Qt3 Movie Podcast: Paranormal Activity 2

[gameoverman]

I’d like to point out that a movie can end with an ending and still setup a sequel. The Matrix and Star Wars come to mind.

The first PA ended with a definite finale. We KNOW Katie’s fate, we actually see it with our own eyes. And yet there was still a sequel.

The end of PA2 tells us nothing. Using the dog as an example, we are never shown the dog’s specific fate, however we are shown enough to form legitimate ideas. Not so with the baby. Does the demon walk out of that house with the baby? Does the demon do whatever it is going to do inside the house? Does it need to perform some kind of ‘demon claiming baby’ ceremony first? Is it going to bite the baby like with the others? They could have given us a hint instead of getting a case of Blair Witch Vagueness Syndrome.

[Bill_Dungsroman]

@Kelly Wand

Having pondered why I was so disappointed in this movie, I think it boils down to how they Lucas-ized the demon and shattered his mystique (I consider it a “he”). In the first movie, we see possessed Katie standing up and staring expressionlessly at Micah while he sleeps for 6 hours. In the dark. I love this sense of inscrutable Otherness. Why’s it doing that? What’s it thinking? It’s a demon, its time sense is so foreign to ours that we, or rather the “authorities” aka filmmakers, have to fast-forward the time code for 6 hours just to watch it. But for the demon 6 hours is nothing. Or is it? Why’s it watching him anyway? Because it’s a demon. We can’t relate. Its unknowable and unknowably malicious.

I won’t argue that outright, because I agree. However, the demon did do some odd things in the sequel. Why doesn’t it like the aquadroid? Why does it do its business in the basement and what happens there?

@Kelly Wand

By comparison, in the second movie, we learn that great-grandmothers can make bargains with the demon. That it just wants to cuddle cute babies. That it helpfully spells out babies’ names on Ouija boards that no one notices. That it can be scared off temporarily by incense, annoyed temporarily by dogs, be temporarily bought off by burnt photos, and knock cameras over in a basement sequence with no payoff and no injuries to anyone. That it executes predictable scares and jolts right on cue when we expect it, all the time. I vastly preferred Micah’s succinct explanation in the first movie: “Demons…suck.”

Wait, so getting more of the story is a bad thing? Come on now, it doesn’t just want to cuddle babies. And the Ouija board was a recycled gimmick, it did the same thing essentially in the first film. As for incense and dogs, the housekeeper and the dog were protective of the baby as well as the house as a whole, essentially believers from the start. Whatever the demon wants with Hunter, it needs to withdraw and then try to remove those threats. And I liked how it essentially played along with the efforts to send it to her sister. Sure, go ahead pal, see how that ultimately works out. and a large part of why the scares were predictable (to you, I suppose, i thought it still had a few good ones) was the trailer being run ad nauseum.

@Kelly Wand

I’m sort of bummed this is probably going to be a milked-dry franchise. Horror masterpieces are better as one-offs. Speaking of which, in the novel sequel to Rosemary’s Baby, by the original author, you find out everything in the first book (and movie) was a dream. /goosebump

:O Agree about one-offs, though. Hell, even non-horror films (such as 2001) would benefit from this. Nobody cares about the stargate whosits and what it’s really really for, Arthur.

[Bill_Dungsroman]

@gameoverman

I’d like to point out that a movie can end with an ending and still setup a sequel. The Matrix and Star Wars come to mind.

The first PA ended with a definite finale. We KNOW Katie’s fate, we actually see it with our own eyes. And yet there was still a sequel.

“Katie’s whereabouts are unknown.” That is essentially what it said at the end of both films.

@gameoverman

The end of PA2 tells us nothing. Using the dog as an example, we are never shown the dog’s specific fate, however we are shown enough to form legitimate ideas. Not so with the baby. Does the demon walk out of that house with the baby? Does the demon do whatever it is going to do inside the house? Does it need to perform some kind of ‘demon claiming baby’ ceremony first? Is it going to bite the baby like with the others? They could have given us a hint instead of getting a case of Blair Witch Vagueness Syndrome.

So Kelly doesn’t like it because it’s not mysterious enough and you dislike it because it’s too mysterious. WELPS.

[gameoverman]

No, taking the mystery out of it is a separate problem. That’s something that happens during the story, I’m talking about how the story ends.

We do know Katie’s fate at the end of PA1- possessed and killing Micah. What happens to DEMON Katie is another thing.

In PA2 it’s all about Hunter. So what happens to Hunter? Nothing, in fact that last we see him he is in his own home, in perfect health, suffering no apparent ill effects from the events of the movie.

[Kelly_Wand]

@gameoverman

No, taking the mystery out of it is a separate problem. That’s something that happens during the story, I’m talking about how the story ends.

We do know Katie’s fate at the end of PA1- possessed and killing Micah. What happens to DEMON Katie is another thing.

In PA2 it’s all about Hunter. So what happens to Hunter? Nothing, in fact that last we see him he is in his own home, in perfect health, suffering no apparent ill effects from the events of the movie.

Yeah, and that somehow translated to Tom as, “The baby DIES.”

Bottom line: the first movie was scary by basically showing nothing happening for long stretches. The sequel’s way more “active” but never scary. I predict the 3rd one’s even more active and less scary.

[tomchick]

What, you think the demon wanted the baby to raise in a loving and nurturing environment? I’m telling you guys, shortly after the blackout at the end of PA2, she eats that baby. Duh. Y’all know jack squat about demons.

 -Tom

[Nawid_A]

Just started the podcast and what is with the Radiolab/Paranormal Activity thing again?

[tomchick]

@Nawid A

Just started the podcast and what is with the Radiolab/Paranormal Activity thing again?

Fail! :)

-Tom

[Kelly_Wand]

@TomChick

What, you think the demon wanted the baby to raise in a loving and nurturing environment? I’m telling you guys, shortly after the blackout at the end of PA2, she eats that baby. Duh. Y’all know jack squat about demons.

 -Tom

Dude, a demon wouldn’t preface eating a snack with a bunch of parlor tricks and multiple possessions. That’s what separates us from them.

[ChristienMurawski]

@Kelly Wand

In the first movie, we see possessed Katie standing up and staring expressionlessly at Micah while he sleeps for 6 hours. In the dark. I love this sense of inscrutable Otherness. Why’s it doing that? What’s it thinking? It’s a demon, its time sense is so foreign to ours that we, or rather the “authorities” aka filmmakers, have to fast-forward the time code for 6 hours just to watch it. But for the demon 6 hours is nothing. Or is it? Why’s it watching him anyway? Because it’s a demon. We can’t relate. Its unknowable and unknowably malicious.

I like this, but I have a tendency to see this differently. I don’t think it’s just the demon exhibiting ‘otherness’–although, again, I do like that concept–I think those moments are all about struggle. I think it’s Katie trying to fight to stay Katie. Her internal (and unconscious) struggle with the demon. And I love that the image of her standing there for hours, swaying back and forth a bit, is all we see of it.

-xtien

"I’m not really evil, but I can be evil is my point.