Paranormal Activity

[Z]

OVERVIEW


After a young, middle class couple moves into what seems like a typical suburban “starter” tract house, they become increasingly disturbed by a presence that may or may not be demonic but is certainly most active in the middle of the night.

Especially when they sleep. Or try to.

Paramount Pictures Presents A Blumhouse Production A Film by Oren Peli “Paranormal Activity” starring Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Mark Fredrichs, Amber Armstrong and Ashley Palmer. The film was directed, written and edited by Oren Peli. The film was produced by Jason Blum and Oren Peli. The executive producer is Steven Schneider. The co-producers are Toni Taylor and Amir Zbeda. This film has been rated R for language.

http://www.paranormalactivity-movie.com/trailer.html

^Trailers

RottenTomatoes.com is currently rating this one at 85% which is pretty good for a "Blair Witch"-esque mockumentary. Lisa and I will probably be seeing it tomorrow.

Has anyone else seen it yet? What did you think?

[deathofcheese]

I haven't seen it, nor do I plan to, nor have I talked with anyone that has seen it, but I noticed that one friend on my Facebook said it blew.

I might be interested in watching it, but certainly only after it was out of theaters. Bet my sister would love to go, though.

[Gerrymander]

I'm seeing it tonight in like an hour...I'll let y'all know my impressions.

[Gerrymander]

SO. Just got back from seeing it. Here's what I thought:

It is so very frightening. Not so much in the "BOO I SCARED YOU" sense of most horror films, but more like a slow build of suspense as you wonder just what the heck will happen next and when. I think the mockumentary style of filming adds to the film, as it adds a touch of 'this actually happened' to it.

I give it a "pretty damn scary".

I'm almost sure that it'll become the 'cool thing' to see it and say "Wow that was terrible I wasn't scared at all guys, look how not scared I was you're all stupid and weak for being scared". This is the wrong attitude, I feel. That is, the attitude of "I am going to go to this film to prove how so very brave I am". Why would you go to a horror film except to be scared by it? That's the point.

Minor rant aside, don't go in expecting the "thrills and chills" you might get from Amityville Horror or The Exorcist. Take the movie for what it is and don't heap unrealistic expectations of what it should be on it.

[reginacroft]

but....Amityville Horror had shirtless Ryan Reynolds. Should I not expect that?

[Z]

I saw it a couple of days ago. If I had expected what the advertisements were saying (That this was the scariest movie ever) then I would have been sorely dissappointed. It very much isn't the scariest movie ever.

However, having been advised by friends to not expect such, I very much enjoyed the movie for what it was. It's pretty entertaining and some parts are creepy and cool. For a Blair Witch type movie, I enjoyed it quite a bit.

For those who want a movie that has a lot of plot and a lot of 'jump out of your seat' scares, I would avoid this movie. For those who simply want to see some freaky stuff happen to a couple, though, this movie isn't a bad way to kill an hour and a half. It's fully driven by suspense and scary build-up and less by substance (and by that, I mean that the 'bad guy' technically isn't really ever seen in the movie).

The build-up was enjoyable, though I saw the pirated version of the movie that came with the original ending. I then went to YouTube and saw the Theatrical ending and I've gotta admit, I think I like the original ending more.

[reginacroft]

Steven Spieldberg had them change the ending to a more theatrical version.

[Gerrymander]

Steven "Spieldberg"?

[reginacroft]

The director with so much money he doesn't give a damn how I spell it Steven.

[reginacroft]

Lol just saw it.
It was....ok. But to be honest the preview for The Fourth Kind alone creeped me out more than this film. It was decent but don't expect the jumps just more of the freakiness.

[DoomKitty]

I thought it was kind of a waste of an hour and a half. I was bored most of the time. Whatever version we watched had a terrible ending. It was laughable.

[Gerrymander]

Um basically this guy said exactly what I wanted to say in my review but better. Here:

This contains no spoilers, even though I assume that anyone with an interest in seeing Paranormal Activity has done so already.

Among obnoxiously pedantic board game enthusiasts (a group of which I am a founding member), a distinction is made between “games” and “activities”.

A game, you see, is one in which the players compete against one another and, on average, the most skillful or experienced player emerges as the winner. In other words, while the playing of the game might be fun, the winning is the goal (or, at the least, it’s important for the players to at least pretend that winning is the goal, if the game is to work). Chess is a game, as is Scrabble or Go.

At the end of an activity, on the other hand, the determination and declaration of a winner is largely unimportant, and sometimes skipped entirely. Think Cranium, or Taboo, or any party game really. An activity is all journey, no destination. It’s as important for players to not care about winning in an activity (or, at the least, pretend to not care) as is for players to earnestly compete in a game.

Given those definitions, Paranormal Activity is aptly titled.

I saw PA in the Neptune theater in Seattle, on Halloween Eve, and can think of no better venue. The cinema, with its creepy pelagic decor and location blocks away from the University of Washington, provided the perfect atmosphere and audience for this film. Specifically, the seats were filled with young and quick-to-startle college students, at least during those moments when said kids were not several feet above the seats and screaming bloody murder.

Set in a haunted house (of sorts), and presenting itself as a faux-documentary of the Blair Witch ilk, the film alternates between the day (during which anxious but largely uneventful discussions take place amongst the protagonists) and the night (during which Bad Things Happen). Each nocturnal chapter is incrementally more pants-crapping that the one prior. By the end of the film, folks in the Neptune were vocal and sincere about their displeasure in not having fled the theater before. “Oh god no,” They would say, as the scene switched to the owners of the house sleeping peacefully in bed. “No no no no god no please no more.”

The ending of Paranormal Activity, like that of all activities, is not the point. The ending just signals that the festivities have ended. Knowing this ahead of time is probably essential to truly enjoying the film. (I did not, and thus left somewhat disappointed).

And although I would normally encourage people to see a film of this cinematographic caliber on DVD rather than ponying up for a movie ticket, I’ll make an exception for PA. If you are going to see it at all, see it in a theater, preferably one as packed as possible. The fun in the film is in the watching–both the watching of the film, and the watching of those around you watching the film. Approaching Paranormal Activity any other way is like trying to play chess on a Cranium board.
Copy/pasted from http://defectiveyeti.com/