Paranormal Activity

[The Apatow Crew]

look out!!! The chandelier is swinging!!!!!

The keys are on the floor now!!!!!

 

[Heretic]

the keys are on the floor now!!!!!

get back demon! I have a camera!!!

 

[cerealkiller182]

The noises werent used to scare people...the noises were used to warn people in advance of the scares.

aka building tension. You werent scared. thats fine, But the mechanics are there for others to be scared regardless

Kind of like when you hear Jasons little noise, you knew Jason was about to pop up. This went a step beyond because the video moved quickly until it was scare time, then slowed, then noise, then scare.

Jason's theme was definitely as much a tipoff as that. I can honestly say Ive never been truly scared by a Jason movie, just incredibly entertained by the number of ways hes killed people especially the one where he tightened the belt around that one dudes head, but never scared.

 

[Matt]

Dianne died from possession. A demon, possibly the same demon, killed Dianne. It bit Kate as well. I think theres plenty of evidence that the endgame was for Kate to die and the demon to go bother the next person. The 15 years hunting Kate were unsuccessful because she wasnt afraid. The fear built up as they watched footage though, empowering the demon, making the encounters more drastic, thus making them more scared and the demon more powerful and so on.

Kate certainly seemed to fear it before the videoes to me. As for the demon killing Dianne, it seemed to me that it killed Dianne only because she tried to get rid of it. Not because that was its original intent.

 

[Poetic Chaos]

At least the marketing didn't go with the tired "Scariest movie since the Sixth Sense" line. Man, I got sick of seeing that attached to every horror flick. Though my personal most hated marketing ploy "Presented By big name who had nothing to do with the movie."

 

[The Apatow Crew]

get back demon! I have a camera!!!

Back now Demon, for now I shall repel you with my outright *****eyness!

 

[Heretic]

Jason's theme was definitely as much a tipoff as that. I can honestly say Ive never been truly scared by a Jason movie, just incredibly entertained by the number of ways hes killed people especially the one where he tightened the belt around that one dudes head, but never scared.

I believe that this film telegraphed its scares even moreso than the jason movies...by keeping the exact same routine I mentioned above for every scare in the film except one. Routine is not scary, nor suspenseful. When I can predict the scares in advance, and thanks to the commercials I could even figure out exactly which scare was coming...that means that I just cant buy into the tension.

 

[cerealkiller182]

Kate certainly seemed to fear it before the videoes to me. As for the demon killing Dianne, it seemed to me that it killed Dianne only because she tried to get rid of it. Not because that was its original intent.

Kate had fear, but not terror. The more fear the more power. She wrote it off as her imagination a lot of the time, she didnt even bother to tell her boyfriend about it, she only-half believed it. But as everything snowballed it finally got the chance to do more things, obviously portrayed by the fact that each encounter was more severe than the last. And the psychic was put off much more his last visit than his first. Her interest in hearing what a professional had to say about it turned into desperation for help by the end. For whatever reason it may have killed Dianne, it still killed it and has probably been going through this routine for sometime. Play with a girl until your bored, kill it, and move on. In the gun down ending, it was even still playing. Slamming the door to spook the cop seems implyed has an orchestrated event to me. It was having fun spreading malice.

 

[cerealkiller182]

I believe that this film telegraphed its scares even moreso than the jason movies...by keeping the exact same routine I mentioned above for every scare in the film except one. Routine is not scary, nor suspenseful. When I can predict the scares in advance, and thanks to the commercials I could even figure out exactly which scare was coming...that means that I just cant buy into the tension.

Each scare in my opinion was bigger than the last. It was routine to a degree, but it amped it up a notch each time. The point was to start seemingly like nothing, coincidences and random house noises we all experience, but than snowball, become less and less probable of just rickety floorboards and air in the plumbing.

Of course you knew when, but you werent suppose to know what. Just like every other horror movie out there it uses audio and visual cues to build tension until something happens sometimes its obvious, sometimes it isnt. There are horror movies with better cinematography and acting and writing, but there are hardly any horror movies that do not handle their scares in a similar way as this movie.

Honestly, there hasnt been a truly scary movie in years. Just gore and startles (from loud noises and images darting at the screen).

 

[Heretic]

Each scare in my opinion was bigger than the last. It was routine to a degree, but it amped it up a notch each time. The point was to start seemingly like nothing, coincidences and random house noises we all experience, but than snowball, become less and less probable of just rickety floorboards and air in the plumbing.

Of course you knew when, but you werent suppose to know what. Just like every other horror movie out there it uses audio and visual cues to build tension until something happens sometimes its obvious, sometimes it isnt. There are horror movies with better cinematography and acting and writing, but there are hardly any horror movies that do not handle their scares in a similar way as this movie.

Honestly, there hasnt been a truly scary movie in years. Just gore and startles (from loud noises and images darting at the screen).

The problem with the scares is that as they amped up the scares, it became obvious which scare was coming. As we counted down the scares that we saw in the commercial, the time left in the film kept ticking away...and then the tape slowed as it had so many times before...and then the noises started just as it had before...and I couldnt help but know that this was the end of the film...and the last scene of the commercial had not yet occurred in the film...and then...then...what I knew would happen, happened. No big scare, no big deal.

 

[danoyse]

The noises werent used to scare people...the noises were used to warn people in advance of the scares.

Kind of like when you hear Jasons little noise, you knew Jason was about to pop up. This went a step beyond because the video moved quickly until it was scare time, then slowed, then noise, then scare.

I don't think they were warning people, it was creating an atmosphere - you hear footsteps or noises, and you don't know what they are, it builds up the tension.

A chandelier or a door moving on it's own doesn't sound scary - but that stuff isn't supposed to be moving on it's own. With no explanation behind it, a person can let their imagination run wild as to what it was. I know if I saw that in my house, I'd be out of there before I finished watching the tape.

I've heard about screenings where people jumped just when the time code stopped on the tape. Those moments freaked me out a bit as well - you knew when the time code stopped, something was going to happen. What it was, nobody knew...until it did.

There were a few scares given away in the trailer, but not all of them. I jumped a few times during the movie, and to be honest even though I knew[BLACKOUT] Micah was going to get tossed at the camera, those footsteps coming up the stairs freaked me more than anything else in that scene. I mean, they were gone (abruptly - those screams were cut off), we were alone with the thing now.[/BLACKOUT] My theater freaked the most during that one scene.

 

[danoyse]

I gotta agree, I think adding the quote of saying this was the scariest movie is was a way of suckering in the regular average movie goer and will believe anything that's said in quotes or from a movie poster.

No I will not! When a movie prides itself on being the scariest movie ever, it better be the scariest damn movie ever! And when they show crowd footage of people being scared out of their minds it better as scary as they think it is.

So that means you're one of the suckers, doesn't it? Contradicting yourself a bit there.

All movies have hype. Most of us who go to movies a lot know better than to allow ourselves to be suckered into it.

 

[Primal Slayer]

Just saw it. It was ok but not as scary as everyone around me made it sound like. The last ten minutes were ultra freaky though.

 

[The Apatow Crew]

So that means you're one of the suckers, doesn't it? Contradicting yourself a bit there.

All movies have hype. Most of us who go to movies a lot know better than to allow ourselves to be suckered into it.

Yeah, I do admit I was sucked into it. but now I know the games for future movies of any other kind.

 

[Spider-ManHero12]

This movie was meh, tbh. WAYYYYY too overhyped, and I think that anybody who believe that this is the scariest film of all time or rates it 10/10 knows nothing about horror movies. I will admit, this film had some creepy scenes, but other than that, it wasn't that great.

 

[LastSunrise1981]

Was it the scariest film in the world? No, but it's up there in my opinion.

Although I do have one complaint.

Spoiler

Micah is a moron I'm sorry. But I don't recall if this was addressed or not, however, did he know that his girlfriend was STARING at him for hours while he slept? I'm sorry but if I knew my girlfriend just stood there staring at me like that A)I'm calling a psychiatrist, B) I'm dumping her in the process and moving on.

 

[Kane52630]

the guys who played Katie and Mika will be on AOTS tomorrow

 

[CELTICPRED]

Micah and Katie will be on AOTS tomorrow on G4.


Dammit Kane.

 

[Kane52630]

i beat you Pred lol

 

[Ugfugly]

Was it the scariest film in the world? No, but it's up there in my opinion.

Although I do have one complaint.

Spoiler

Micah is a moron I'm sorry. But I don't recall if this was addressed or not, however, did he know that his girlfriend was STARING at him for hours while he slept? I'm sorry but if I knew my girlfriend just stood there staring at me like that A)I'm calling a psychiatrist, B) I'm dumping her in the process and moving on.

I agree. The movie is -not bad-. It's got good atmosphere etc. but I don't know if it's the terrible acting on the guy's part or if it's just really bad script writing but the guy was a total moron. it was like they took their cues from the what not to do on a scary movie handbook and copied the lines for the guy.

He was totally not believable or very hard to feel sympathy for. The girl's lines flowed alot more naturally and was more believable.

As I was watching this I just couldn't get over the guy's annoyance factor so I guess I did not enjoy it as much as I probably would have with a better actor.

 

[thejon93]

the guys who played Katie and Mika will be on AOTS tomorrow

%$#@ AOTS.

Anyhow, I enjoyed this movie. Not exactly my favourite of the "handy cam" genre. However, this one was still highly entertaining. Although, I do edmit, I don't really feel the need to ever see it again, unless they release a cut with an alternate ending and/or some deleted/extended scenes (which I wouldn't deny they'd do for the upcoming DVD release... [BLACKOUT]since they're not Warner Bros.[/BLACKOUT]).

Rating: 62% - Overall, 'Paranormal Activity' doesn't have the power and replay-value of a film like '[*REC]'. However, it does hold together a fairly strong pair of characters inside a tension-filled environment.

 

[Spider-ManHero12]

I really don't look at this film as a horror film, I look at it as more of a documentary type film, honestly.

 

[byte19]

This movie was meh, tbh. WAYYYYY too overhyped, and I think that anybody who believe that this is the scariest film of all time or rates it 10/10 knows nothing about horror movies. I will admit, this film had some creepy scenes, but other than that, it wasn't that great.

as one of the geezers of the boards (40 yrs. old) and scored this 10/10, your opinion has offended me. I've been watching movies since I was 7 (yes, I saw Jaws, Carrie and Exorcist IN theaters) and while I don't speak for the other 9 scared crap-less people... I was scared out of my mind... and that includes freaked out... even seeing the trailer with the "good parts" exposed, knowing full well it wasn't real... me and my theater had a great time sharing this experience... I loved it... you didn't... that is all...

 

[Ugfugly]

Maybe the experience was different in the theaters. I was watching this alone at home at night with all the lights out and I was creeped out at most.
Like I said I kept getting distracted about how stupid the guy was and how lovely their wood floors looked.

 

[xmangambit]

This was so over hyped, I wasn't scared one bit, and people crying all around me in the cinema was hilarious, seriously, the fact from the start you know it's not real...forget it, totally overhyped