Blu-ray Movie Reviews

When a young couple bring a newborn baby home, someone or something begins terrorizing the family. In order to gain some piece of mind, the father (Brian Boland) installs some security cameras in and around the house in order to catch the hooligans in the act but the "real life" footage shows there's much more going on than meets the eye.

This isn't a genre of film that I particularly enjoy, so I never caught the first Paranormal Activity but I knew the general premise due to its popularity. My expectations weren't high and while I've seen far worse, I felt the screenplay took too long to introduce the characters and build up the tension (or lack thereof).

Video Highlights

• AVC/1080p encode on a BD-50 disc
• Crappy video encode (intentional low budget look)
• Daytime scenes look better than night
• Muted color palette

Audio Highlights

• DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack
• Good dynamics
• Very front-heavy presentation
• Intelligible dialog

The intended look is to make the viewer feel like they're watching "home footage" of the incident, and in that respect it succeeds. That being said, it doesn't look that great in 1080p. Furthermore, the audio lacks a score to keep the authenticity but when the action kicks in, there are some decent sound effects.

Bonus Materials br>

• Includes both Theatrical and Extended Edition
• Deleted scenes
• DVD copy

The cover art claims this is "one of the scariest films of all time," but that's not exactly true. The Exorcist holds the title with my wedding video coming in a close second, but that's a story for another day.

Release Date: February 8, 2011
Studio: Paramount

Movie: 5/10
Picture: 6/10
Sound: 7/10

Review System

Source
Oppo BDP-93 Blu-ray player

Display
JVC DLA-RS40 projector
Stewart FireHawk screen (76.5" wide, 16:9)

Electronics
Integra DTC-80.2 pre/pro
Anthem PVA-7 power amplifier
Belkin PVA-PF60 power conditioner

Speakers
M&K S-150s (L, C, R)
M&K SS-150s (LS, RS, SBL, SBR)
SVS PC-Ultra subwoofer

Cables
Monoprice HDMI cables (source to pre/pro)
Best Deal analog-audio cables
PureLink HDC Fiber Optic HDMI Cable System (15 meters) from pre/pro to projector

Acoustical treatments from GIK Acoustics