- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24
- Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English Audio Description, French Dolby Digital 5.1, Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
- Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish
- Rating: Not Rated
- Region: A (B? C?)
- Discs: 2 (1x Blu-ray + 1 x DVD + Digital Copy)
- Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment
- Blu-ray Release Date: February 8, 2011
- List Price: $39.99
[amazon-product align=”right”]B002VKE0XA[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Purchase Paranormal Activity 2 on Blu-ray+DVD+Digital Copy Combo Pack at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Film
[Rating:4/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2.5/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(Screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG thus are meant as a general representation of the content and do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
The Film
[Rating:4/5]
Warning: do not watch this film alone in the dark like I just did. Paranormal Activity 2 is a scary film, but why it is scary is the interesting thing. There is nothing particularly groundbreaking about the filming technique – camcorders and supposed security cameras – because we’ve seen that sort of thing in films like The Blair Witch Project in the past. What makes Paranormal Activity 2 a hair raising experience is that much of the “scariness” is implied or off screen. It brings back those childhood fears of the things that go bump in the night. Sometimes that is more terrifying than more graphically inclined horror could ever be.
The story acts as a prequel to the original film. Husband and wife Kristi (Sprague Grayden) and Daniel (Brian Boland) move into their home with a new baby.After what they perceive to be a break-in, Daniel decides to setup security cameras all over the home, presumably to catch the people responsible. What takes place next are an increasing series of unexplainable events as the family is violently harassed by what Kristi and her sister Katie (Katie Featherston) believe to be a malevolent ghost or demon from their past.
The film is light on action actual action, but it draws the viewer in and it is scary as hell.
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
The production of Paranormal Activity 2 means that the film will never look great in HD. There are clipped white levels, crushed blacks, lots of video noise and also aliasing, but the AVC/MPEG-4 encoding is rendered well without adding any extra issues to the image quality.
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
The disc is given a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless mix that is very good at capturing the eeriness of the film. Atmospheric sounds surround the listener and jumps are thunderous, with deeply extended low frequencies. Dialogue is not always clear, but that is how the filmmakers intended it.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2.5/5]
This release is packed with both the Theatrical and Extended cuts of the film, plus the DVD and Digital Copy, but beyond that, video supplements are on the weak side.
The supplements provided with this release are:
- Theatrical and Extended Version
- Found Footage (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 0:03.49) – Extra “found footage” showing some paranormal activities in the home.
- Teaser Trailer (1.78:1; 1080p/24)
- DVD
- Digital Copy
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:4/5]
A new benchmark for horror has been introduced with the Paranormal Activity films, and the second film in the franchise maintains the top-notch scares of the original. Turn on a night light, you won’t be getting much sleep after this.
Additional Screen Captures:
[amazon-product align=”right”]B002VKE0XA[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Purchase Paranormal Activity 2 on Blu-ray+DVD+Digital Copy Combo Pack at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Film
[Rating:4/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2.5/5]
