bbc.co.uk/5live. Bring your slippers and blankets folks and settle in for another fine Kermode review. Saying that, this movie might make you snooze...
Hi John, Mark is an author of two books and is a musician, as well as being the UK's most well known film critic, contributing up to seven reviews per week on BBC Five Live as well as a column in The Observer. He writes on film for many different publications and curates numerous film festivals.
Andy Kaufman once said (I paraphrasing) that comedy was all about surprise, and if the audience shows up expecting to laugh and doesn't, that's a big surprise. Maybe the minds behind the Paranormal Activity franchise are working on the same theory with horror.
Brillaint review. i felt the same way about the first Paranormal Activity. that "zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....BOO! zzzzzzzzzzzzzz..... BOO!" thing is the best description of it.....without saying the phrase he basically made the very important point....being startled is not the same as being scared.......
I just watched this review, and when Mark called it 'one of the most boring things I've ever seen', my laptop shut itself down. Now that happened because either the paranormal spirit in my laptop reacted to the good Doctor's words and punished me for watching him, or I forgot to plug in the cable. I think it's clearly the former.
Haha this is my favourite Kermode review yet! He's absolutely right, it is one of the most boring films ever and I agree with everything he says in this review!
I was talked into seeing this movie by a friend who swore her friend said it was better than the original. Having never seen the original, I went along. Here's what went through my mind while watching it: 1) I just paid $10.00 to watch something someone shot with a consumer camcorder, 2) forty minutes of absolutely nothing...I lay my head against the theater wall. 3) BAM! What was that? Oh, a pot fell off it's hook? Well, at least SOMETHING happened. 4) Twenty minutes of more nothing (this camera, that camera, that camera, etc., etc...) and I lay my head against the theater wall and close my eyes again. 5) BAM v.2! What was it THIS time?! Oh, all the kitchen doors opened up at the same time. 6) $10.00 for this crap. 7) Stuff starts to happen and I couldn't give a damn. Then someone from the first film comes in and snaps sopmeone's neck. The End. Everyone leaves the theater like zombies. Incredibly lame.
Mark Kermode must have teeth on conveyor belts like sharks do, since this isn't the first time he makes mention of growing new ones during a movie. Maybe that's why he has a lot of bite in his reviews...his teeth don't wear out, he just discards them! =P
@Richyn1988 He did say that the movie plodded, that he didn't care about any of the characters and that it was boring. He didn't say anything about the effects, but he thoroughly lambasted writing, directing and acting.
After about an hour I actually wished it had just stayed on the static shot of the pool with that thing floating. Seriously that or the dog tossing and turning became more interesting than any plot the film claimed to have.
@thedonofnapoli They're about two different films, it's perfectly reasonable for a number of people to agree with two contradicting comments on two different videos when they are about two different films regardless of one of them being the sequel. The highest amount of thumb ups for a negative comment about the film (with no mention of genre) on this video has 24 out of 13000 views, with 6 on the first one out of 18000 views, it's just such a broad generalisation.
@thedonofnapoli My bad on that one. The top comments to me about the volume of the video and Blair Witch exclusively, people are just chatting about it, yeah a few might just be agreeing with him for the sake of it but to generalise it like that based on the thumbs up on the comments seems a little silly, there's plenty of reasoned discussion from various sides of the argument about these films in both the review's comment sections.
@Badthoughts90 And you're fine for examples, I don't doubt some people do that with certain celebrities, I have a high opinion of this fanbase in particular though, I think they should be given a little more credit.
I wouldn't say he's not rude to anyone- Danny Dyer took offence and some (apparently devoting 3 pages of his autobiography to ranting about him) but generally when Mark gets personal, his targets are legit.
I actually totally agree with him. I saw it today and was really looking forward to it but it was just awful. It was slow, boring and not even scary. The first one was much better and that's saying something!
i couldn't disagree more. i saw this with a big audience all demographics, and they were all engaged in the movie. its works as well as the 1st movie.as does a good job at tying them together. most horrors movies have long periods of banality. i dont even like horror movies but i say this one works in all the superficial ways the exorcist does.
@Catachan1brainleaf two of my friends thought the first one was an actual doc,they still havent lived that down to this day,it was ray harryhausen effects and bad acting,they do take drugs in all fairness.it is america as well,probably get domonologist pizza delivery guys.they were the fastest credits ive ever seen as well
@thedonofnapoli Nice snap judgement there darling. Kermode doesn't commend or insult the genre in either of the reviews, he calls to mind other successful films from the genre in his review of the first film for the sake of context and in this review he barely mentions genre at all, he simply labels the film catastrophically dull, so that part of your hypothesis falls flat on it's face. As for the comments on the film itself, his view on it is a fairly common one, simple as that.
I reckon he should've stopped doing the "..............BOO" thing after the first time. That bored me to tears and I groaned every time he started it up again.
It wasn't just boring, it was outright insulting. Everything about it was an insult to the viewer. Afterwards we discussed how unfair it is that people consider Ed Wood the worst director of all time (he isn't) when ANY of his movies exhibits more talent, care, and entertainment value than paranormal activity. Even Uwe Boll movies have more soul than this, and that is saying something. If you gave them your money, shame on you.
The film is well acted, well characterised, well written & well directed, however the film doesn’t deliver anything original, the film doesn’t have anything scary, the film feels dull & the film doesn’t have any good effects. (58%) (3/5 stars) (mixed)
Paranormal Activity 2 is not just all about the "scary". Its about the story... All people want to watch these days are gore, blood shedding movies. Paranormal Activity takes you to the past where horror movies didn't involve people getting their guts out. What if I take your guys out? Would you be happy... ? I dont think so...
PA2 was so boring I honestly can't remember if I have seen it or not...I FEEL like I have, but I can't even recall one thing about it, characters, setting....I can't even remember the trailer.
Only watched PA1 because people said it was real. I knew it wasn't but obviously there was a subconcious thoughht that it could be real. THAT is why I liked PA1. Take that away and you have 124 likes and 7 dislikes to a critic insulting PA2.
okay i didn't find the film very scary or anything, blah blah blah i agree with him, but when he was doing that snoring thing, boo. that could have freaked me out, meh
@thedonofnapoli Not really darling, you were going on about the thumbs up, the maximum amount any comment has insulting both movies is two thumbs up. You say you're sure but you aren't really, you have absolutely no idea, just assuming really, fine on the registered users thing. As for you're third point words cannot begin to describe just how little I care. I'm not going to bother to reply anymore, this has gotten boring, have a nice day.
i went to see paranormal activity 2 yesterday....here's why it was terrible: 1.nothing happens for the first half an hour of the film 2.what is meant to be the scariest moment of the film is in-fact laughable 3.at the end, one of the characters turns into one of the zombies from "rec" 4.it completely pisses over anything that was good about paranormal activity 1 DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY...DONATE IT TO CHARITY OR SOMETHING DECENT, BUT WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T GO AND SEE THIS AWFUL, AWFUL FILM
@ohsojohn Paranormal Activity does not take us back to the past! Well, not if you mean the past when films where inventive, intelligent and scary. Even the first one, which is best, is a cliché-riddled, silly and bland film.
its not ur type of horror then. this is thisy horror witch is ment to mentally disturb you most people in gen y and the new generation would of been terrified from this film.
I TOTALLY DISAGREE with this review and actually find it quite disrespectful to a film that is different and that tries hard with minimal effects to create fear. I had a great time watching it and the quiet parts and night after night shots of minimal signs are just meant to slowly build up tension and act as the gradual arrival for the demon and creepy atmosphere. Anyone who doesn't enjoy this film i just say SUCKS TO BE YOU!!!
It was no Exorcist or Shining but it wasn't as bad as Mark is making out. Not sure what he was expecting to be honest. I know what I was expecting and it didn't disappoint. Thought part one was creepier but part two made sense and ties in well with part one. I actually watched it till the end and was interested in what was going on and I did care about what happened to the characters especially the baby and the dog :)
@Homer20065305111 Nope I saw the movie and it sucked, 6 bucks down the drain. And wow 7 scenes! OMG! And the action lasted for what .5 seconds except for the last 2 scenes. To me there were two but like I said earlier you must consider a pot falling (the movie) or them watching the pool sucker come out of the pool (see now I did see the movie) as action which I do not. I am sorry but long periods of silence followed by big bangs is a cheap thrill that doesn't scare me.
The first one was so bloody boring I fell asleep. Kermode is completely right, if you know about horrors than these films will be boring because Paranormal Activity is a lazy rip-off of many other horror films. It's not scary its jumpy, but the tension is built out of nothing. It's a date movie, hold on to your partner when you jump and hide the wet patch...(i'm not talking about urine).
I can understand and respect this opinion, but this franchise is targeted at a teenage youth audience and is more or less successful in that area. This is why I can also see why Mark Kermode doesn't like this movie, along with alot of other reviewers around the same age..
