 Be Prepared To Use Your Imagination |
| Review Date: November 26, 2009 |
| Reviewer: James Morris, Jackson Heights, NY United States |
A well-written review of any film should never label its subject "good" or "bad". Rather, it should give you an idea of whether or not you can expect to enjoy it, based on your own preferences and expectations. Paranormal Activity is a particularly controversial film when it comes to the potency of its terror. Most reviews either complain, with great disdain, "I hated it - it wasn't scary at all" or exclaim in total satisfaction, "It scared the pants off me - I loved it". There seems to be little in-between.
I saw the film today, having read enough reviews to know pretty much what to expect. But before I reveal my own reaction to Paranormal Activity, I would like to offer a few ideas that those who know little about this film may find helpful.
Alfred Hitchcock, the celebrated director who was known as "The Master of Suspense" held many interesting theories about what frightens an audience. Hitchcock believed that, when properly stimulated, the viewer's imagination was far more powerful - and far scarier - than many direct images that may or may not frighten the average viewer. Directly depicting a ghost, a monster or a demon for example, even with today's special effects, may scare many viewers, but that will depend solely on the quality of the effects. And even if well done, many viewers may find the images unconvincing or downright laughable, for they may have other ideas about what a ghost, monster or demon should look like.
However, if the filmmaker merely implies that a supernatural event is taking place, and sets up the situation with enough skill, the viewer's imagination can take over and sometimes yield a far more frightening experience than any vivid imagery ever will. After all, people go to horror films to be frightened, and what could be more frightening than unseen terrors from one's own imagination? By setting the mood with dark rooms, low lighting, eerie shadows and other effects that many people will associate with their greatest fears, an innocent image of two people peacefully sleeping, unaware of what may be going on about them or to them, can become very frightening indeed, even if few special effects are used. This is especially true if the moviegoer has developed enough empathy with the characters to place themselves in the same situation.
Many modern horror films rely on blood, gore and violence, with horrible creatures conjured up by special effects and vivid scenes involving battles with ugly demons or manic killers in order to provide thrills. That can be a lot of fun, and certainly very scary. But it can also be argued that, as CGI effects advance and become more vivid and frighteningly realistic, many viewers become inured to violence, blood and "creatures" while depending less and less on their own imagination, and in the process, they will sometimes forgo a far scarier experience. I know that no special effect ever came close to my own nightmares, because my nightmares are stirred by the things I fear most, and not the things that I've been conditioned to find scary. In short, no amount of vivid terrors can match the human imagination, provided that the imagination is properly stimulated.
Well, this is the basic idea behind Paranormal Activity. Largely on a shoestring budget, the writers/director/actors of Paranormal Activity have managed to create an old-fashioned thriller that relies almost exclusively on the viewer's imagination. Those who like their "scary movies" full of CGI, monsters, blood and violence are warned; you will probably be extremely disappointed. But if you have enough respect for your own imagination, and can allow yourself to be frightened not by what you see, but by what you think is there, you just may find Paranormal Activity to be every bit as frightening and well done as many people say it is.
By the way, I saw it with a friend. He did not find it frightening at all. On the other hand, I definitely expect to have trouble sleeping tonight. Whether or not you will agree may depend on how effective your own imagination can be.
Recommended.
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Should be called 'My Douche Boyfriend's Activities"
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| Review Date: February 15, 2010 |
| Reviewer: S. Carr, |
| This movie was just okay. Both characters started to annoy me. The girl should have ousted her boyfriend sooner for being such a douche and making things worse. Also, I would have ran to a catholic church after seeing the demon footprints. I especially would have ran directly to a catholic church after being dragged out of bed and bitten by a demon. What I would NOT have done is continue listening to my douche boyfriend and letting him try to solve the problem via Google searches. I also would NOT have burned a cross assuming that would scare the demon away. |
Very Disappointing
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| Review Date: January 15, 2010 |
| Reviewer: GamePlayer30, Baltimore, MD |
| I love ghost and other types of scary movies. I like the Blair Witch Project a lot, but this movie has too many flaws and just does not cut the mustard. The main fault is the male character just does not act how a normal human would act and it destroys the illusion of the movie world. The movie is worth a quick rent, but don't expect much. |
VERY NORMAL ACTIVITY YAWN
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| Review Date: January 6, 2010 |
| Reviewer: F. Mckelvey, Lucerne -Clear Lake,California.Best Bass fishing lake in the USA |
| I do not like scary movies my wife does.The advertising deserves an Emmy award as it sold her on the movie.But it was classic bait and switch.The whole movie is basically the commercial,only the commercial was actually better than the movie.From the ads we both thought this movie might be too scary.It wasn't the least bit scary at all, we found ourselves looking at each other many times saying "that was lame". I'd be thinking boy somethings really going to happen now... and nothing.The most intense "action" on the screen was the time lapse counter.So many missed opportunities to make things really scary or creepy. Brings a whole new meaning to "low budget horror movie."my wife was disappointed I was relieved. |
Boring. Not a movie. It's a reality styled turd for the pathetic decade that worhips Reality TV.
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| Review Date: January 3, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Steven M. Quinn, USA |
| The worst of the them being boring. This is not even a film. It's a no budget peice of crap that can only be blamed on the decade that worships reality televison. It's an isnsult that a video home movie like this gets to have a theatrical run where decent films like Trick R Treat get a straight to DVD release. |
Things That Go Blah In The Night
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| Review Date: January 3, 2010 |
| Reviewer: JC, New York |
Ok, unless you live in Siberia or something, you all know the story, a young couple Katie and Micah seem to be visited, mostly at night, by a ghost or demon in their new home and Micah takes matters into his own hands by videotaping and recording every single moment, literally. This is it in a nutshell, "Night 1", they toss and turn, a slight noise, next day Katie whines and Micah checks it out on his computer, tapes Katie in the bathroom. "Night 3", toss and turn, bedroom door moves back and forth, next day Katie whines some more about being scared, Micah gets into it, tapes her some more in the bathroom. "Night 6" toss and turning, loud thump, Katie calls a psychic and he stops by and does nothing, and so on and so forth. LOL! Sorry, that may not be exactly it but...I will admit that I did enjoy the very end, you can skip the alternate ending, but up until that point I just didn't believe any of it or the characters. It's a shame because I really was looking forward to it.
I'd like to congratulate the marketing folks who did an amazing job with this film, creating all kinds of buzz and hype and sucking almost everyone in the world to go see this film and/or buy the DVD. I must say I am the latter and boy was I duped! I have to say maybe I'm just a "doubting Thomas" but I don't go for all the "ghost hunter" tv reality shows and the like and when I heard the premise of this I just couldn't pull myself to go to the theater and see it. In any event I kept reading, not in great detail as to spoil any expectations, review after review praising and saying how scary this was, much to my dismay.
One reviewer said, " Paranormal Activity is the most raw horror film since the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre. It's very realistic and unsettling." But then in the same breath goes on to say "The only thing I didn't like about the movie was the stupid characters", how can you have a movie that is both realistic and has stupid characters? You got me, I thought the characters were very unrealistic most notably, which no one seems to mention, the visiting "psychic" played by Mark Fredrichs. His dialogue was horrible and stiff and was so completely bad that it shot was credibility it had right out the window. At some points Micah was pretty unbelievable too when he is yelling out to the spirit, and the whole cliche using the Ouija Board was almost laughable. On top of all this as the story unfolds, I won't give it away, but it just became more increasingly lame, ie the story on the computer and the past. Come on, you tell me you really got into that?
Anyway, I could really go on and on but I won't. Like I said from the start, maybe I'm too much of a "doubting Thomas" or just don't jump on the "bandwagon" like most, I don't know, I do know this was NOT the most scariest movie ever nor should it be compared to some of the great classics! And I slept like a baby that night. Oh, I almost forgot, I did get my name in the credits! LOL! I wish I hadn't now that I know how bad it was. I've also put my copy up for sale on Amazon. Anyone want to buy it? Oh, and please don't do a sequel with Katie. LOL! |
Don't believe the hype! This "Paranormal" movie is nothing above normal!
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| Review Date: December 31, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Jelly Jar, Collinsville, IL USA |
I saw this in the wonderful Moolah Theatre in beautiful downtown St. Louis, MO. To start with, the awesome speaker system there did nothing for the terrible sound quality of the movie. They may have wanted it to sound more like the filming was being done by a camcorder, but gritty muffling throughout did nothing but detract from the entire experience.
Another reviewer alluded to this movie as having the type of appeal that would attract eight-year-olds or those with eight-year-old intelligence levels (using much more degrading words, of course.) I wouldn't necessarily agree with that notion. On the contrary, the eight-year-olds and teenagers were the ones who were LAUGHING in the theater. NOBODY screamed until the last ten seconds.
The bore factor here was incredible. Time crawled by while two shallow characters, Micah and what's-her-name, dealt with a supernatural entity that was never seen. Hey, it's okay to not show the demon; I understand that that's supposed to be part of the fear factor, but saving the best part of the movie for the extreme end when it could have been introduced as a foundation early on and then built upon for additional scares was a HUGE golden opportunity missed by everyone involved. But that's not all as far as missed opportunities go...the whole thing with the psychic, or whatever that character was supposed to be, was flawed and underdeveloped. That individual situation could have been expanded upon to create a whole different angle and level to the movie.
So why all the hype, you ask? I have two theories. It may be one or the other, but its most likely a combination of both:
1. Exceptional marketing, whether deceiving or not! 'Nuff said.
2. When horror is presented in such a way that it is less about the grandiose, over-the-top, literally unbelievable, Hollywood presentation like "Poltergeist," for instance, and more about something that is so subtle that it could actually happen to "YOU," it opens the door for personal fears to creep through and subject the subconscious to a taste of a not-impossible reality.
That being said, I give the movie and its makers three stars for effort, but keep in mind viewers, MOST of this movie is VERY boring.
Three Stars *** |
Close that door!
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| Review Date: December 31, 2009 |
| Reviewer: S. Langston, Bernalda, Italy |
| Just a couple of questions about the premise of the story: Why, after seeing any number of shadows, hearing creakings, bumps and scraping noises from downstairs (which is in direct line with the open door), and for Chrissakes being dragged out of bed and down the hall, wouldn't you sleep with the door closed?? And as the "affected" person of the pair, why then wouldn't anyone, male or female, change places and sleep on the "safe" side of the bed?? I also think, if I were to experience baby-powder footprints which resembled those of a small dinosaur or giant chicken, I probably would specify that the footprints weren't just generic public swimming pool ones.... But that's just me. |
A review of the DVD
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| Review Date: December 29, 2009 |
| Reviewer: K. Schade, Highland Lakes, NJ United States |
I am writing to review the DVD itself not the movie. The movie of its own is very good, and I enjoyed it in the theaters. However, the DVD is a waste of money. There is nothing in the way of special features or options. There is no real main menu page. There is an alternate ending, but its not even the good alternative ending. It is totally unworth it. There were several endings shot for this movie and they decided to put the weakest of them as the alternate ending. There are much better versions that could have been added. Had they wanted to really expand this DVD, they could have. Instead they wanted to make a buck, and release this ASAP. Look at the Blair Witch DVD. We all know that its a fake movie, however the film is loaded with special features that keep pretending it really happened and it adds to the whole feel of the movie. For this DVD, there were infinite options for features beyond the movie. There are none. Everyone knows it is fake by now (hopefully) and its is also revealed that there is an alternate ending, why not go balls to the wall and do more?
If you love this movie, get it. Don't buy the blue ray, totally not worth it. But rent it first. It does not hold the power that it did on the big screen |
There was certainly a lot of buzz surrounding "Paranormal Activity"
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| Review Date: January 19, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Andrew Wood, |
There was certainly a lot of buzz surrounding "Paranormal Activity" when it finally made it to theaters back in October but it's one of those movies that seems to polarize people. Either you think it was a genius masterpiece or shoddily made piece of crap. Care to wager which end I'm on? Yeah, I know it's not much of a gamble is it?
Spoilers ahead!
The plot is fairly straightforward. A couple (Kate Featherston and Micah Sloat who play themselves) live together begin to experience paranormal activity which starts to escalate after the boyfriend purchases a professional video camera and decides to document what's going on. After some prodding and a visit from a psychic, the girlfriend admits that this is not something new to her and she has experienced this since she was a child. The psychic quickly tells the couple that they have a demon and that he isn't equipped to help them and instead gives them the business card of one of his colleagues.
Enter the standard horror movie plot. Micah is "that guy", (you know, don't be *that* guy) and rather than help his lover overcome the situation he suggests that she not call the demonologist and instead that they just keep filming in hopes of catching something really cool on tape. Things are getting worse gradually, strange noises, objects moving, doors slamming most of it is off camera and can be seen coming a mile away by the audience. That is until Micah barrows a Ouija board after promising Kate that he wouldn't buy one and it bursts into flames while unattended. Everything for them is down hill after this point.
I saw a lot of parallels between "Paranormal Activity" and the previously reviewed "Death of a Ghost Hunter". Most of which weren't a positive. 'Ghost Hunter got a 4 out of 10 from me and the only reason it managed to even scrape together that much of a rating was because for all of the things it did wrong (and I mean really wrong) it was at least creative and a little different from the pack. Paranormal Activity on the other hand did the same things wrong and lacked any originality or creativity that saved 'Ghost Hunter from a complete skewering. People pretending to be themselves and running around with a Sony Handicam... yeah we saw that already and it was called "The Blair Witch Project".
Perhaps the worst part about "Paranormal Activity" is that it is a lot of build up for nothing. The scary and tense scenes maybe equal an entire twelve minutes of the 86 minute feature. There's a lot of sitting around, a lot of the couple fighting, and most notably a lot of Micah acting like a disobedient four year old. There are a few genuinely creepy scenes, my favorite of which involved the couple putting down lines of talcum powder from which powdery monster foot prints began to appear during the middle of the night, but that is the closet you'll come to actually seeing the entity. It's a lot of door banging and Katie acting crazy and rocking back and forth.
The verdict? It's been done to death and they don't even try to do it well. A flimsy plot and an entire box of un-creativity sprinkled liberally throughout earned "Paranormal Activity" a two and half out of ten from me. If you'd like to save yourself the hassle check out this disturbingly accurate account of the movie posted below and save yourself about 76 minutes which you'll never be able to get back. |
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