Paranormal Activity

I just got back an hour ago from seeing this film with my girlfriend and I feel it necessary to let you guys know just how great of a horror film this is.

In short, the film is shot entirely from the perspective of a camera bought by Micah to document himself and his girlfriend who has been antagonized by some sort of spirit on-and-off-again at different points in her life. The film takes place entirely within their home and consists of a number of sequences in which the camera is placed on a tripod observing them while they sleep. Naturally, events start out tame and begin to escalate. The atmosphere in this film is amazing and is completely confined to what is documented by the camera. To say much more would not only ruin the experience of watching it, but would hardly do it justice. Suffice it say, you will likely enjoy yourself and be genuinely terrified, something which very few horror films have been able to do for me.

Has anyone else seen this film yet, and what are your thoughts?

I read an article in Entertainment Weekly about this, it looks more interesting than a Japanese horror movie remake, which hasn't been overdone at all yet.

The article mentioned that the film was shot in under a week for less than some-odd thousand dollars and has already made over a million. The critique from Steven Spielberg was impressive, too.

edit; rottentomatoes puts the box office mark at $33M.

could have been waaayyyy better imo. Had potential but fell apart about 2/3rds in

it has one of those camera-shots-of-people-lining-up-to-see-it-and-afterview-interveiw-with-joe-asshole-america commercials that i loathe.

this movie is nothing compared to Antichrist and Drag me to Hell...

the 'shit jumping out at you' gimmick makes this film not a good horror film....

some of the story within the film was alright....

Poltergeist, Ringu, Evil Dead |, || and |||, The Exorcist, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Antichrist, Drag me To Hell and The Shining can't exist in the same genre as this film...

it is a mockumentary, not a horror film....

Would it be scarier if it was an actual documentary?

I quite like the look of this but I could also see myself being disappointed.

  On 10/24/2009 at 10:59 AM, karmakramer said:

Had potential but fell apart about 2/3rds in

I often find this happens with promising horror films.

good film

its was good, but more comical then I expected

i was going to check it out, then i saw the trailer and it just put me off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3pGqHGPQiI

that has got to be one of the lamest trailers i've ever seen.

  On 10/24/2009 at 11:54 AM, Atop said:

this movie is nothing compared to Antichrist and Drag me to Hell...

 

the 'shit jumping out at you' gimmick makes this film not a good horror film....

 

some of the story within the film was alright....

 

Poltergeist, Ringu, Evil Dead |, || and |||, The Exorcist, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Antichrist, Drag me To Hell and The Shining can't exist in the same genre as this film...

 

it is a mockumentary, not a horror film....

does drag me to hell deserve to be ranked as a classic horror film though? I thought it was well made and entertaining, but it didn't scare me, apart from the cheap shot "boo!" moments which always get me no matter what. Antichrist was a bit scary, but not quite as scary as it should have been given the subject matter (I still rank it as a great film, but it's somehow rather vulnerable and not that hardcore at all). Come to think of it, I think I've pretty much outgrown horror. Well, I guess I was horrified by Bruno - seeing people get tricked on camera drives me nuts for some reason. Rewatched both the Shining and the Thing recently, two of my favorite horror films when I was a teen, and they didn't do much for me.

Looks weaksauce.

The Exorcist always does the trick for me...

This movie really has the potential to be scary...but it depends on the atmosphere of your theater! I went to see this flick last weekend, and the entire theater wouldn't shut the fuck up, constant chit-chat, not a single moment of silence, sort of killed the atmosphere of the movie.

my theater was really into this, so i liked it. but thinking back, it wasn't scary at all. just a fun group experience. the scariest thing that happened was during the low bass hum building up to one of the hauntings in the bedroom, one of my friends who was completely bored with the film decided to scream as loud as humanly possible, setting off a chain of screaming and laughter through the theater, drowning out the actual scare that came a few moments later.

in fact, i don't think i've ever been genuinely scared by a film, although as a teen or preteen the blair witch project freaked me out quite a bit, but that was after watching a sci fi channel documentary that built it up as factual, then seeing it and letting my imagination run wild. paranormal activity had more "scare" moments, but it wasn't nearly as effective. also the ending was cheesy as fuck.

i'm open to hearing what people consider really scary films. i can't think of any.

Back when the 6th sense came out, that scared the fuck out of me, that whole scene with mischa barton vomiting and shit, I don't know it just got to me. I also thought the original poltergeist was scary, especially at the end when all the god damn skeletons started coming up from the dirt.

  On 10/25/2009 at 5:11 AM, Atop said:

The Exorcist always does the trick for me...

believe it or not, I've never seen the exorcist!

nuclear war movies or the film Kids scared me. Also, serial killer movies scare me sometimes. The ending of silence of the lambs when she is in the basement in the dark scared me a lot.

  On 10/25/2009 at 5:36 AM, zaphod said:

my theater was really into this, so i liked it. but thinking back, it wasn't scary at all. just a fun group experience. the scariest thing that happened was during the low bass hum building up to one of the hauntings in the bedroom, one of my friends who was completely bored with the film decided to scream as loud as humanly possible, setting off a chain of screaming and laughter through the theater, drowning out the actual scare that came a few moments later.

in fact, i don't think i've ever been genuinely scared by a film, although as a teen or preteen the blair witch project freaked me out quite a bit, but that was after watching a sci fi channel documentary that built it up as factual, then seeing it and letting my imagination run wild. paranormal activity had more "scare" moments, but it wasn't nearly as effective. also the ending was cheesy as fuck.

i'm open to hearing what people consider really scary films. i can't think of any.

the fucking Exorcist is scary as fuck you! YOU! AGGHHHGCHGYR!

you make me hate everything...

and yes this is a mockumentary, ghosts and demons hate recording devices as seen in Poltergeist.

They blow cameras the fuck up!

  On 10/25/2009 at 5:56 AM, lumpenprol said:

  On 10/25/2009 at 5:11 AM, Atop said:

The Exorcist always does the trick for me...

 

believe it or not, I've never seen the exorcist!

I'll pretend you didn't say that...

FUCKING RENT THAT FILM NOW MAN!

it is truly the only film that scares me...

the exorcist doesn't really do it for me, sorry. i'm more scared by subtle things.

this made me really uneasy, although the actual scare moment is kind of cheesy, but brief.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pdd9VBSoag

  On 10/25/2009 at 6:18 AM, zaphod said:

the exorcist doesn't really do it for me, sorry.

It did it for me! I watched it my senior year of high school at a friend's house, and after the movie was over (it was about 2am) things started making noise downstairs and some cats started fighting right outside. Freaked us right the fuck out.

saw it, utter garbage

i get what they were trying to do but oh my fuck did they fail

  On 10/25/2009 at 5:36 AM, zaphod said:

although as a teen or preteen the blair witch project freaked me out quite a bit, but that was after watching a sci fi channel documentary that built it up as factual, then seeing it and letting my imagination run wild.

exactly! i don't know many people that actually got to enjoy that film in the proper context. i think only people that got to see that sci-fi doc, in that gullible teenage state, and then saw the movie on opening night, were the only ones that truly had a chance of being affected by that movie. anyone that just saw it later on dvd or something completely missed the boat.

also, Exocist III scared me more than the first. the first is superior though

there is but one horror movie that has the ability to FUCKING HORRIFY ME TO THE DEEPEST PART OF MY SOUL

apart from silence of the lambs which is fucked up

classic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMQQpmm5u3w