Editorials
‘Paranormal Activity 2’ Brilliantly Turned a Simple Story into a Compelling Franchise
It’s often not the first film that launches a franchise, but rather its sequel.
Director Oren Peli will be the first one to tell you that he never planned on Paranormal Activity being anything more than a one-shot film. His low-budget debut feature, filmed in his own home, told a contained story with a definite beginning, middle and end. In short, a young man and woman, Micah and Katie, realize that something strange is going on inside their home while they sleep, so they decide to start filming their bedroom after they turn the lights out each night. A demonic entity eventually presents itself, possessing Katie.
A possessed Katie kills Micah. A police officer arrives, shooting and killing Katie. At least, this was the ending to the film when it initially premiered back in 2007.
As is now common knowledge, Paramount eventually acquired Peli’s little movie, releasing it into theaters across the country in 2009. Much to Peli’s initial chagrin, Paramount shot an entirely new ending for the film, designed to allow room for sequels. In the theatrical ending, Katie doesn’t get shot by the cops after killing Micah.
Instead, she vanishes.
After the smash hit success of Paranormal Activity, Paramount’s desired sequel wasn’t far behind. Peli remained on board as producer of Paranormal Activity 2, released in 2010. This time, the script was penned by Christopher Landon, Michael Perry and Tom Pabst, and Tod Williams took over as director of the found footage franchise’s second outing.
Initially unbeknownst to the audience, the multi-camera Paranormal Activity 2 centers on the family of Kristi, briefly referenced in the first film as being Katie’s sister. Surprisingly, Katie pops up at a certain point, cluing us into the fact that this sequel is actually (for the most part) a prequel to Paranormal Activity. Katie isn’t yet possessed and Micah is still alive, but Kristi and her family are experiencing the sort of strange, terrifying activity that Katie and Micah soon will.
If the first sequel makes or breaks a franchise, Paranormal Activity 2 most definitely accomplished the goal of “making” this one. The first film established no real mythology for a potential franchise beyond Katie and her sister having experienced *something* as children, and the sequel uses that limited backstory from Peli’s film as the jumping off point to expand upon the story and deepen the mythology in some very interesting ways.
Why was Katie being targeted in the first film? And what was with that burnt childhood photo in her attic? Paranormal Activity 2 provides compelling answers to these questions.
We learn in Paranormal Activity 2 that a distant relative of Katie and Kristi’s family made some kind of deal with a demon decades prior to 2006, under the clause that the demon would eventually collect the firstborn male in the family tree. As it turns out, Kristi’s young son Hunter is that firstborn male, making her and her family the initial target of the demon. And here’s where things get really crazy, and wonderfully mean-spirited.
In a shocking twist that manages to make the original Paranormal Activity an even better, creepier and more interesting film upon a revisit, we learn in the sequel that it was actually Kristi’s lovable husband Daniel who was responsible for Katie being tormented in Peli’s movie! Desperate and fearing for the life of his wife, young son and teenage daughter, Daniel resorts to extreme measures, transferring the demon from his wife’s body into her sister’s home! It’s the family’s housekeeper who tells him how to do this, and the process involves burning a photo of the new host (which must be a blood relative) and placing it inside that person’s home.
Does that mean the noises Katie and Micah heard on the first of their nightmare nights were actually Daniel breaking in and spreading the curse? Chilling to think about.
Paranormal Activity 2 is also loaded with other fun little treats for fans of the first film, cluing us into why Micah wanted to buy a camera in the first place – he was impressed with Daniel’s, remarking that he needed to get one – and even showing us the likely origins of the Ouija Board Micah uses in the first film. He tells Katie in Paranormal Activity that he had borrowed it, and that same board’s appearance in the sequel suggests that it was Daniel who lent it to him. Of course, that only helped Daniel’s insidious cause.
Ultimately, Paranormal Activity 2 catches up to the events of the first film, picking up precisely where it left off in the final act. Katie kills Micah, snaps Daniel’s neck and then steals baby Hunter, once again disappearing into the night. The demon has finally collected on the deal it made decades prior, and new questions are left for future sequels. For starters, what the hell is a demonically possessed Katie now going to do with the baby?!
The ’80s-set Paranormal Activity 3 may be the fan favorite sequel, but it was Paranormal Activity 2 that took an incredibly simple story, cracked it wide open, and made a franchise out of the whole thing. Revisiting the 2010 film this week, I was reminded that it’s in many ways the perfect sequel, both building and improving upon its predecessor.
Most franchises only wish they had a Paranormal Activity 2 to really get things going.
Editorials
‘Bloodstone: Subspecies II’ Revisited: A Bigger, Bolder Follow-Up to Full Moon’s Vampire Cult Classic
Horror sequels are a peculiar thing. In most cases, follow-ups to scary movies tend to retread the same formula with different victims and more over-the-top scares. This is because audiences tend to be more interested in the antagonists of these pictures than anything else, with even main characters becoming disposable when the time comes to produce a sequel.
That’s why some of the most memorable horror sequels are the ones that actually manage to hold onto interesting survivors from previous films while also pushing the story forward instead of having the same thing happen again to a different group of people. From Scream 2 to Dream Warriors (and arguably even The Exorcist III: Legion), there are quite a few of these innovative sequels to go around.
However, if there’s one franchise that deserves more attention when discussing bigger and better continuations that make the most of episodic filmmaking, it has to be Ted Nicolaou’s Subspecies.
The Full Moon classic spawned an indie horror icon, but bizarre sequel Bloodstone: Subspecies II is even more beloved than its predecessor.
Building a Bigger Vampire Saga
While the film itself takes place almost immediately after the events of the first movie, Bloodstone only entered production a couple of years after the release of the original as both Charles Band and Nicolaou weighed the pros and cons of returning to Romania to continue the series. In an effort to maximize efficiency, the team decided to invest in a trilogy where parts II and III, now fully written by Nicolaou, would be filmed simultaneously over the course of a single grueling shoot.
Much like the first Subspecies, Bloodstone’s low budget meant that the filmmakers once again had to cut corners and re-use as many of their resources as possible. Thankfully, the process was much easier this time around as Nicolaou, with the help of Romanian cinematographer Vlad Paunescu and his wife Oana, became more acquainted with local customs and made new friends. Shooting abroad still came with its own unique set of challenges due to a lack of translators and the occasional safety concerns, but the crew managed to make things work by filming things guerrilla-style and setting up shop in abandoned caves and real medieval ruins.
The director’s newfound contacts, coupled with the relative success of the first movie, meant that he was basically given free rein over an assortment of shooting locations usually considered off-limits for indie horror. That’s why Bloodstone features insanely ambitious lighting and effects work even during scenes shot in the middle of a bustling Bucharest. The filmmakers went so far as to project Radu’s Nosferatu-like shadows over local monuments as if he were a Romanian boogeyman, an idea that was actually encouraged by local cinephiles.
In fact, many of the more elaborate scenes here had originally been planned for the first movie before being discarded due to the lack of available resources. It was only with the support of Romanian fans and filmmakers that Bloodstone was able to give Radu a chance to be even more menacing the second time around.
Michelle’s Transformation Takes Center Stage
However, when it came to the American part of the crew, not everyone was able or willing to return for another round of Romanian adventuring. That’s why Radu’s human-loving half-brother Stefan (Michael Watson) is unceremoniously killed off at the beginning of the film while the role of Michelle had to be recast. Denice Duff took over for Laura Mae Tate, with the character now being joined by her sister, Rebecca, played by Melanie Shatner (yes, that Shatner).
In the finished film, we follow Michelle as she awakens to her new life as a vampire and discovers that Radu has murdered her lover. Struggling with grief and her newfound bloodlust, Michelle contacts her sister overseas, with Rebecca soon travelling to Romania on an ill-advised rescue mission. Meanwhile, Radu (Anders Hove) reaches out to his undead Mummy (Pamela Gordon, underneath heavy layers of impressive makeup effects) and promises to deliver her the coveted Bloodstone artifact while also making Michelle his eternal consort.
Revisiting the movie, I was impressed with how introspective this story is when compared to the original. The sequel assumes that you’re already familiar with the previously established characters, so the story wastes no time in exploring the immediate aftermath of the previous film’s events. From Michelle’s reluctant transformation into a creature of the night to Radu’s obvious mommy issues, Nicolaou is way more interested in pushing these characters into new and uncharted territory rather than recycling existing plot points.
Practical Effects and Gothic Atmosphere Still Impress
Yet, much like the first film, it’s Romania itself that makes the movie worth watching. The ruins of Castle Vladislav are even more majestic now, and visiting the moody streets of Bucharest with its surprisingly punk-rock nightlife made for a nice change of pace when compared to the original film’s quiet village setting. Once again, the abundance of interesting locations makes the movie feel much more expensive than it really is, with the filmmakers surrounding our characters with a living, breathing environment that would be impossible to recreate in a studio.
The increased freedom also allowed Nicolaou to flex his filmmaking muscles and tackle more ambitious blocking/composition in the sequel. The low budget and tropey script mean that the visuals don’t always work, but it’s consistently clear that this neo-expressionist style could only come from a passionate team attempting to pay homage to the shadowy horror classics of yesteryear. If the retro atmosphere isn’t enough for you, there’s enough practical gore here to satisfy even the most demanding of horror hounds!
Radu himself is also far more interesting now that Hove is more comfortable working alongside an international crew, with the actor having gone on record explaining that, while he spent more time drinking vodka than working while shooting the first movie, the sequel was a much more creatively satisfying experience for everyone involved. The character’s relationship with his abusive Mummy is also a highlight of the expanded mythology, especially since the practical effects that bring her to life are just as freaky now as they were back in ’93.
My only real gripe with the horror elements of the picture comes from the glaring absence of the diminutive stop-motion minions from the first film, though I guess the surprisingly entertaining addition of Professor Popescu (Michael Denish) and his archeological antics mostly make up for that.
Bloodstone: Subspecies II is obviously the middle chapter of a trilogy, with the ending feeling a lot less definitive than its predecessor as several plot threads are left to dangle in the wind, but I appreciate how the flick explores new ground while remaining faithful to nearly all the ideas that made the original such a good time. While I don’t think it’s as big of an improvement over the first movie as some fans make it out to be, Bloodstone is definitely worth revisiting if you’re a fan of old-fashioned vampire yarns.
Tune in next time for the thrilling conclusion to this initial trilogy, Bloodlust: Subspecies III!
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