Paranormal Incident 2 (2013)

No. No. No no no. NO. No. NO! NO! NO NO NO! Well what else how do you expect me to react?! Do you not remember how I said that the first film is rendered pointless by the ending? Then again, that's your target! To have an ending which didn't suck!

Anyway, the plot. A ghost hunting department of the FBI (Yes, I'm serious, they even have the FBI badges) go to the old Woodburrow Prison after getting reports of it being haunted, and, of course, they go investigate it.

What can I say about the plot? No, seriously, what can I say about the plot? I have now done five other films before this one which have the same basic plot; 'Grave Encounters', 'Grave Encounters 2', 'Episode 50', 'The Lost Coast Tapes', and the first 'Paranormal Incident'.

Does it bring anything new to the genre? Does it go beyond what these other films dare not reach? Does it do the unexpected? The answer to these questions, is NO. We get the same old scares, the same basic storyline, the same everything. Hell, the opening of this movie...is actually pretty much the same as the first movie! Right down to the boobs appearing on screen! And, to make it worse, we see these boobs three times in about thirty seconds. Because that's how you make us care about characters.

Alright, the very opening scene is a different scenario from the first film, but that's not the point! But the film does manage to create tension, it manages to make the environment scary. The problem? The payoff sucks! For about 98% of the scenes where tension is created, it results in nothing happening. Another 1% is taken up when the film cuts to nothing happening in the first place, and another 1% is taken up by meaningless jump scares. Then again you'd think this was an abandoned asylum instead of a prison with the way the film goes, with an operating table and the attempts at psychological horror.

Characters, how about the characters. I actually feel there was a slight upgrade to them. And that's not saying much. I say there's a slight upgrade to them because we actually learn one thing about...some of them, instead of just the one character in the last film. The problem is the film only tells us one thing about them once with the bare minimum information, and then expects us to fully understand the psychological aspects, as if we'd suddenly know their fears and background. Even trained psychiatrists could get more from a rock than from the characters in this film.

Actually, there was one character I liked. Emma Lockheart (Eve Mauro, who we last saw taking on zombies). She actually becomes the most likable character, as well as the most interesting, probably because we have a learning curve concerning her character, whereas everyone else hits a brick wall. And you can see that Mauro is having a lot of fun playing the character.

Speaking of acting, it's pretty much the same as the last film, they give better performances than the film deserves, in particular Mauro. Not that the others were great, more adequate. If you're going to dislike the characters it won't be because of the acting. Again it's because you learn nothing about them. And because they're either bland, stupid, or annoying. Seriously, you'd expect the ghost hunting department of the FBI to send their people in teams of (at least) two instead of ON THEIR OWN. They don't even do that when looking for living people, let alone ghosts which, as we see at the beginning, the FBI KNOW attack people. Although I must admit, there was one character I completely forgot existed. One of the females.

So, what do I think of the new Paranormal Incident? I didn't like it. It has a few moments, but they're too few to...do anything with this film. For huge chunks nothing happens, and when you feel something's about to happen, it doesn't. And when something DOES happen, you just don't care because you know nothing about the characters except for blandness.

Still. At least the ending doesn't render the rest of the film pointless, so that automatically makes it better than the first film.