Paranormal Activity
 

Paranormal Activity (2009) | Official Movie Site & Trailer

People that know me know I adore truly frightening movies. Not movies that use loud noises or sudden movements, mind you, but that have a combination of brilliant writing, acting, and perhaps special effects. The Exorcist, Alien, The Thing, Jurassic Park (I was 10 at the time), and Mothman Prophesies are among the few movies to scare me. Recently, "scary" movies are either gross movies or startling movies, which has left me wanting for something to truly scare the living shit out of me, like I can't sleep for a few nights because my completely irrational fear has dominated my perception of the world scary.

Today, I was farting around online when I found the trailer for the movie Paranormal Activity. Looks promising. I googled the thing to get reviews by people that have screened it. Holy shit. This movie scared pretty much everyone that's seen it in a big way.

So I'm cautiously optimistic. Please, Paranormal Activity, don't let us all down.

Hope it's not a suburban version of Blair Witch Project.

Bingo, only this time the cast isnt going to make the mistake of doing the talk show circuit and revealing that its fake, thus ruining the entire effect of the "homemade" movie feel.

And maybe this time NO ONE THROWS THE MAP IN THE STREAM.

Looks like it might be good, I went through the trouble of filling out the Demand It! info for my town.
I don't think they're trying to pass it off as real, this is on the official site.

"Directed, written and produced by Oren Peli, the innovative thriller stars Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat. The film was produced by Jason Blum. Steven Schneider served as executive producer."

Its showing here in Atlanta, but unfortunately its at midnight on a work night only :(

and....I've decided to go to the midnight screening lol

Good for you, Shani. You're not old! Why act like it? :thumbsup:

Tell us what you think when you get back, please.

Its not so much being "old" its knowing that I wont get home until about 3 am and I will have an hour and a halfs sleep before I have to get up for work at 430 lol

Go.See.This.Movie

seriously

Its 7 am, 5 hours since I left the movie theater...Im still thinking about it..allow me to share my experience and ramble for a bit.

(there are no spoilers below)

I am not a person that gets scared by movies. I am one of those that finds the Friday the 13th's etc funny. Horror movies to me are predictable and do not affect me. There has been ONE movie in my life that has given me nightmares... Blair Witch. See I saw this movie before anyone found out it was fake, and the last 5 seconds is what gave me the willies...and nightmares, still to this day.

So, last week when my best friend said she was going to see it, I scoffed. First, it was a midnight showing on a work night and I get up every day at 430 to get ready to be at work at 6. Second, it was going to be cheesy, I just knew it. Third it was in a part of Atlanta I didnt really want to be in at that time of the morning.

Tuesday I decided to go, heck it was free, it was in a historical theater, and my friend would be there so I wouldn’t be alone, so I RSVP'd online and got my pass.

Yesterday, I went home from work and took a two hour nap so that I could stay awake for it, its the last sleep I've had.

Dave couldn’t go with me, so I left the house at 10 and drove to Atlanta to meet my girlfriend and another friend of hers. After accidentally turning down a wrong street and putting myself in the middle of a movie that’s being filmed here, I got to the theater. The Plaza is a very historic theater here (you can read about it here http://www.plazaatlanta.com/HISTORY.html ) and I had never been there. The line for the movie had already started by the time I got there at 1040 and my friend was already there. Rather than piss anyone off, I told her to just wait for me when she got inside and I went to take my place at the end of the line and spent about 20 minutes chatting with the guys behind me in line about the fact that the theater was going to be showing Rodan on Saturday.

Wait and wait, hurry up and wait some more, take stock of all the different types of people in line and wait... finally they opened the doors and we made our way to the table to give our name and make sure we were on the VIP list and get our wrist bands and our coupon for free popcorn and drinks. After getting my refreshments, I walk back to the entrance for the screening room and am immediately mesmerized by an old school table version of Space Invaders. I wanted to play for old time sake, but the theater only holds 400 people and we wanted to get good seats.

I've never in my life been in a theater like this, the seats were really old and soft (too soft, my back is killing me) and rocked. It was like sitting in the rocking recliner my daddy had when I was a little girl.

The movie was scheduled to start at 12, so we sat for awhile chatting and people watching. Right before 12, someone with a microphone gets up and tells us they appreciate us being there, how to go about demanding the movie for other showings in the area and that after the movie there will be people in the lobby with computers to record our reviews to be posted on facebook.

The lights go out, and the screen comes to life. The first thing we see is a guy making sure to tell us this is not a "true story", and how its a "ghost story" and no good "ghost story" has CGI effects, and again a reminder to "demand" the movie for our area, the screen dims again for a minute and lightens again to mark the beginning of the most interesting 90 minutes of my movie going history.

I won’t in anyway give anything away, other than to say that evidently when Paramount and Dreamworks decided to release this, they changed the ending from the original screenings at the festival showings. I knew that from reading reviews, and now that I've seen it, I searched out the original end description. I'm torn, the end in the theater is the most "hollywood" thing about the movie and would love to see the original, but I don’t know how it would have affected me had I seen it first, hopefully it will be on the DVD when its released.

The premise of the movie is that a young couple is experiencing weird events in their house and Micah, the boyfriend, buys a state of the art video camera to document what is going on.

This movie was nothing that I expected and all I’ve ever wanted in a “scary” movie. It’s all about “it’s not what you see, it’s what you don’t see that scares you”. My track record of figuring things out has been shot. Every time I thought they were going to do something, it didn’t happen. It is like the very deliberately didn’t do any of the things that people would expect. There is no gore, nudity, or sex. What there is, is 90 minutes of anxiety and nervous breakdowns. It actually gave me chill bumps twice. While some parts are “chilling” while you’re watching it, the “scare” comes later, much like Blair Witch did for me. It is very much a psychological scare. When the movie was over the screen went dark and they didn’t bring up the lights for a few minutes. I do not know if this was deliberate or not, but it certainly had an affect on me.

Going home to a dark house at 230 am and having to walk thru it without lights (didn’t want to wake up Dave) was creepy, I preceded to get undressed in the dark and got into bed….and laid there with my head buried in Dave’s shoulder until the alarm went off at 430. You want to know what was creepier? I learned that my cats chasing each other on hardwood floors from one end of the house to the other in the wee hours of the morning
Sounds just like the “noise” in the movie when the activity was going to start.

Yeah, this movie is going to have an affect on me and while I think that’s awesome, someone finally managed to “get” to me, I’m really not looking forward to having to be at home alone for the 6 weeks that Dave is going to be in California lol

So, in closing, if you want blood, guts, cgi, arrows thru the neck while the guy screws the faked boobed blonde, this movie isn’t for you. If you want a movie that is unpredictable, and seems to do a good job of getting in you’re psyche, go to the website and “demand” it.

If Atlanta gets it, I will be there again, as a paying customer.

I love this detail. It sets you perfectly for a pseudo-reality movie.

Awesome, thanks Shani!

Damn, that was an awesome review, Shani. Now I can't wait to see this movie. :thumbsup:

For those interested, they've added to the places its being shown this weekend

Atlanta, GA
Chicago, IL
Dallas, TX
DC/Baltimore, MD
Denver, CO
Detroit, MI
Houston, TX
Los Angeles, CA
Las Vegas, NV
Miami, FL
Minneapolis, MN
New York, NY
Philadelphia, PA
Phoenix, AZ
Sacramento, CA
San Antonio, TX
San Diego, CA
San Francisco, CA
San Jose, CA
Tampa, FL

I swear, if I wasnt the only one that had seen it I wouldnt be the only one posting here anymore lol

I've got tickets to go see it again Saturday, this time I get to take Dave!!! Can't wait to see his reaction

At the Movies With Peter Travers: "Capitalism: A Love Story" and "Paranormal Activity" : Rolling Stone

Haha! That's funny about Spielberg.

Shani, make sure you hold Dave real tight. You don't want him getting skeered. :thumbsup:

you gotta remember, its not so much being scared DURING, its after...its still affecting my sleep!!

I've promised him I will snuggle him tight when we get home

Meh.

Okay. Thank you Shani. I live alone. In a 100 year old house. And I've already seen a Civil War type figure in the vestibule in my bedroom repeatedly.
Also went to Flagler College and lived in the dorms for 4 years.


Will not be seeing this film.

You had me until "no sex with fake-boobed blonde", how disappointing

Went and saw this with my sister yesterday and it lived up to the hype in my opinion. Good and creepy. At it's best, it reminded me of movie's that have scared me in the past (Rosemary's Baby, Exorsist, The Thing, etc.) True, there weren't a ton of scares, but it mounts as the movie goes on. Three times my sister and I, both lovers of good horror films, found ourselves reaching across the seat between us and holding hands. Not something I do lightly.

Slight spoilers ahead.


Towards the end, theres a scene where Katie is lying in bed and, after all that has happened in the house, she changes her mind and wants to stay there, feeling it's safer (you could pratically hear everyone in the audience shaking their heads "No!") As the scene fades, and you realize they're spending another night in the house, someone in the back of the theatre goes, "Oooooh shit."

We all laughed. It was a tiny, weak laugh, but a laugh none the less. We knew we were all in the next twenty or so minutes together. :)

I saw it for the 3rd time last nite lol the fun part for me now is listening to the audience, like all the people yelling DUMBASS when Micah does something he really shouldnt have done (those that have seen it know which part Im talking about...the part when they are getting ready to go out for the evening)

Noodle, this movie isnt about a ghost....I have one of those as well in my house, his name is Charley. Its about a demon, which isnt giving anything away, that is established very early on in the movie.

I have been talking to Charley, asking him to please not do some of the things in the movie and freak me out lol

3 times now and it STILL gives me goosebumbs even though I know whats coming.....Its in wide release now, other people should go see it!!

I watched it last night and I agree with everything Shani and Troublebot have said in this thread. One lesson I learned from this film is to never piss of a demon.

Finally, it's here. We are seeing it tonight, as part of my celebrating.

oooo I cant wait to hear what you think

Jove, I guess that means you enjoyed it?

I've seen some gruesome stuff in my life, and none have prepared me for the mindf*ck paranormal activity was. The movie was good, but I haven't been able to walk around my house in the dark for the past week or so.

---------- Post added at 04:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:12 PM ----------

Agreed to great extents. I thought I heard one the other night and found myself praying in my head. Haven't done that in years! haha

HAH, I still cant lay in bed at night comfortably. Im afraid to open my eyes if I wake up cause I dont want to see that some light in the house is on lol

Yes, Shani, I enjoyed the movie, a lot.

I guess somebody needs to be the dissenting opinion here. I have to say that I really did not like this movie at all, and found myself rooting for the demon to end their (and my) suffering. Extremely poor acting, ignorant reactions to insane situations, obvious foreshadowing through out the movie, and a ho-hum and very predictable ending all added up to an experience I wish I hadn't paid for. The only real chill that I got from the film was the second to last "event," which I thought would have made for a much better ending. Anywho, this isn't a flame to get everyone else riled up, just my honest opinion. Obviously many people loved this movie, I was just not one of them.

It doesnt bother me you didnt like it, we all like dif stuff. All the things you just said I say about any horror movie made, and on a lot my opinion is in the minority :)

I have read several people say the kinds of things you did, I'm must not one of them lol

I saw the film festival version of the film and I liked it for the most part. I didn't find it scary in the least though. I agree that the second to last event should have been the end. I think the film festival version has a different ending than the hollywood one but I'm not certain.

Edit: I also agree that the acting was subpar and Micah was a retard.

Edit#2: I read what the theatrical ending is and it sounds horrible. Why throw in CGI when the rest of the movie didn't have hardly any? There is another alternate ending which I think might be best. It's kind of like the festival ending but Spoiler: Micah dies downstairs, bloody Katie returns to the bedroom with knife in hand, and she proceeds to slit her own throat in front of the camera (without looking right into it).

I downloaded it a few days ago (Wed) wife & I watched it that night, she was dozing off, so we watched TV instead. She went off to bed, so I thought I'll watch the rest of the movie, (maybe It'll get better).....

... NO, it didn't. IMO, it was slow & boring. I was waiting for the bejesus scared outta me too. :sad:

My SO, says that we're not allowed to go to bed at different times anymore, she almost vomitted and she doesn't want anymore harmless "boos!" in the middle of the night.

It isnt out properly in the UK yet - but from what I've seen Spoiler: a wild yearning to be the guy in the movie, take a short butchers knife and shank the ghost in the guts, spin him round and slit its throat open and then drink a quart of holy water and piss all over its twice dead corpse while it convulses like a broken and nerveless animal... to be fair a lot of horror movies effect me like this... when I saw Nightmare on Elm Street at about age 14 I had dreams for ages afterwards about me breaking both of Freddie' wrist with a rusty fence post

Not bad, not as freaky as I thought it would be.

Did not live up to it's hype as a scary movie. A movie made by amateurs for 11k? Pretty impressive. But take that fact away, and it is only so-so. Wife was extremely bored, waiting to be scared. And why are characters in movies so dumb?

Really enjoyed it the movie, just got it on DVD. Anyone have any thoughts on the "alternate ending?" The long trailer for "Shutter Island" (also on the DVD) looked great too!

I havent seen the alt ending yet, I had the DVD pre ordered to watch for new years, but the girl of the couple we went away to the mtns with evidently cant handle "scary" so I didnt get to watch it yet.

I'll be interested to hear your take on it Shani. All around, really good flick.

The alternate ending is way, way better than the stupid theatrical ending. I can't decide if I like the DVD alternate ending or the film festival one better.

Where did you see the festival one? I just read about it on wiki . . . Youtube doesn't give me much. Just so I'm sure I understand . . . I'm talking about the *theater* ending and the alternate ending on the DVD. If you've seen the *OTHER* ending (which sounds like it was the original original) point me in the right direction!

After I watched it at the theatre I downloaded it off of a torrent, it turned out to be the film festival version. There were a few differences and some stuff was out of order but it did have that original ending whereSpoiler: she gets shot by the cops The original was changed to be more hollywood for the theatrical release which I didn't like. but the other differences improved the movie in my opinion.

Here is a video I found online, the video took forever to load but it's the only one I could find:

http://www.vbox7.com/play:347dd4bf

Badass, thanks a lot!

I just couldn't get into this movie. I think it was because it was shot in the sense that it actually was real when I knew in my head it wasn't.

Noodle, Shouldn't a [I]Civil War[I] figure be in a much older house? I don't know much about ghost or spirits or figures but I did catch something in school about when that war was!

I thought it was and that Blair Witch was far better and more original. It wasn't all that scary.... Hell there were no scary parts.

Hahaha. It seems as if most people I know are sharply split about it; some found it ridiculously scary, and some thought it was pathetic. I thought it was alright, until you saw the imprints in the powder they sprinkled outside their bed room. It reminded me of a horses hooves and from that moment on I was cracking up, picturing a horse standing upright and creeping around the house. Fml.

Paranormal Activity 2: Director You’ve Never Heard of to Ruin Movie That You Liked - Techland - TIME.com