where: CENTURY 14 VALLEJO in Vallejo, CA
when: Friday, October 22nd, 2010
show: 4:15 p.m.
costs: $7.50 Ticket + $5.00 Snack Pack = $12.50
auditorium: 11
seat: 5th row, 5th seat
synopsis: A California couple with a newborn son soon find their home haunted by a malevolent spirit that has come to collect what's owed it from the family which conjured it in the first place.
noteworthy scenes: 1.) Vandalized house; 2.) Security cameras; 3.) Superstitious Hispanic nanny; 4.) Bathroom talk; 5.) Kitchen talk; 6.) Baby mobile; 7.) "Handsy, handsy, touchy"; 8) Explosion; 9.) Attempt at purging the house of evil spirits; 10.) "Attention span of a guppy"; 11.) Night vision; 12.) Bird; 13.) Kitchen; 14.) Pool cleaning machine; 15.) "What if it's mom"; 16.) Dog; 17.) Prank; 18.) Ouija board; 19.) Door; 20.) Baby; 21.) Google search; 22.) Security video; 23.) Toddler's toy; 24.) Kitchen surprise; 25.) Family line; 26.) Dog's encounter; 27.) Attack; 28.) Scratch marks; 29.) Evidence of attack; 30.) Call for help; 31.) Fighting with the possessed; 32.) Events of October 9th, 2006; and 33.) Sound effects during the Ending Credits.
audience reaction: There were four or five scenes which scared the audience. So, I guess that they got their money's worth.
recommendation: I kind of liked this movie but not by much because the novelty of the "pseudo-surveillance footage" scare tactic has lost its novelty for me. This movie would be perfect for people who still believe that Part One is actually true, i.e. the people who didn't read my blog on it.
spoiler alert! The security device installers showed what could only be motion-detector light switches. In which case, without any kind of movement by any object of substantial mass, the lights would have automatically turned off and perhaps would have then triggered the infra-red function of the security cameras. But there were a number of scenes showing no activity, suspicious or otherwise, which should have been automatically shot in infra-red mode but which weren't. The couple could afford to live in a fancy house and could spend a considerable amount of money on parameter security devices, but a bathtub faucet handle was broken and in need of ( an inexpensive) replacement! In an August 8ht, 2006 indoor scene, while the husband and the wife's sister's boyfriend were talking, there on the kitchen counter, one could see a spray bottle of Safeway brand's Bright Green All Purpose Cleaner set facing away from the camera to "conceal" its identity. But Safeway's Bright Green eco-friendly product line was not officially launched until November 20th of 2008, meaning that this movie showed the product two years, 3 months and two weeks too early! ( Do I have sharp eyes or what? Hey, what can I say ... I've got four eyes--which are better than just having two! ) With all that smoke that the nanny was generating, I was surprised that the smoke alarms didn't go off at all. With all that money he invested in the security devices, it puzzled me that he never showed an initiative to invest in the time to check on the claims made by his wife, his daughter and by the toddler's nanny. A bird will only crash into a clear and clean window pane if the curtains are not drawn or if the blinds are not closed. Otherwise, the bird would know that there was an obvious obstacle. And most birds, unable to see well in the dark, don't fly recklessly at night when it's dark outside. They got all those security devices installed but, somehow, they forgot about installing door alarms---Duh! I don't know if I'm remembering this right, but I think the old photo was stashed in a shoe box in the attic of the wife's sister's home in Part One, which Part Two, i.e. this movie, didn't attempt to show the actual process of. With all that noise and struggle going on in the basement, the toddler sure didn't cry in fear.
And the scene in the poster shown above is not in the movie.
fyi: There's another sequel, also, called PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2: TOKYO NIGHT. It will be shown here in the States in December.
I think somebody took my observation in my spoiler alert for Part One to heart and made the "drag-the-victim-around" scene more realistic---Hey, aren't you gonna thank me, whoever you are who followed through on my observation ...?
I saw this documentary program on TV years ago about a haunted house where the pets, a dog and a cat, were so frightened by what they each saw that they both died of a heart attack!
There is a famous haunted house here in Benicia, CA: Fischer-Hanlon House ( a hotel, originally ) , at 137 West G Street. It was built in 1849 and was moved to its present location in 1856. And it was donated to the State in 1969. Its last occupants reportedly haunt the place, according to a local customer of mine who told me about it.
word of advice: It runs in the family.
Don't put a curse on someone who's innocent.
tidbits: During the Ending Credits, a teenage boy walking down the steps on his way out said, "Thank you, Todd." Todd, as in: Todd Williams, Director. Some people in the audience laughed.
On my way to the men's room, I saw a co-worker, C. S., walking out of an auditorium. She had just seen SECRETARIAT. She asked me what I came to see. I told her that I came to blog about HEREAFTER and PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2. She asked me if I'd seen SECRETARIAT, and what I thought about it--she obviously is not a follower of my blog. So, I told her that it was a good movie but I didn't like the fact that they embellished upon it, Hollywood-style.
