Paranormal Activity

[capt_weasle]

Hands down the scariest movie I've ever seen. Granted, I'm not a huge horror-flick person, but this movie freaked me out. The way it builds up the suspense is fantastic, making you more nervous about what is happening off-screen than what's in front of you. There was even an earthquake in the middle of the showing I went to, right after an intense part. Everyone in the whole theatre was nervously smiling and looking around. The kicker? There was no report of an earthquake that night. Talk about freaky.

[SlappyMcGee]

I've heard this is very good, but it isn't playing anywhere near me.

[unoriginal name]

The ending is amazing. It colors everything that went on before it. Creepy and superb movie, this one. Probably top-five scariest. The Shining retains its title, however.

[t̷s͢uk̕a͡t͜ư]

I saw this a few days ago. I give it a "Meh+".
Per usual, a successful horror movie requires its protagonists to be total morons, and the coming of the shock ending is very predictable, but it was otherwise very well done.
My recommendation would almost be to walk in with the hope of watching a movie that's interesting or amusing rather than scary. All I could think about was the mechanics that could possibly be involved (within the movie, not how they pull off some of their special effects), and trying to understand how the demon thought about the issue, why he was taking the approach he was, and what he might do next. I mean, from a very early point in the movie (before we even see any of the really vulgar paranormal displays), we're told what this thing is and what its motivation is, and understanding that made me more curious than scared, which I think was quite the opposite of their intention.

As for the ending, I've heard plenty of people say it's amazing, and I completely disagree. The ending is predictable and gimmicky as all hell.

a better ending

The final time she stood up and watched Misha sleeping, I thought at first that she would stand and watch while the demon choked the shit out of Misha on the bed. When she walked to his side, I thought she'd choke the shit out of him, herself. Then I thought it'd be better if she went downstairs, got a knife, and came back up to kill him in a messy and painful way. But when she started flipping out downstairs, I lost major respect for the demon, and after Misha ran down, it was very obvious that there'd be a gimmicky shock ending and that she'd come back up with blood on her. And that's exactly what happened, and I am disappoint. I'd've thought a calmer ending where she just cuts his throat open while he sleeps or something would have been far scarier.
I also thought she was starting to eat him at the end when she was really just sniffing him. It would've been scarier if she had actually started eating him.

other things they could have done better

When Whatserface is holding the camera for Misha as he's fucking around in the attic, they should've stamped another powdered footprint right where the camera was looking, on the wooded floor behind her.
They should have done something creepier in the cellar.
When Misha leaves the room to inspect the footprints on the first night they're made, the door should've closed with him outside the room.
There should've been more hating on Misha in general, beyond the smashed photo.
Mirrors. There were lots of mirrors around and therefore a lot of opportunities to do brick-shitting effects with them. You'd think they'd at least use the mirrors once, but it never happens.
When I first saw the footprints, I thought they were human hands. I was a lot more scared of a crawling humanoid demon than a standing, inhuman one. I was disappointed when it was revealed that he had weird gremlin feet.
The demon should've gotten into bed with them, or at least next to her, and more than once.
She should've had a sleepwalking adventure where she spends a few hours in the attic.

But yeah, Misha is a fucking retard, not only for purposefully antagonizing the demon but also for his complete failure to come up with the countless other ways of dealing with the problem.

[bobaganuesh_2]

I saw this a few days ago. I give it a "Meh+".
Per usual, a successful horror movie requires its protagonists to be total morons, and the coming of the shock ending is very predictable, but it was otherwise very well done.
My recommendation would almost be to walk in with the hope of watching a movie that's interesting or amusing rather than scary. All I could think about was the mechanics that could possibly be involved (within the movie, not how they pull off some of their special effects), and trying to understand how the demon thought about the issue, why he was taking the approach he was, and what he might do next. I mean, from a very early point in the movie (before we even see any of the really vulgar paranormal displays), we're told what this thing is and what its motivation is, and understanding that made me more curious than scared, which I think was quite the opposite of their intention.

As for the ending, I've heard plenty of people say it's amazing, and I completely disagree. The ending is predictable and gimmicky as all hell.

a better ending

The final time she stood up and watched Misha sleeping, I thought at first that she would stand and watch while the demon choked the shit out of Misha on the bed. When she walked to his side, I thought she'd choke the shit out of him, herself. Then I thought it'd be better if she went downstairs, got a knife, and came back up to kill him in a messy and painful way. But when she started flipping out downstairs, I lost major respect for the demon, and after Misha ran down, it was very obvious that there'd be a gimmicky shock ending and that she'd come back up with blood on her. And that's exactly what happened, and I am disappoint. I'd've thought a calmer ending where she just cuts his throat open while he sleeps or something would have been far scarier.
I also thought she was starting to eat him at the end when she was really just sniffing him. It would've been scarier if she had actually started eating him.

other things they could have done better

When Whatserface is holding the camera for Misha as he's fucking around in the attic, they should've stamped another powdered footprint right where the camera was looking, on the wooded floor behind her.
They should have done something creepier in the cellar.
When Misha leaves the room to inspect the footprints on the first night they're made, the door should've closed with him outside the room.
There should've been more hating on Misha in general, beyond the smashed photo.
Mirrors. There were lots of mirrors around and therefore a lot of opportunities to do brick-shitting effects with them. You'd think they'd at least use the mirrors once, but it never happens.
When I first saw the footprints, I thought they were human hands. I was a lot more scared of a crawling humanoid demon than a standing, inhuman one. I was disappointed when it was revealed that he had weird gremlin feet.
The demon should've gotten into bed with them, or at least next to her, and more than once.
She should've had a sleepwalking adventure where she spends a few hours in the attic.

But yeah, Misha is a fucking retard, not only for purposefully antagonizing the demon but also for his complete failure to come up with the countless other ways of dealing with the problem.

just walking into the moviw I knew there was going to be some demonic screa that would occur at some point in the moviw. I saw it last Thusday with some friends, but also about 50 other kids from my high school were there. So yeah, I got to saee my classmates shitting thier pants. And it was a bit predictable. You would know that someone would die if you had watched the trailer already. I agree with Tsukatu's suggestions; I'd even go further in saying that they should of done a seen whereMicah is in the bathroom and Katie is sitting all alone on the couch...

There was one funny part, when Micah goes outside looking for Katie. When he opened the sliding door, someone in the theathre yelled "she went out for a midnight dip!". That really eased the tension off of everyone. When I first sa the foot prints, I immediately though of a frog, specifically Kermit the Frog trying to get laid.

[t̷s͢uk̕a͡t͜ư]

Micah

Or whatever the fuck his name is.

[capt_weasle]

In response to Tsukatu's post

The original ending actually had the girl come upstairs after killing Micah (sans body) and just sitting by the bed for a day or two holding a knife. You can hear her friend come inside in the background and find the dead body and run away. Later the cops come, walk upstairs and shoot the girl after she comes at them with the knife. One of the endings the producers almost went through with was where the girl slit her throat in front of the camera. I believe Spielberg suggested the current ending. Also, I totally thought that something would have happened with more footprints during the attic scene, or that he would have been pulled up into the attic or something. After the footsteps were shown in detail, someone in my theatre made a quip about velociraptors. All in all, I thought one of the more creepier scenes was when the girl was just standing over the bed for several hours. I got shivers.

[t̷s͢uk̕a͡t͜ư]

In response to Tsukatu's post

The original ending actually had the girl come upstairs after killing Micah (sans body) and just sitting by the bed for a day or two holding a knife. You can hear her friend come inside in the background and find the dead body and run away. Later the cops come, walk upstairs and shoot the girl after she comes at them with the knife. One of the endings the producers almost went through with was where the girl slit her throat in front of the camera.

See, I would've liked either of those endings better.

[yahoozy]

While I thought the whole build-up was reasonably creative and neat, they sure did race to the finish line. There easily could've been another thirty minutes. For most of the movie, I found myself completely undaunted. A few parts nearing the end were finally starting to get the 'ol adrenaline pumping (though, like Suki said, they dropped the ball in numerous places). Suddenly, though, it's over. You find yourself waiting an hour and twenty minutes for this climax, and it's completely unsatisfactory.

As clever as it tended to be, I found this disappointing. I'd give it a C-.

[Sunset]

scariest shit I ever saw. I didn't sleep at all that night I saw it.

[amomentlikethis]

Saw it tonight and thought it was really good; loved the lack of credits at the end, gave it a really eerie sense.

I liked the ending how it was, however I would've liked to see the original one capt_weasel mentioned.

What would've been cool...

What would've been cool is when they woke up and saw the footprints, and Micah said something like "They come in but they don't go back out", he could've grabbed the flour (which I think was on the table beside his bed) and threw it over whatever was supposedly standing there. Would've been shit scary to see a partially white-covered thing just run off into the darkness outside the room or something.

"She should've had a sleepwalking adventure where she spends a few hours in the attic." - I really, really like that idea. That would've been pretty worrying.

[Zephyr]

I know it's a horror flick, but can someone give me a general outline on what it's actually about before I decide to go see it? I trust you guys will give me a better outline than google searches which will probably spoil the movie for me :/

[t̷s͢uk̕a͡t͜ư]

I know it's a horror flick, but can someone give me a general outline on what it's actually about before I decide to go see it? I trust you guys will give me a better outline than google searches which will probably spoil the movie for me :/

Guy and his girlfriend. Eerie stuff happened to girl all her life. It followed her house to house. It's getting worse in recent days. Guy buys a camera and tries to catch it on film. The movie is footage from the camera over several days and nights as things get more and more creepy.
It's filmed like an amateur documentary, so there's no background music or obvious special effects.

[Aldaric]

so there's no background music or obvious special effects.

Low budget?

[amomentlikethis]

so there's no background music or obvious special effects.

Low budget?

$11,000, apparently.

[Rhekatou]

so there's no background music or obvious special effects.

Low budget?

$11,000, apparently.

I wanna see it... but my parents won't let me ;(