Paranormal Activity
 

So, what do we think?

I personally thought it was great. It measures up to the Blair Witch Project for me. I was especially impressed with the discipline of the director, he could of easily gone over the top and made the occurances gorier and theatrical. Yet, instead he places emphasis on atmosphere and tension, as well as realism (to such an extent that he presents the horror in such a mundane manner it's easy for the viewer to imagine it, structuring the film so as we the audience, like the characters, actually fear the onset of night. The activity is made more explosive and disturbing by this creeping build up of tension, so as when it finally happens the fear levels of the viewer have already been optimized by anticipation.

I've maintained it was a holler and a hoot, even though most who saw it after me said they were disappointed. I filled a flask and went to a midnight showing in a packed theater, I think this added to the experience. I mean- the movie slowly built up, the humor was good but didn't cut through the tension, and that ending literally made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I thought that was just a figure of speech, but it actually happened...

I'll stand behind it.

i was mad high and this **** was still hella lame, luckily tha bitch next to me smooched my bone all night long.

Must watch this movie.

What ending did you see/ Because i know there are up to three different endings and it depends on which country you're seeing it in. I saw the one where the camera DOESNT hit the floor (trying hard not to spoil it for anyone who hasnt seen it)

I thought the movie was extremely lacking.

Occasional humour and realism was good, but not enough to save it. To me, the movie only seemed to work on one level which was scares. It just didn't scare me and then it felt like it had nothing else to offer.


SPOILER ALERT!

I love good ghost stories and in my favourite haunting-films, the ghosts have a proper story. Sometimes they're even characters in their own right with personalities/agendas. The entity or whatever in Paranormal Activity was just something, you never really knew what it was trying to accomplish or why .. or even what it was.

Some may argue that this makes it spookier, but as I said, I wasn't spooked anyways, so .. :p:

In my opinion, good horror films usually offer way more than this one did. This one felt like it didn't even really have a story, just unexplained stuff happening at night. And this gets hyped as an awesome horror flick? Blah. If you wanna see a recent good horror film, I would recommend "Drag me to Hell". Aside from realism, it's got tons more to offer and is just way more entertaining.

*spoiler*

The alternate endings just show that the makers behind the film didn't really know the entity - what it was/wanted to accomplish/etc - themselves. At least that's what I think and I think it's a weakness. ;)

As you said, i found the fact you didnt know what it was more menacing than if i had known who or what was causing the activity. The animal like footprints freaked me out to no end. I think this film is so effective because of the realism, the fact it didnt try to offer some long, formulaic narrative. The sharp day to night transitions were great because it clearly defined the difference in atmosphere and mood, resulting in the activity seeming that bit more frightening. But that's just me.

And Pour, that's the ending i really want to see, the one i saw seemed a bit meek.