In case I didn't review the first film, here's my impression of the film, hot off the collective printing press formed by the connection of my brain and the internet. Although I suppose the actual connection would be my hands? Or the web? Or maybe my laptop? You see what I mean about deteriorating?
I'll start with what happened when I walked in the cinema, generally that can get laughs. And I need laughs. This is meant to be a comedy blog. So I walk in, buy my tickets, and then we go in and sit down.
No wait, I missed the funny part. I bought the tickets illegally! (audience laughter) I'm actually only fourteen years old, whereas the certificate for this film is Fifteen! (further laughs) Stupid bastards! (awkward silence, several audience members leave) Stupid...bloody...(gunshot)
Anyway, I went to the showing at cinema de lux, having decided to treat myself, and since no one else was available, I took Jahan, one of my less conventional friends. Unfortunately this caused multiple problems because:
A. He looks about twelve (apart from the moustache and arm hair)
and B. It's his first time with horror.
The first problem meant I had to use my parents in order to purchase our tickets (crime just isn't cool when your mum and dad help out), and the second meant I had to put up with him squeezing every available part of my body at regular intervals throughout the film.
The film itself I found to be lacking in originality. The jolts where still there, along with new faces to be dragged around the room by scary demons, but it seems a lot like more of the same from my perspective.
I'm not saying I wasn't scared. Tomorrow's stance will testify that I won't sleep tonight. The only problem was that I'd seen the first one, and was able to figure out - through the similarities between the scary moments in either film - the formula. It is as follows.
Normal stuff. Normal stuff. Little gag. Normal stuff. Normal stuff. Slightly worrying occurence. Buzzing noise. Something scary. Repeat until end.
In contrast to it's predecessor (which is also its sequel, though ends up fitting somewhere in the middle) PA2 has more characters, and is therefore more able to create contrasting characters and narrative arcs. There's the woman, who comes off as maternal and caring and anxious throughout, and there's the man, who's big and brave and won't take any of this ghostly shit seriously, then there's the girl, who comes off just about in the middle, and is therefore picked up as the protagonist, and there's a dog and a baby.
I don't know what it is about these kind of bonds, it's something I tried to pull off in my short story I posted a few weeks back, that surreal connection between two opposing things, the great beast and the innocent child. Anyway its tangible in some of the scarier scenes. The dog's never far from the baby's side, standing guard while he sleeps on. It's a beautiful bit of silent acting between two barely sentient beings, but its pulled off immaculately, and of course the baby doesn't just contribute with his existence. There's also the crying. I don't know what the hell they did to that baby to make it cry so hard, maybe they just punched it, but the fear come off in a very real sense, and in a sort of raw sense as well, from something with no language and no knowledge. The baby controls the film in a way. Sort of. Do I know what I'm talking about?
In summary, (because my thighs and fingertips are starting to ache, and there's only so long you can not revise before the guilt starts messing with your bodily functions) the film gives a believable background to its ancestor, with some of the scares we came to love from the first film, and some extra stuff chucked in too. First time PA goers are in for a shock. Second time fans, it's still worth going. But expect a touch of the de ja vu with your spontaneous incontinence.
Robbie out.
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