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Paranormal Activity and Also Other Horror Movies That Are Not Paranormal Activity
jhunter46
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I didn't see a thread for this...
Just got out of Paranormal Activity this afternoon and I thought it was pretty good. Although the ending was a little hollywoodish for my tastes the movie did a pretty good job of building up that sense of dread. Plus, I love me slightly chubby cute girls.
IMDB link:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179904/
Just got out of Paranormal Activity this afternoon and I thought it was pretty good. Although the ending was a little hollywoodish for my tastes the movie did a pretty good job of building up that sense of dread. Plus, I love me slightly chubby cute girls.
IMDB link:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179904/
jhunter46 on
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Also, $11k investment brings in $20 million in one weekend, now THAT is scary.
Our first game is now available for free on Google Play: Frontier: Isle of the Seven Gods
It would be nice if the makers of movies such as Saw and Hostel would learn that lesson.
Anyways, having just seen this for the second night in a row this weekend, I must say that this movie was extremely well done. The "reality horror" genre seems to be doing well, after the Blair Witch backlash following the horrendous Book of Shadows. Given the sudden boom of paranormal related shows that populate the airwaves, its no surprise that a film like this comes along and as I noticed in the crowd tonight, people dont read at movies. Its a film so realistic that while it is fiction, it is as close to an actual incident as it comes.
But I fear that once people realize that it was just a movie, they'll have that same disappointment we all did when Blair Witch was declared a hoax, and thus, just another low budget film. Its that reality that people relate with, if they believe it could happen to an average couple, as PA depicts, than it could happen to you. This illusion, coupled with the jumpy suspense and at times perfectly timed moments that made you jump.
overall, the film was done well, lets just hope we dont see "Paranormal Activity 2: Demons among Us."
Consensus is
Why not? The action directors have got mindless violence covered pretty well anyway.
"How'd you like to go pro?"
-Aldo Raine, Inglorious Basterds
There were a couple times where I got creeped out, mainly
It's funny, because generally I'm more scared by what I can't see, which seems to be the consensus, but this time I was more creeped out by what little I did see. I thought the haunting effects were very well done.
My only gripes with the film were Micah was a total unlikeable douchebag, and
Overall, though, definitely worth a watch.
I think I loved that slow build up more than anything. Anticipation is awesome.
Gore isn't scary, it is just gore.
What? You were expecting people to stop by the library on the way to the cinema?
Anyhow. Our theater was really into it. I think it's the sort of movie that is probably better in a theater. The creepy feeling stuck with the wife and I as we both had a bit of trouble sleeping. A movie hasn't done that since the first time I saw The Excorcist when I was roughly 12.
Also, regarding the ending. There are 3 different ones that were shot and have been shown depending on which release of the movie you saw. The one in theaters now, is well, not the original. You can look around the internet for the other two. I'll put a brief synopsis of them in the spoiler below.
Ending 2: No micah flying here either. She comes back upstairs bloody and with knife, sits on the floor next to the bed for DAYS, finally her friend shows up to check in on them and sees Micah's body downstairs. You only know this because you hear her come in and scream and leave. Shortly thereafter the cops show up. When the cops come upstairs she lunges at them with the knife and they shoot her.
PSN : Bolthorn
Ahh, okay. I wasn't 100% sure. Hadn't seen either of them, just read about them. The way you describe it sounds way better than what I read then.
PSN : Bolthorn
I didn't find the movie scary at all. Then again movies don't really scare me, nor do things that go bump in the night.
Funny thing about that movie. What she's talking about, feeling of someone in bed with you, holding you down, can't move or speak, shadowy figure, actually happens. It's called sleep paralysis and happens when your body is still paralyzed from REM sleep and you are still dreaming but fully concious. It happens to most people at some point in their life, and to some people several times. It's related to narcolepsy.
The movie seemed to try and play on a lot of things that do happen, for perfectly logical reasons and then go for the "but here is what you don't know cause your dumbass was asleep at the same time" angle, which I thought was rather stupid.
I thought it was well made for $11,000, but didn't think it was particularly scary - maybe a bit creepy at times, but at no point did I even approach mild fear.
Really, I have an incredibly difficult time understanding that anybody would find it that scary... but like psychotix I guess I've never really been scared by a movie, so I might just chalk it up to "not in the target audience" and leave it at that.
Micah was really unlikeable, though. Why was that guy such a dick?
I LOVED Micah, especially how he trash talked a demon that he knew was in the house with him.
Lot of Micah hate... but honestly, I think his portrayal was pretty consistent with someone under that kind of stress. I mean, losing that much sleep to a... uh thing... is going to make you pretty damn cranky.
I guess, but it seemed like he lacked even the slightest self-preservation insticts. He seemed really dumb to me.
Now if the original ending was in place, I feel I would have enjoyed it a great deal more. I did appreciate the lack of gore that plagues most "horror" movies today, but it just played the same tricks too many times, for too long.
Overall, I found this movie terrifying. I've never really been scared in movies, but for some reason during this movie I felt my fight-or-flight sense really kick in. It could be the fact that I find psychological stuff more frightening than gore.
Overall, I think you'll either enjoy this movie because A) It's well made
They both seemed like idiots honestly. And Micah didn't seem to fully believe it up till the end. If I was in a house and stuff started to happen I'd think someone, as in a person, was fucking with me as well and get pissed.
Once my girlfriend was caught staring at me for 2 hours in the middle of the night, though, I like to think I'd be a bit more cautious.
I'd be more scared of a crazy GF in that case then the door moving.
For a while there I thought the twist would be that the girl was just crazy. Seems like there's been a lot of horror movies with that premise lately.
I think the thing that bugs me the most is that they just stayed there. The first guy they talked to said "don't bother running, it'll just follow you." Well, sure, but so would an axe murderer, and people run from those. I think it's worth a shot.
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That's really the fundamental problem with the movie. The night parts and a few other bits really were creepy as hell, but the plot and the characters were just so retarded. I suppose I can accept starting off with the mentality the characters have, and even keeping it up through the first few things, but once things started getting unarguably screwed up that's game over for that kind of stupid. The refusing to try anything, to bring anyone else in, the continued machismo, it's just annoying at that point and clearly giving up any semblance of plot in order to drive forward and hit the highlights the director/writer has in mind without any rhyme or reason to the why.
Maybe it's me, but I can't wrap my mind around what these people could be thinking. Thought one the second it stops being haha spooky girlfriend I'm calling James Randi and drawing in a team of people to watch everything and help while paying me a cool million for the privilege. Even leaving that aside, if I'm legitimate freaked out I'd bring in everyone I knew and start being systematic, especially if I've got unassailable proof on tap anyone can see. If shit happens when I'm asleep, then I'm having enough people around all the time that no one is ever alone and someone is always watching while people are sleeping. Buddy system everything up, watching everything and always keep the lights on, etc etc. It's not necessarily interesting at that point anymore, but there has to be some middle ground between "uh dur" and super rationally tryign to break everything down.
Regarding the plot:
I also hated that they decided to stay in the home simply because some douche says so. It would have really upped the terror level IMO if they demonstrated the demon following them as they tried to run. At least one night in a hotel where shit got super bad would have helped immensely.
Also, put me in the "Micah" camp as far as how I'd handle it. Although, seeing her staring at me for hours in my sleep probably would have sent me packing. Oh, and the relevant bit with the Ouija board.
You know how I'd handle it? Break-up.
Seriously, there's "this is creepy and weird", and then there's the events of this film. If even half that shit happened to me, I'd be gone.
Either that, or the demon ended up being totally cool and saying "Sorry, I was just fucking with ya. Wanna go get ice cream?"
Having seen both the theatrical and internet endings I definitely preferred the more subdued ending. The theatrical ending totally broke the 4th wall and ruined the feeling.
The ending I really want to see, but haven't been able to find, is the one where she comes back upstairs and slits her throat. That sounds like the most disturbing, and the most appropriately subdued ending.
All that said, as much as I disliked the Hollywood-ized ending, it was probably the most consistent, plot-wise, just because it reinforced the idea that the demon wanted the girl, and wanted Micah gone. It tried to drag her up into the attic, and when that doesn't work, it has her kill Micah. But then in the two not-shown endings, it gets her killed. So why bother haunting her for literally her entire life if it's just going to abruptly kill her? Doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
Having her just mysteriously disappear at the end, though? That makes sense. Either the demon keeps her around as an avatar, or it drags her up into Demon Land, or whatever the fuck.
Also, I thought they did a good job of justifying why the couple stuck around.
While it's not how I would behave, there was enough explicit motivation given that I accepted it in these characters. I mean, I don't think there's a horror movie made that would work if you subbed in completely reasonable characters. At some point, somebody has to be dumb for the story to work.
I have often wondered how that would work. Ironically, it's the one thing Hostel did well. A bunch of horny teenagers get into trouble with Slovakian murder-whores? I'd buy that.
The things I didn't like about this movie were the ending, and Micah the SuperDouche. I liked everything else about it, especially the slow crescendo of the first half.
Yeah, that part really amped up the tension. I was waiting for some sort of Poltergeist-style shenanigans, and that was unexpected.
Oh, also, I was a little forgiving of them not moving to another location based on the film's budget. Hauling their shit over to even a Motel 6 probably would've doubled the budget at least.
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