Amph Paranormal Activity (original, sequels & spin-offs)

Sounds scary as hell. Can't wait to see it. I really hope it comes to Orlando soon.

 

It's playing here in Austin, and I'm excited to see it. It looks genuinely scary, which itself is a rarity, and the fact that it's unbelievably low budget (I've read $11,000!) makes it that much cooler.

 

From EW's report on the Friday box office:

"The big surprise of the weekend was the activity from Paramount?s uniquely marketed Paranormal Activity, which grossed an estimated $2.5 million for the day. The number is astonishing considering the R-rated horror film only played in 158 theaters, putting its per-screen average at an unbelievable $15,975. (As a comparison, Couples Retreat per-screen number is $4,110.) Also, now that over 1 million people from around the country have logged onto the website ParanormalMovie.com to request it play in their town, the film will open nationwide beginning Friday, Oct. 16. Quite impressive for a film that cost only $11,000 to produce."

 

I saw PARANORMAL ACIVITY this afternoon and was surprised at how "edge-of-
seat" scary some of it was. The theater manager told me that some people were so
creeped-out that they has to leave the house and wait in the lobby for the show to
end and their friends to come out.

Of course I plan to see something really scary at the STAR WARS concert
in San Jose tomorrow, namely two-hundred-pound Leias in slave outfits.

There are always one or two...

 

About 15,000 dollars were spent on this film and I think it's made somewhere around 16 million dollars now? (Edit:Zaz commented on this earlier--far more specific)

I saw it yesterday, and felt that it didn't live up to the hype. However, I admit that it was suspenseful throughout and there were times when I didn't want to look at the screen. I felt that the conclusion was, however, rather tacky. There was a lot of energy there with that suspense and I feel like it kind of just...disappeared into thin air--this was not a good thing for me.

However, I really appreciate how the film plays to more primitive or child-like fears--it strikes deeper because of that. I also applaud the fact that the film doesn't play to an established horror formula--there are very few moments that attempt to shock through quick imagery or sound. The suspense is built with the help of your own imagination, which is spurred on by suggestive imagery/sound rather than horrid creatures or gory murders placed clearly in front of the camera.

It might be more fun to rent than see in the theatre, however. I nonetheless, enjoyed myself despite its flaws.

 

I just got back from seeing it. I disliked it and felt disappointed by it for the same reasons I intensely dislike Blair Witch Project -- namely, it's boring and the ending is lame.

That said, in general I think PA is a better-made movie than BWP, with endearing characters and a handful of actual "ooh, spooky!" moments. But when characters for whom you have developed some affection start behaving in ways that are patently invented to further the plot, rather than according to the truth of human nature and psychology, it is my opinion that the filmmakers have lost touch with their audience, and let the demands of the genre eclipse good sense and intelligence.

I'll give PA three stars for the performances and the concept, and the fact that an at times genuinely scary movie can be made without gallons of gore oozing out of dismembered limbs, but with the proviso that the film is ultimately a let-down.

 

This is the first movie that has actually scared me in a long time. The movie is awesome and I was freaked out when I got home cuz I live in an old house that creaks alot. So it took me awhile to get to sleep

 

All the "Blair Witch" hate makes me sad

 

I was disappointed in this. I was really looking forward to it too.


it was good, but as hyped as the movie was, good is disappointing.


But the best part of the movie for me had to be, at the end, after the final scene, when the text appeared on the screen saying katie's whereabout were still unknown. right when that came up, I shouted, "SHE'S HERE IN THE THEATER!!!" and a few people in the theater actually freaked out and screamed.

 

Nice.

You didn't see it in Long Beach did you, because I thought I heard someone say something similar...

 

BLAIR WITCH II was a lot of fun. I absolutely loved it when
Kim Director gets in an argument with "Peggy" the store manager.

 

Cinematical's take on it:

"Just take a look at that weekend box office. Sure, the critically panned Couples Retreat came in at #1, earning over $32 million on 3000 screens. But scan down the list and look at #4, which was Paranormal Activity. It earned $7.9 million on 160 screens. That's not a typo. One hundred and sixty screens. If we take the average, Paranormal Activity earned $49,375 per screen, and Couples Retreat took in a paltry $10,666 per screen. That's five times as many butts in the seats for the horror film than for the unfunny comedy (which means that there must have been a lot of empty seats at the latter). There's a simple reason for this: Paranormal Activity is a genuinely scary movie.

The same goes for any of the "body genres," i.e. comedies, steamy films, weepies, etc. If they genuinely work, and genuinely elicit the response that they promise, they will be a hit every time. Horror buffs -- myself included -- probably see more than a dozen new "scary" movies in the theater each year, but it's only once every few years that we actually get scared at one of them. Paranormal Activity achieves this by doing something very simple and not at all new: it doesn't show anything (or, rather, it shows very little). It knows that nothing that can be shown onscreen can equal the fears and nightmares of the people in the audience, and that the fear of the unknown is the greatest fear of all.

Val Lewton was one of the finest practitioners of this theory with his series of nine great films made for RKO between 1942 and 1946. In Cat People (1942), a woman takes a night swim in an indoor pool; the ripples of the water are reflected on the walls all around. We hear growling from offscreen, but we can't see it; the woman can't get out of the pool because the sound seems to be coming from all over. That's much better than getting to see an actual killer cat. Other famous films that managed minimalist scares include The Haunting (1963) and -- like it or not -- The Blair Witch Project (1999). (I have to admit to being scared out of my wits at certain David Lynch movies as well.)

The recent Sorority Row (347 screens) had one such good scene, after someone dumps some bubble bath into the sorority house's outdoor hot tub. Over the course of a big party, the suds slowly seep out of the tub, grow and tumble across the entire yard. In one tense scene, a girl goes poking around for the killer in the waist-deep suds, and he could be anywhere. The scene ends, of course, with a visual of death by flare gun, but it's one inspired moment in an otherwise uninspired film. The Final Destination (365 screens), while kind of fun, is the exact opposite of something scary; absolutely everything is shown in this film, and the only suspense lies in watching the various intricate deathtraps unfold.

It almost makes you want to define a new subcategory of horror films, something special for the really, truly scary ones, although like the word H.P. Lovecraft frequently used, perhaps it's best just to call them "unnamable."

 

I give them credit for having a semi-original idea. The hype of this movie is what draws people to it. For weeks the commercials aired vote for this film so it can distributed; this film is the scariest around.....I admit I fell victim to it, while let me say my girlfriend did and I couldn't say no. The commercial had me interested as they showed the end of the film with Micah being thrown into the camera. I actually thought it may be like White Noise which came out a few years ago. Anyway, when the movie started I knew this wasn't real story. I also knew that this was gonna somewhat be shot like the Blair Witch. The story was something straight from ghosthunters or paranormal state with enough afterlife garbage to keep people interested. The ouuji board and the scared psychic put it over the top. The actors were great. When she gets dragged down the hall and possessed it made the movie. Obviously the last scene of the movie had some special effects but thats what made it good.

I wasn't impressed with it at all. I compare it to the Blair Witch in most regards as it is very low budget and made to look real. The only thing that this movie has over the Blair Witch is that you never have seen the cast interviewed on Oprah or for that fact on a media tour. Th only lasting effect I have is I can't the images of her stalking her prey and sniffing him after the deed is done. Not bad for a flick that was sat on for a few years before it was released.

BTW I thought BW 2 was an awesome flick and a billion times better than the first.

 

Paranormal Activity gets a EW Cover

 

Just watched this last night, and I can`t BELIEVE that such a TERRIBLE "film" (notice I put that in inverted commas) could actually be funded and then released in the belief that people want to watch this drivel! The mind boggles!!

 

It's made over a $100,000,000 at the box office...but then so did "The Blair Witch Project", which wasn't any hell, either.

 

Reviews for 2 are good, actually.

 

Yeah I am somewhat shocked, I expected two to be this awful mess, but I hear it's really good. I had no plans to see it before, but now I might go and see it.