A spoiler-free interview from the NYC free fan event
With less than 24 hours until Paranormal Activity 2 opens everywhere, the special free fan screenings of the movie drew huge lines to the twenty cities that won in the Eventful “Demand It” program.
New York City was one of the lucky cities and 600 fans lined-up at the AMC 34th Street Cinemas, starting as early as 4pm, to be the first audience in the United States to see the movie, and Paramount graciously invited ShockTillYouDrop.com to take part in the festivities.
Because we know how much better a movie like this is if you don’t know anything about it going in, we’re not going to give away any of the big shocks or surprises or really say too much about it. We will say that this time around the movie involves an entire family including a baby and a dog, which you’ve probably already figured out from the various clips, but that it directly ties into the first movie in some ways that are immediately evident and others that might not be. The audience we saw the movie with were pretty rowdy beforehand, having stood outside for nearly 7 hours, but once the movie began, they fell to a reverential hush, especially during the nighttime scenes, waiting for things to start getting freaky. During certain scenes, the entire audience was going nuts and really getting into what was happening on screen, and it was quite an experience that’s not easy to describe.
Director Tod Williams, a New Yorker who previously helmed Jeff Bridges’ The Door in the Floor, was on-hand to introduce the film, and he did quite an amazing job taking what Oren Peli did in the first movie, capturing that same magic with the added benefit of knowing what worked best, while cleverly making it more of a slow-burn that will really pay off in a big way for fans of the first movie. It’s easily as good or better than the original and this writer hasn’t been so freaked out by a movie maybe since the original Poltergeist… and that was a long, long time ago!
Before the screening, we had a chance to talk briefly with Williams about how he got involved in the project and how he approached taking on such an anticipated sequel to a fairly-loved movie like Paranormal Activity, an interview you can watch below.
Paranormal Activity 2 opens tonight, Thursday, October 21, at midnight nationwide. Look for our full review sometime before then.
Source: Edward Douglas
