Paranormal Activity

[Crook]

There were reportedly two different endings:

Spoiler

#1
Katie kills Micah off-camera, then comes back in the room and sits on the floor rocking back and forth for 2 days, then slits her throat (the rocking back and forth is in the trailer)

Spoiler

#2
Katie kills Micah off-camera, sits on the floor for the next two days. The best friend is heard entering the house and finding Micah's body and runs from the house. The cops come, find Katie in the bedroom and wind up shooting her to death

I actually liked the ending now in the movie best. They used a little CG, but it was subtle enough and the movie seemed to be building up to it.

They should've mixed the theatrical ending and the original together, that would have really messed with people.

I actually didn't see it with an audience at all, I torrented it. I said somewhere that I probably would have dug the thing more, and would have been more forgiving if I had been in an audience where I would have been caught up in the energy of the people around me. But that's precisely why I call it a Disney ride instead of a movie: it doesn't hold up without the communal energy of the audience around you. I'll concede that it's probably worthwile and entertaining if you're in a good audience, but even then that just makes it a really good Disney ride, not a really good movie.

Well, a movie is technically an event/story recorded by a camera. I would think this suffices as meeting criteria. As for the critique itself, more on that in a while..

BTW, either I'm too predisposed to scary moments, or there are plenty of *****es in this world.

This was not remotely the scariest movie of the past 10 years or whatever the hype claimed. I will say that the [blackout]dragging[/blackout] scene and ending were very cool to watch, despite not being scared.

This was definitely the type of film where your own fears and anticipation are the biggest causes for shock than the movie itself. The movie sets itself up well enough that you don't feel like you're watching a movie, which I think lends well to the atmosphere. Combined with the very "normal" incidents, it feels a lot more real than it should.

 

[Kane52630]

this is a pretty good review by Michael Phillips
here is his quote

I say see it, before the inevitable overhyping begins, along with the inevitable backlash.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/paranormal_activity/comments.php?reviewid=1849747

 

[Kane52630]

this is a pretty good review by Michael Phillips
here is his quote

I say see it, before the inevitable overhyping begins, along with the inevitable backlash.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/paranormal_activity/comments.php?reviewid=1849747

 

[Paradyme]

I didn't jump once during the movie, which is abnormal for me in scary movies. Not saying that the last 20 minutes weren't creepy or terrifying, it just didn't make me jump like I had thought it would.

 

[Heretic]

I didn't jump once during the movie, which is abnormal for me in scary movies. Not saying that the last 20 minutes weren't creepy or terrifying, it just didn't make me jump like I had thought it would.

That's because the jumping people do at horror movies are in response to some sort of suprise, and this movie blatantly informs the audience of every potential surprise seconds before it happens. This means you have time to adjust, and therefore do not experince that brief state of shock/terror. It didnt help thaat they showed all of the scares in the commercials either.

 

[The Lizard]

That's because the jumping people do at horror movies are in response to some sort of suprise, and this movie blatantly informs the audience of every potential surprise seconds before it happens. This means you have time to adjust, and therefore do not experince that brief state of shock/terror. It didnt help that they showed all of the scares in the commercials either.

While I do feel that the trailer did show too much (in particular [blackout]Micah's body being thrown at the camera at the end[/blackout]), there were a couple well-done creepy parts that were a surprise, like [blackout]Katie's sleepwalking and "sleep-standing"[/blackout] and most notably [blackout]Katie being pulled out of bed, then dragged down the hall[/blackout].

But it's true that Paranormal Activity didn't rely on "jump-scares", and I was OK with that.

 

[Heretic]

The problem is that the movie actually DOES rely on jump scares, but handled it so poorly that it is easier to simply write it all off.

Every scare in the film that I can think f was SUPPOSED to be this shocking thing...and the sound effects ruined it, not to mentin the fact that while they were asleep the timer only slowed to normal when something was about to happen.

The film was too (intentionally and unintentionally) humorous to rely on a mood to sell the horror.

 

[The Lizard]

Every scare in the film that I can think f was SUPPOSED to be this shocking thing...and the sound effects ruined it, not to mentin the fact that while they were asleep the timer only slowed to normal when something was about to happen.

It can be argued that this tactic was actually a tension-building tool. Sure, when the video speed slowed down to normal, you knew something was going to happen, but you didn't know what.

I'm not going to pretend that Paranormal Activity is the scariest movie of the year, or that it's revolutionary cinema, but for what it is, I feel it mostly succeed. It might not have scared me, but the last 20 minutes contained scenes that were effective in a creepy way and made me go "whoa!".

 

[Heretic]

Thanks to the commercials, you actually DID know what was going to happen most of the time when the timer slowed. Again, this is the fault of those marketing the film as oppose to the film itself...

And another problem with that is that even if you didnt know what would happen when the timer slowed, it was very rarely worth investing any fright in. Obviously the first few were going to be very small scares, to build to a climax. My issue with that is that after 90% of the movie had passed, we were still on small scares...and the only big scare in the film was in the freaking commercial, and you KNOW that scene is going to occur at that exact moment due to pacing.

 

[Tanin]

I had a good time with this film.

 

[Dugath]

A lot of teen girls were in the theater 14-16 years of age.. so there were a lot of.. OMG OMG...screaming and such from them.. just had to roll my eyes when the door moved on its on, and all these girls are freaking out about it.

The end part everyone was freaking, my GF was laughing.. I personally did not enjoy the movie, the camera work made me nauseated, must have been the quick moving around (besides not finding it scary in the least).

Not saying it was a bad movie, just not a really scary movie.. for an Adult I suppose. Kids/teens.. probably like it a lot more.

 

[Indrid Cold]

$20,000,0000 this weekend..now that's scary. I say kudos to the film maker and more kudos to the hype machine, the movie...not so much.

 

[Poetic Chaos]

None of the scares were supposed to make you jump with the exception of the last one. Moving chandeliers, doors and blankets obviously aren't gonna get a surprise reaction out of you. They're meant to creep you out and ask yourself what the hell is going on. And the sound was a highlight of the film for me. It didn't give away the moment, it built on the tension. When I heard the noise, it didn't take me out of things like it seemed to for you Heretic. I thought "oh ****, what's about to go down..." And what established reality are you complaining about being ruined by the ending? The reality that states boardgames can randomly ignite and then put themselves out?

It's just amazing to me how differently we can view the same tools used throughout the film. Maybe the fact that I didn't see the trailer really did help out. The only scene I saw beforehand was the blanket scene.

 

[CELTICPRED]

After hearing that noise so often, I was waiting for Vader to enter the screen and start force choking the couple.

 

[Heretic]

If I had rented the original version on netflix, without the INCREDIBLY STUPID theatrical ending and sound (and saving me 20 bucks for tickets) then I'd probably be praising this as an indie gem right now. It still wouldnt be scary at all, but neither are lots of good recent indie horror films (Let The Right One In, Deadgirl, Zombies Trick R Treat etc)

 

[Kane52630]

i would call it a indie gem too, what i like in this movie is its indie vibe to it
i had a great time seeing it with a bunch of people screaming like little girls, it made the movie more enjoyable to me which is why i like it more than you do

 

[terry78]

They should make more of these and less Hostels.

 

[Kane52630]

They should make more of these and less Hostels.

agreed

 

[Heretic]

With [REC] and it's ripoff Quarantine, Vampire Diaries, Cloverfield, Paranormal Activity, The Blair With Project, The Poughkeepsie Tapes and others, I'd say this type of "maybe it's real" horror is being done about enough.

Of course, Saw and Hostel have a thousand rip-offs as well...most of which even worse than the films they rip off.

 

[BlackLantern]

With [REC] and it's ripoff Quarantine, Vampire Diaries, Cloverfield, Paranormal Activity, The Blair With Project, The Poughkeepsie Tapes and others, I'd say this type of "maybe it's real" horror is being done about enough.

Of course, Saw and Hostel have a thousand rip-offs as well...most of which even worse than the films they rip off.

I prefer the former to the latter...that's just me though

 

[COAL TIGER]

I gave this movie a 7. I'm not creative at writing reviews so I'm just gonna point out things I liked and things I think they should've did differently.

I liked that it was made into a home video still production. The idea of setting a camera up in my bedroom and letting it record over night and then watching it to discover that certain items are moving by themselves and footprints appearing across the floor scares the s**t out of me. I see that a couple of people here had a problem with the noise building up to the entities workings in the house. But I actually kinda liked it. I was bracing myself for what was about to happen because I didn't know rather it was gonna be a loud boom, or a figure appearing in the background, or just something being pushed off a table.

I agree though that the movie could have did without the noise letting you know something was about to happen. It probably would've been better just keeping the atmosphere still and quiet, then suddenly a strange event happens. Not having it revealed to you sets the mood better.

The ending was alright. The first original ending would've been better because it would've made the movie seem real.

I've never seen the trailer to this movie. I've only seen the commercials. So nothing was already revealed to me.

And where was the part from the commercials when that white sustains flew to the camera? At first I was thinking it was Micah being thrown into the room. But in that scene in the commercial Micah and Katie was in bed I think.

 

[terry78]

This thing was shot for 15 grand, and it's made how much?!!! I know Spielberg wants a piece of that, after ramping it up for the past few months.

 

[Heretic]

I prefer the former to the latter...that's just me though

I dont think there are "too many" torture porn horror movies.

The thing about Horror is that for small film makers, it is such a cool area to play in. For people who really just go to the movies, there are a few of each type of horror film each year getting released...the spooky kid who talks to ghost films, vampires and zombies etc...it's a decent amount these days.

However, for the Horror buffs out there who like seeing every possible take on a genre, there are limitless films out there each year from every genre you can think of. I will agree that the torture porn concept has thus far been handled in a very shallow way, as the makers of these films seem to not know what to do outside of killing people in bizarre ways. I'm sure someone will reinvent the genre and give it some good films eventually.

 

[COAL TIGER]

This movie didn't make me wanna sleep with the lights on. Which is funny because watching these kind of movies will usually creep me out to the point where I am forced to.

 

[terry78]

If you're tired as hell, you fall asleep anyway.