Paranormal Activity
Everyone knows the story behind Paranormal Activity by now, but, just in case you just woke up from a coma or are visiting from Nebraska, here’s a the long and short of it. Shot over one week way back in 2007 for the price of a Hyundai Excel, Oren Peli’s shot-on-video shocker traveled the festival circuit until it was picked up by Paramount with the original intent of remaking the film. Ultimately realizing that they couldn’t possibly make the film any scarier than it already was (save for a reshot ending suggested by the bearded one, himself, Steven Spielberg), Paramount began dumping the flick into a handful of theaters where positive buzz and a unique marketing campaign turned the film into a full-blown phenomenon, shattering box-office records, and sending the Peli’s little movie well on its way toward becoming one of the most profitable films in motion picture history.
Paranormal Activity is the romantic story of a boy, a girl, and the demonic entity that comes between them. When we are first introduced to Katie (the impossibly cute Katie Featherston) and Micah (Micah Sloat), we learn that Katie’s had something of a history of paranormal experiences, and, recently, she’s been experiencing said phenomena in the couple’s suburban San Diego digs. Micah, always willing to do anything that involves buying electronic devices, procures an HD camera and sets it up in the couple’s bedroom so that he can record them as they sleep and, hopefully, catch something on camera. Pretty soon, however, Micah’s documenting everything, including a meeting with a psychic who feels that Katie is being pursued by a demonic presence; one that’s followed her throughout her life. While this, of course, scares Katie silly, Micah finds it all very entertaining, and suggests that they communicate with the unseen being to see what it wants. The psychic warns him that doing so could cause Katie irreparable harm, but, stubborn man that he is, Micah employs a Ouija board to make contact with the being anyway, and…well…all hell breaks loose.
Much like The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity is a vérité style “found footage” flick that mostly depends on the hysteria generated by its characters to scare its audience. Early on, nothing all that frightening happens. There are doors opening and closing, lights flickering, and chandeliers swinging. Katie and Micah treat these like funhouse scares, mulling over the footage the morning after and laughing about it. Later, however, as the demonic presence grows more powerful, so do its “attacks”, resulting in some truly nerve-shattering scares that build up to a finale that is forever burned into my psyche. Cripes, my skin’s crawling just thinking about it.
Sadly, Paranormal Activity only really works when the lights go out. Once these characters are exposed to daylight, however, they reveal themselves for the lunkheaded cartoon characters they really are, especially Micah, who, reminds me of the sort of jackass who rocks the gondolas on Ferris wheels just to make his fellow passengers cry. Katie’s not much better as she doesn’t do much more than express mild displeasure with Micah in regards to his infantile ways, despite the fact that, with every passing day, his actions make things progressively worse for her. Why does Katie even listen to Micah, anyway? He’s a day trader, not an occultist! Throughout the entire film he repeatedly prevents Katie from seeking out genuine help, instead insisting that it’s “his house” and he’s going to take care of this “demon problem” as though he were dealing with a leaky roof or a clogged toilet. His idea of taking care of things is snickering while he gives Katie demon advice from what looks like a Dungeons and Dragons Bestiary he picked up at a yard sale. The guy’s a tool, and the only mystery bigger than why it is Katie stays with him is why she chooses to stay in the house at all.
Okay; I realize the “rules” are established early on (leaving the house won’t help Katie as the beastie will just turn up again somewhere down the road), but it still makes no sense as to why they don’t just pack up and leave. The psychic clearly states that the demon will eventually find her again. Eventually! That means later. Maybe weeks, months, even years down the road. So why not err on the side of caution and go camp out in a church or at the local Holiday Inn? Maybe do some traveling? Who knows? Maybe the demon will get sick of chasing around after her and go try to possess someone else! But no, they go to bed every night (and somehow even manage to fall asleep!), experience something that would make any sane person run off screaming into the night, and get up the next day and giggle about it with their friends. By the time they finally decide to leave, things have gotten so bad that Katie’s practically catatonic. So what does Micah do? He takes her upstairs for a nap, of course! Why?! Why not let her sleep in the fucking car on the way to the hospital as that’s obviously where she needs to be? Why take her back to the same bedroom where she was manhandled by an invisible assailant the night before? The film is positively teeming with infuriating logic lapses and inconsistencies such as this, but, then again, if the characters behaved like actual people, the film would be fifteen minutes long.
Paranormal Activity is at once one of the scariest movies I’ve ever seen and one of the most brainless. Take away all of the daft exposition and it’s really just a gimmicky experience flick, but here the gimmick works and the experience is nothing short of harrowing. Of course, whether or not Paranormal Activity will scare you ultimately hinges on your beliefs. If you’re an atheist or hopeless skeptic, you’ll probably spend the entire movie looking at your watch and wondering what in the hell everyone else is so riled up about. If, on the other hand, you’re a lapsed Catholic with a guilt complex (like me), this flick will most assuredly scare the pants off of you, and likely haunt you for days, if not weeks, after.
as that "100% genuine" ghost footage you find posted on YouTube!
Seriously, I am! This sort of stuff scares the shite out of me. Anything remotely "demon" or ghost related gives this ol' Catholic boy nightmares. Gimme axe murderers, serial killers, vampires, werewolves, zombies, and pretty much anything else and it doesn't phase me. Show me a cup sliding off of a counter and I piss myself.
and search for "Interview with a Poltergeist". You'll be scared silly! LOL! Especially when it gets to the bit where the poltergeist speaks ("I'm a G.H.O.S.T!")!
I am actually obsessesed with this case though, even read the book one of the "investigators" wrote about it. A charmingly dotty slice of '70s macabre. Check out the posters on Janet's bedroom wall as she's "levitating"!
Cripes, I can't even watch fluff like White Noise, let alone "reality based" paranormal stuff. I've got a baby monitor in my office, and I swear I can hear otherworldy beings chatting over it. You'd think that, as a man of (admittedly shaky) faith, I'd embrace the idea of ghosts and demons as being proof that something waits for us on the other side. However, all I can think is that what's waiting for me has 12 inch fangs, a bad mullet, and a pitchfork ready to shove up my arse.
I really need to start watching some light entertainment for awhile. :P
You hear otherworldly beings over your baby monitor? All I ever heard on mine was the trashy neighbors arguing about whose turn it was to pick up drive-through for dinner.
Now that I think of it, I can't recall any movies or stories that have used a baby monitor as the source for hearing spooky stuff. I'm going to add that to my list of ideas for future stories...
It's a fantastic Spanish thriller made for a series called Six Films to Keep You Awake. You can pick up the DVD from Lionsgate for a fairly decent price, and you get five other surprisingly good films to go along with it. The Baby's Room scared the CRAP out of me, not so much because of the ghostly bits, but primarily due to the fact that the director proved to be a master of shots that make you jump out of your skin!! The parents employ those video baby monitors and see an apparition appearing beside their kid's crib at night. Things get progressively worse, as is often the case, and it sort of jumps the shark toward the end, but it's still a ton of fun.
THat sounds tres creepy (does anything bad happen to the baby? if so I may not be able to handle it. My days of handling "kids in peril" stories well vanished about 6 and 1/2 years ago when Young Master Blonde arrived).
You'd think with modern technology they could make baby monitors that don't sound like the creepy video messages/dreams in Prince of Darkness.
You can get it for under a tenner. It looks like a bargain if the other films are worth it.
I remember loving THE SPECTER, Paco Plaza's A CHRISTMAS TALE (sort of a super violent Goonies), THE BLAME, and TO LET. THE BABY'S ROOM is a blast, while A REAL FRIEND is probably the worst one of the lot (and is still kinda fun).
I checked out that "interview with a poltergeist." It was really interesting....creepy...but fascinating. I'm glad that they also looked at this case with the perspective that it might have been a hoax. I'm always skeptical unless there is some kick ass evidence. It seems to me like the kids could of been responsible but then again who would want to keep that up for a whole year??? I encourage others to check this out!!!
I don't believe in ghosts or poltergeists, but there was obviously something very peculier going on at the time, and it's something I find fascinating. I've read the book by Playfair, and, oddly, I felt even more sceptical after reading that account of the case by one of the chief "paranormal investigators" than I did beforehand! Not the response it's meant to engender, I'm sure -- but Gross and Playfair just seem to have been quite eccentric and gulible (charmingly so, it must be said), and prone to reading supernatural forces into almost any mundane event or coincidence.
For what it's worth, my take on what might have been happening here -- put very very simply -- is that the girls were indeed playing pranks: rather low-key pranks at first (knockings, throwing things etc.), but the presence of the investigators, as well as physicists (this was the height of the Geller craze), TV reporters and hypnotists, gave the whole episode an air of legitimacy which was eventually responsible for escalating things to the point where at least one of them -- Janet -- probably really did think she was possessed in some way (if you're 14 and lots of clever adults are telling you this is real, then you might come to think it must really be real after all!), while also kind of enjoying the freedom she got from the fact that she could get away with swearing at adults and blaming her behaviour on a poltergeist!
Watching Interview with a Poltergeist last night at around 1:00 AM. LOL. Once they showed some reenactment bit, I had to shut it off as I'm still emotionally fragile from Paranormal Activity. :P
after watching interview with a poltergeist I started watching the related videos on ghosts...granted there is a lot of crap on you tube (which everyone already knows) but even the apparent fake home videos are creepy! Its in the way these clips are presented...shaky, grainy, and shockingly realistic...its enough to make anyone shit a brick....even if you don't believe in the paranormal!!! Anyway, I agree with black gloves on the Enfield case. Its very fascinating though...thanks for bringing it to attention. Do you think its at all possible the kids where doing it all subconsciously? I do think they where responsible somehow. And the investigators definetly wanted to believe it was genuine so badly...so as that anything strange that happened at all that could be explained was instantly classified as "paranormal." Funny how some of the investigators interviewed reported that they was "no paranormal activity" at all!
Finally saw this. I really did not think it was that scary. Basically Blair Witch in a house with a demon instead of a witch in the woods. I agree definetly a few creepy moments...you would have to be inhuman not to be a little freaked out but basically I was pretty disappointed. I was expecting to loose sleep after watching due to all the hype. Sorry to say I slept fine all night...except for a breif incident when I woke up to hear stuff falling off the dresser...in which I had a VERY brief heart attack then I realized it was the cat knocking shit over. So I would say this movie is entertaining and fun to watch..although I really found the footprints in the powder funny as it looked like dinosaur feet to me!
I still have trouble going to sleep at night. I keep thinking something's gonna grab my foot. I'm a wuss
Saw this Spanish film last night. It was pretty good at the start (the part where the guy looks under the bed made me hit the ceiling, I jumped so high) ; it ended up turning into something that reminded me a lot of "The Faces of Evil" (I think that was what it was called) an old episode of Hammer House of Horror which is still one of the most terrifying films ever made IMO, in which a family out on the drive pick up a hitchhiker in a storm who turns out to be the exact double of the father who then attempts to replace him. Unfortunately this was nowhere near as good as that old episode, but it had its moments, as do the rest of the films in the set.
yeah I read the synopsis for this film...I don't think I will be checking it out anytime soon....at least not until my daughter is like 10 years old. Right now she is 3 months and I have the baby monitor on every night. I am totally paranoid about having her in another room...I don't even like keeping the door to her bedroom closed for fear of something happening....I thought I was pretty brave but I'll have to sit this one out!
But that's a-okay by me! LOL. I really liked The Baby's Room (especially the gorgeous lead actress...yowza!) a lot, but, having just had a baby, it probably freaked me out more than someone who didn't always have a baby monitor stuck to their ear!! :P
It's not disturbing or anything, it's more of a "fun" scary flick. It's certainly not the horrid sort of baby movie "Grace" is!!! Avoid that one at all costs!! I couldn't imagine making my wife sit through it, especially if she were still pregnant. Yikes!
No way, Fonzie! You'll never clear that shark tank!
Cripes! I'm getting the wuss o' the year award for this one, damnit! And I STILL get the heebie jeebies when I picture her getting pulled out of bed. No dangling leg over the side for me anymore, that's fo' sho'....
Yeah, I know that feeling. Zombies and such don't really scare me, but movies with demons, ghosts or other paranormal activity really scares this ol Catholic boy too. Speaking of scary, you should check out the Nightscape movie teaser trailer....definitely creepy. Its going to be a great movie I think.
Paranormal Activity was ok, can't say I found it scary (Actually found Drag Me To Hell scarier - and sillier!). I agree with the absurdity of the behaviour of the characters, but I'm very impressed with the mini budget!
**SPOILER ALERT**
I have to admit the ending(s) disappointed me somewhat, but I'm not sure what I would have liked better. Part of me wanted it to end once they both walked down the hallway into the darkness and the camera keeps on recording an empty room, maybe with a closing note to say neither of them were seen again. But that's a little too much Blair Witch possibly?
LOL. You obviously don't share my Catholic guilt!!!
I actually prefer the ending where the cops shoot her. She kills her boyfriend offscreen, and we then see her rocking back and forth in front of her bed while the camera fast-forwards a few days. It stops for a minute and we hear one of their friends (her sister?) enter the house, she screams, and then, a few minutes later, the cops arrive and blast her to hell when she charges at them. If you pay close attention, you see the light in the closet at the far end of the hall go on and off, as if to suggest that the demon is moving on - job well done. LOL.
The theatrical ending is balls. A pile of sweaty balls.
Wait...cops? WHat? I didn't see that on either of the endings I saw! Did I miss that?!