So, on October 17th, 2009, we went to watch “Paranormal Activity” thinking, oh it’s one of those horror movies again: a remake/copy of an Asian thriller which was dumbed down and redone only making it totally NOT scary. However, we were left, well, not pleasantly surprised, but uhm…blissfully terrified.
What made the movie kick the arse of other horror movies was the fact that there was no sign of blood squirting out of every orifice of someone’s body, no fake plastic masks, no sudden wind tunnels, no ghostly white apparitions, and absolutely no flies crawling up noses and coming out the eyes. By the way, Sameer and I share a mutual feeling and have always hated when they show flies linked with anything horror. Not everything horror is always rotting!!!
The concept of the movie is so simple. Ask yourself this: where will I be scared the most? Besides a graveyard, a random forest… of course, why didn’t anyone think about this before? YOUR OWN FRIGGIN’ HOUSE!!! There was no major camera angulation and panning and shooting from moving vehicles (you’ve probably heard it’s a little like Blair Witch, Cloverfield, etc). There were no elaborate action scenes, no taking-a-shower-alone-in-the-bathroom scenes, no one walking around with an axe or chainsaw, and… AND… no Grudge/Evil Dead/Exorcist type voices and sounds! The events that unfolded in this film were like those “real” stories our parents used to tell us about when we were kids. Every scene left a chill, that grows exponentially until the end!
Ok, I don’t want to give too much away about the movie so I won’t say anymore. But what I will say is, you will feel the creeps watching this movie. And you may even scream along with everyone else in the audience. You WILL come home with a heightened sense of every noise and every shadow. You may also wake up thinking you just felt like you were being dragged off your bed. Your floorboards may creek and crank, and your pipes may clink and clank louder and louder with each passing minute into the night. You may even stare out from your blankets and sheets, in complete darkness, hoping to fall asleep as soon as possible… and maybe even praying… that the door doesn’t close by itself!
These were our after effects from watching Paranormal Activity (80% mine, because I’m a pussycat and 20% Sameer’s, because this is one horror movie that did scare him!)… what were yours?
Movie’s Website: http://www.paranormalactivity-movie.com/
Sameer
SammyQS
