bring fresh scares. It took 10 years but finally a film lives up to that premise. Paranormal Activity's clever use of repetition and convincing performances finally captures the inexplicable eerieness of a big empty house in the middle of the night making this the best haunted house movie in a long time. The story may be unlikely but it works and doesn't detract from the film's atmosphere at all. Is it scary? Yes. But not in an obvious, in your face, loud musical sting kind of way. Turn the lights off, pay attention, get into it and you won't sleep a wink.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 - REVIEW

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Concept movies never really live up to their clever premises. And neither did the "classic" of the reality-horror subgenre The Blair Witch Project . A good start and a good end did not make a great film and the dire sequel failed on all accounts. Since then, countless films have attempted to do it right ( My Little Eye , The Fourth Kind ) but only the first Paranormal Activity managed to be consistent and sneaky enough to pull it off. A sequel with a different director was always going to be a gamble and Paranormal Activity 2 thankfully doesn't tank completely. More is at stake here: a baby, a girl, a couple, a maid, a dog... But somehow you never feel the danger you felt in the original film. Perhaps too many cooks spoil the broth and it feels a bit too crowded to truly isolate the audience accordingly. An attempt is made at linking the story of this instalment with the first film but that also doesn't really work as the back-and-forth through the timeline tend