Paranormal Activity Review (10-11-09)

didn’t listen to it in one take, just couldn’t

until now I never have noticed, but in this video at least the sound of the tape rolling was loud enough to kind of distract me and give me a headache.

just wanted to let you know, I really have no idea why that happened but it was exhausting to listen to the tape all the time.

I never liked Ghost Hunters but I do enjoy Ghost Adventures. They don’t find stuff all the time either but I at the very least find it entertaining that they try to provoke ghosts and want shit to happen.

On Friday October 30th the Ghost Adventures crew will be doing a 7 hour live show. There will be a lot of boring in there but it does give people a chance to see what it is like to be on a real ghost hunt for an entire night. They don’t go into disproving their finds but I think they tend to give people what they want. An entertaining show about ghost hunting.

I agree with you that most horror movies don’t actually create an actual feeling of fear or apprehensiveness or nervousness. I liked The Diary of the Dead as a zombie movie but you’re right in that it certainly wasn’t scary at any points. I don’t think I was even startled when say that girl’s kid brother jumped on her back and was trying to bite her, and if I had been startling is still a pretty cheap scare on the scale.

I haven’t seen this movie but just reading about some of the simple things in it (stuff moving on their own) actually created an apprehensive feeling for me as I imagined it and how scary that would be to witness. I’d like to see but not sure if my local theater will be playing it.

By the way, I too thought the commercial was silly in how it didn’t actually show any of the movie. The explanation for showing the reactions of the audience makes more sense now that I have heard more about it, though, even if it comes off as hokey to the viewer who has no idea what the movie is like.

wow, quite a variety of fan comments, theres the people who tend to think that their psuedo-logic totally disproves your rants and pokes holes in your point of view, even though, its a fucking point of view. i do think most film critics dont like people to have opinions because to them, if they think the movie sucks its a fact.

and than theres the people who really just want you to say the word poop again.
i dont have anything against those people, or you for that matter. you hit the nail on the head, the friday the thirteenth and all slasher movies, arent fucking scary at all. BUT! genres are film and musics worst enemy. i’de like to see someone classify the fountain or the matrix which seem to be the best movies of the last 10 years in my opinion.

your critisism is always apreciated by me and thousands of others which is more than most of these people can say.

ps. mel gibson is a really bad actor in just about everything, but “signs” was a legitimately scary movie.

A movie I think you might like is a Korean horror movie that came out a few years ago, “The Wig.” Dumb title, yeah, but it’s about a cancer survivor who is given a wig by her sister when she gets out of the hospital. The problem is, the wig is haunted by the ghost of the person the hair was taken from. It may seem cliche, but the story is told from the older sister’s point of view, as she watches her younger sister seeming to completely change. It feels more like a psychological thriller, but there’s this supernatural element that plays a big part because its a possession, that makes this movie scary. There’s even a massive twist near the end that makes you reevaluate one character’s seemingly dickish behavior.

Spoony is compltely right this movie is a real horror flick and it has been while since somebody made one this good. and another thing 2001 space oddysey is scarier than some slashers that was made so i tend to agree with spoony on that point.

Personally I think that while a movie can be scary and create tension with the unknown by not showing what is indeed stalking or lurking in the shadows, there needs to be some kind of pay off for it to be effective, even if said pay off is small. All the best movies known for their atmosphere and scares do indeed have those moments and this is why in my opinion most people find “The Blair Witch Project” such a failure. You never get the pay off in that movie. You never see anything, just a bunch of kids running away from what we’re told is a monster or a killer or these images being conjured up by the witch itself (I haven’t watched the movie in a long time). Some guy standing in the corner doesn’t even come close to making the pay off in that movie any good because you don’t even get the slightest insight to the motives other than second hand hearsay….which just isn’t scary. I’m not saying we have to be innundated with horrific imagery or even have said entities entire motivation revealed to make a movie scary….but there needs to be something…..cause I’m not scared of a guy standing in a corner because of what a supposed unseen entity told him to do it.

The Haunting (1963) – Watch that movie, Spoony. You’re gonna love it.

(I know, my English sucks T-T)

I’m actually really impressed by your definition of what a ‘true’ horror movie is. You share the exact same views I do when it comes to slashers and torture porn films: You go to that movie to see people get killed and get grossed out, not to be scared.

I don’t think I’ll be able to enjoy the movie in a theater though. I think most movie-goers (especially in theaters) can’t get engrossed or suspend their disbelief because of all the people around them who ruin the experience. Every time I try to see a movie, scary or not, there’s always assholes explaining the plot to their brain-dead girlfriends, fuck heads playing MST3000 in the back row, and the stupid bastards who have to text and/or Twitter everything they’re seeing on the screen: “I am at teh moviez. Need to buy milk on way home.” It’s not worth the $10 price of admission to lose even more faith in humanity.

If you want a really eerie movie with a lot of haunting atmosphere, check out “The Changeling” starring George C. Scott (Patton). He plays a man who has just lost his wife and daughter in a car accident, and moves to a manor (in Seattle I think). The first eerie scene is when a ball bounces down the staircase, in which he dismisses the incident and tucks the ball away on his desk. He gets home the next night and again, the same ball rolls down the stairs. Things get increasingly eerie, and the séance he holds inside of the house is probably the most effectively terrifying scene I’ve ever seen in a movie because the tension builds and builds to climax. Coupled with some extremely eerie camerawork, “The Changeling” is one of my all-time favorite films.

I wonder if he likes Cannibal Holocaust.

Hype Machine (TM)? What Hype Machine (TM)? Musta been a pretty shitty one, because I’ve never even heard of this movie before this vid. Probably just as well.

My friend originally dragged me to see this movie and at first I was reluctant. I then found it amusing since half of the audience seemed to be made up of easily spooked women (I’m still cleaning the blood out of my ears). I also went to a very ghetto movie theatre, so there was one brother who couldn’t afford a babysitter and a couple of others telling him to “shut that fucking baby the fuck up.”

Overall, good film.

@251
I agree. One thing I hate more then anything is the words on a movie “Based on a True Story”. Supposedly it draws more sells, but to me the “based on…” part means some form of “The director(s) fucked with a true story (or idea) to come up with this piece of shit.” Most movies with it arent terrible, but the list is short of good ones that say that.
The Strangers was one of the worst slasher films ive ever seen with this title, and the director was an idiot. I saw the making of and he basicaly admitted it wasnt a true story it was just the idea of terror he wanted to build on but imo (only my opinoin) he failed miserably. If anything that movie was torturing me for buying it. I was shocked Liv Tyler was in it, must’ve done it for the paycheck, its beneath her abilities to be in that crappy of a movie. But again im just stating my opinoin.
Anyway, im more into horror movies with incredibly rediculous stories with crazy things happening so my tastes are weird anyway and some would say im messed up in the head (but yet… im not) but thats me, based on a true story is meaningless to me and actually makes me more afraid to watch unless i want to have a horrible time watching.

HOLY SHIT SPOONY, THE POSTER BEHIND YOU IS MOVING BY ITSELF!

….oh, it’s just your fan blowing on it :X

last movie i felt truley afraid watching was Jacob’s ladder only because you dont know what the hell is going on or how the characters can overcome it that and it used psycholigical fear like red as background color when the crap happens which in itself causes fear. but that stuff has been so overused now that it doesnt really scare me as much as knowing something is there and never being able to see it.

Just saw Paranormal Activity. I’ve got to say that, while I wasn’t precisely scared, I was tense almost the whole time. I will weigh in on the ending, though. **SPOILERS** I found it distracting; it took away from the film (for me at least) by leaving me saying “wait, what?” I didn’t even know what happened until I saw him on the ground, I thought that someone rushed the camera with a pillow (it took me watching the scene frame-by-frame on YouTube to see him actually in the air). I didn’t mind the setup, but the execution broke my stride.

Overall, great movie. A bit heavy on the exposition at times, the first time the psychic showed up was annoying (although I love the second time), and you’re so right about the pacing being weird, but I still recommend it. I’d love to see a “making of” film, I’m curious as to how much was done practically and how much was CGI. Finally, I agree with you that I’d really really like to see a deleted scene or alternate ending where all Hell (literally) breaks loose.

Oh, and Ghost Hunters (and all shows like it) are fucking useless. That is all.

-Matrim

agreed. tho i kinda liked rise of Keslie Vernon, not as a scary film but as a decent spoof of slashers (like what i understand scream was supposed to be)

Really great review of the movie, you actually inspired me to go see it myself after I was on the fence. Oddly, I’m beginning to like your long vlogs more than your reviews, they’re very simple and genuine.

After watching the film, I am having a debate on whether I would use the sound effect (the one before each event) in the movie. On one hand it does enhance some scenes where you would be just looking around, the picture scene in the attic for example. On the other hand, it forcasts the events so you are less likely to be startled or scary by something suddenly happening. There are examples of games that would be good examples of effect use of sound, even before the scary event occurs. Some of these include the F.E.A.R. games and Doom 3. In many parts of the games, you are completely in the dark(except for a small flashlight) and hear a noisy; however, you don’t where it is coming from or when it will occur. Other than that, this movie was a good movie to see in the theater, I saw it as a matinee. Is it the scariest movie of 2009?

“Paul is dead, miss him”? is that a reference to the backwards play of some beatles song?

@288 F.E.A.R. Scared the piss out of me… Right after the ladder where the girl shows up as you go down.. I stopped playing game freaked me out.

Good video. Here’s the thing, horror movies have sort of meshed with action films and/or they use characters that one does not give two shiats about. Ex: Put jason statham in a horror film and no one will be really scared. But make the main character a real-life person that acts like a real human being and that will help raise the fear factor.

I think 2012 will be scary only because 2012 is coming and people have superstitions that something is going to happen.

I don’t know if you’ve seen Joshua yet, but I think you’d like that brand of horror. Perhaps not, but maybe.

wonder what spoony thought of shaun of the dead?