PARANORMAL ACTIVITY - Get the word out!

Actually, I don't MWG is technically old enough for even that Swisher Sweet. I could be wrong, but I know I'm close.

Originally posted by Michaels Even I will admit MWG was right this time. It's nice to know that even some of the worst armchair critics can have good taste from time to time. Hopefully, he won't blow it by overhyping any more run-of-the-mill slasher remakes ... or claming that "The Last Airbender" should sweep the Oscars and is the greatest martial arts movie of all time (that honor belongs to "Enter The Dragon", followed by "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") just because it's directed by Mr. "What A Twist!".

Is it just me or did I find "House of Flying Daggers" much better than CTHD?

I have an updated review based on how I felt after seeing the movie for a couple of days:

Katie and Micah are a couple who've just moved into a new home. Katie believes that malevolent spirits have been following her since childhood, though Micah is not so easily convinced. However, after several nights of loud noises and strange happenings, Micah starts to agree with Katie that some sort of ghost may have followed them to the new home. Micah decides to take control of the situation and sets up a battery of video cameras so that if a spirit manifests itself, he can capture its behavior on tape.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY is a small, little horror movie that is getting a lot of buzz lately similar to BLAIR WITCH ten years ago. Let me start off by saying to not keep your expectations as high as the hype because the hype makes the film out to be the scariest film in the last decade and even the scariest film of all time, which is really ridiculous. Setting your standards based on the hype does the movie injustice. However, saying that, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY IS a good, scary film, which we rarely see in Hollywood these days. Oh, wait. This was PICKED UP by Hollywood. My mistake. Like BLAIR WITCH, the film starts off as if everything is fine which makes the scary scenes much more terrifying.

Hitchcock once said that suspense is the ANTICIPATION leading up to the explosion of a ticking time bomb and the scare is the bomb explosion itself. The former part of that statement describes PARANORMAL ACTIVITY perfectly. Like BLAIR WITCH, the film is all about the build up of fear, starting off very subtle but slowly escalating as the story progresses and by the end, you're almost killed by the tension! No, the movie doesn't rely on cheap gore effects, gratuitous violence, or useless nudity. No, it doesn't rely on CGI or make-up effects. It relies heavily on your sense of imagination, which, ultimately, is the cause of your own fear.

The film also has a real authenticity feel to it, especially the exchange between with actors Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat, whom both pull off very fine and realistic performances. Oh, and when you go home after the movie is finished, and when you get in your bed to sleep at night, good luck with that. This film not only makes you afraid of your own home, it effectively strips the securities of where you're suppose to feel the safest in the entire world the most: In your bedroom. A movie that makes you feel this vulnerable probably makes you want to see more of these films...or maybe less.

However, if there's one thing I don't like about the film, it's the ending. The movie builds up so well that the ending ends up feeling very abrupt and so very disappointing because it almost comes out of nowhere. There was no catharsis. But other than that, the film is scary. I'm already starting to feel the after-effects. If a film can manage to scare you and the audience with creaks from a door and footsteps coming from another room, you know the film succeeded. See the movie because I'd rather see an inventive, clever movie like this do well than SAW 57...oh, AND because it's scary. 8/10

I certainly don't have a problem with them bringing it to our attention here, especially with all the junk that parades it's way through the major theaters. BUT...we don't have much to go on here...7 critical opinions, even if they are good ones represent sort of a red flag. When something really good comes along, the top critics have a way of finding it and beating the drum for it. The total lack of attention this film is getting from critics suggests to me that it's probably a relatively insignificant work.

It's kinda funny looking back at this post about "spreading the word" and hoping the movie will do well, when the series is now up to it's third installment.

Probably the studios thought "This could be the next Blair Witch Project". And sure enough, it was!  

Originally posted by Vits I also think people enjoy seeing great movies with extremely low budgets because they identify with them, and think "Maybe I could do that too!"