Paranormal Activity: Tokyo Night

Haruka Yamano (Noriko Aoyama) returns from America to Tokyo in a wheelchair with both legs with multiple fractures in a car accident and is helped by her father and her brother Koichi Yamano (Aoi Nakamura). Their father travels to Singapore for business meetings and Koichi takes care of his sister and films her most of the time with his camera.

On the next morning, Haruka tells that her wheelchair had moved during the night and Koichi check the windows of her room to see if a stranger has broken in their house. He tells that probably a spirit had moved the wheelchair and he uses salt near the door of Haruka's bedroom to protect her against evil spirits. However, on the next morning they find that the salt is spread near the door. He checks the tape and believes that the house is haunted by a ghost. He decides to tape his room too and along the days, weird noises and events happen in the house.

They invite the priest Saionji to purify the house against ghosts and along four days nothing unusual happens. Haruka tells to Koichi that, in America, she had hit a woman called Katie that had just murdered her boyfriend and appeared in front of her car. Their father returns home but he needs to travel again. But on the fifth night they see in the tape that the house is still haunted. Koichi decides to call Saionji again, but they learn that the priest had died five nights ago after leaving their house. Haruka discloses to her brother that weird things had happened to her also in America. Further, she tells that she had researched the life of Katie and had found that the girl was also haunted by ghosts. Now the fiend is more violent and still haunts the siblings and they do not know what to do.

The low-budget "Paranômaru Akutibiti: Dai-2-shô - Tokyo Night" is a remake of "Paranormal Activity", with a similar story. After the original "The Blair Witch Project", many low-budget movies made with hand-held camera have been released. "Paranormal Activity" is ridiculously overrated but this Japanese remake is better than the original. However, the remake of a bad film may be even better, but never a great film. Last but not the least, this is the first time that I see a Japanese remake of an American film and both do not worth watching. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Atividade Paranormal Tóquio" ("Paranormal Activity Tokyo")

Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night (2010) is a Japanese found footage horror movie set in the Paranormal Activity franchise and it was great.

Positives for Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night (2010): I like the idea of other countries make their own versions of established franchises. I liked the setting of this small apartment. There are some decent scares throughout the movie. And finally, the ending was pretty terrifying to watch.

Negatives for Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night (2010): This movie is basically a remake of the original and it plays out almost the same. The ending is literally the same as the original.

Overall, Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night (2010) is a great entry in the Paranormal Activity franchise even if it is the same as the original.

This film effectively builds tension and utilizes its cultural setting to deliver scares, drawing upon Japanese folklore and urban legends to enhance the horror experience. The found-footage format adds to the film's realism and immersion, maintaining a steady pace as the supernatural events unfold. The siblings and their relationships with other characters feel so authentic that you can't help but believe they are indeed related even outside the confines of the film. Although the sequel may suffer from a lack of originality, while potentially perpetuating cultural stereotypes, it remains a decent add-on to the franchise, with chilling moments and a unique cultural perspective on the horror genre.

Well... I saw that many people have different views of this movie. Just like the other American Paranormal Activity movies, this one has its pros and cons.

In some aspects it's a little better than the American Version, but in other aspects it's not as good.

When it comes to scary, it delivers pretty much the same amount of frights (and if not somewhat better). When it comes to the story, it drives off from the original story into a new one that doesn't seem so creative. There were some surprising new elements into this installment, some that were good and some that were not as much. The ending was a bit weird, but I thought that was better than the original American ending. I just wish that the script wasn't so rushed.

In short, some aspects are better and some aren't (I wouldn't say worst), yet it's a fine entry to the Paranormal Activity saga, I just think it was a bit unnecessary to do this semi-sequel/semi-remake. But some people differ from this opinion saying it's better than the American Version and some prefer the American one. But this is just my point of view, I think I'll stick to the American version, though I wouldn't mind seeing another Japanese installment.

Tokyo Night is... strange. It was released right when the actual Paranormal Activity 2 came out and is supposed to be a forgotten side-quel(?) which is not even canon anymore. This is a shame because I enjoyed it way more than most of the actual sequels that came out in this franchise. That's not to say that Tokyo Night is some misunderstood gem. It's mostly just a retread of the first film, but this time in Japan. I was expecting it to put a J-horror flair on the Western Paranormal Activity formula but it didn't do anything to carve out its own identity. Although it did manage to somehow terrify me during its last 20 minutes but I do think that it needed a bit more ambitious approach. Unfortunately, Tokyo Night is a strange anomaly that has been forgotten in time because it couldn't be bold and just did more of what already became tired after the first Paranormal Activity.