Saw a "sneak" screening of this last night. Actually, not much of a sneak because it's also playing every night at 10 P.M. at the same theater. But..hoo boy, was it packed. As well as the next pay for showing.

But...eh. This is all much ado about nothing, in my opinion.

It starts off a bit awkwardly with a young couple moving into a house and having set up a video camera to record paranormal activity that apparently has been going on. Apparently events already having begun. It's all a bit unfocused, but eventually the story sets in.
We then get a fairly excruciating 44 minute or so where...nothing happens. Just homemade video cam footage of the couple going about their business in the house while we...wait. I want to add that I am NOT a fan of this new trend of hand held, shaky camera work. It may have it's place, but I think that place is small and it doesn't hold up for 90 minutes of film.

Now, when things finally start happening, the movie/video does begin picking up. I was surprised to see how the oldest tricks in the book still work. A door opens and closes, lights come on and off. Maybe the whole shot on camcorder trick made it seem more effective to the audience because I'm guessing that in a more traditionally shot movie these wouldn't come off as well.

It all leads up to...eh. I don't want to spoil anything, but really. If you've been watching horror movies for any long period of time, there's nothing here that's likely to thrill you. It's all a bit tedious, with some creepy moments here and there. I did like how the filmmakers used low room tones whenever something occurred. There's very little else to the pretty much mono soundtrack, so that was interesting.

I'm not surprised that Paramount might've thought to shuffle this off to DVD right away. It's not horrible. Just...dull.

If 1 million demands are placed on this site, this movie will get a nationwide release:

http://eventful.com/performers/paranormal-...n-announcements

I think that when I first looked at this site a couple of days ago, the number of demands was 10,000-something, now it's up to about 648,500.

If you place a demand, be warned that part of the point of this thing seems to be signing up people for a mailing list. I unchecked the "sign me up" box, but still got an email from this site anyway.

Based on the trailer, this looks sort of like the movie equivalent of one of those lame ghost-hunting shows that just about every cable tv channel seems to have now (even, oddly enough, on the Discovery Channel, which seems to be going in the same direction as the Pseudoscience and Hokum Channel, aka The History Channel).

Steve King (yes, I'm allowed to call him "Steve" - I've kept at least one of his kids in warm clothing) mentions this "demand" concept in his column in a recent Entertainment Weekly.

But he also pushes a mostly unseen end-of-the-world film called CARRIERS
and suggests we all request in in our NetFlix queues.

Great, except the damned thing isn't on DVD yet!

Like you, Bob, I went straight to Netflix (using my G1 app) to add CARRIERS, and got the dreaded "Save" icon. Chris Meloni in a post-apoc flick? Sold!

But...but...but Bloody Disgusting said it was "one of the scariest movies of all-time!"

Roger Ebert liked it:

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.d...VIEWS/910089996

All of the reviews up on Metacritic right now are fairly positive too:

http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/para...rmal%20activity

That there should stand as a bit of a warning...that's a fun site, but good lord do they kisseth the butt.

I'm just taking the BLAIR WITCH approach - looking forward to it, ignoring the hype, and I should have a good time. At least it won't look like every other horror movie out there...

I don't care if the tricks are old hat as long as they work, so I should be happy.

And one man's tedium can turn out to be another man's suspense, so....

I saw it at Fantastic Fest a couple of weeks ago. It was good. It wasn't the scariest thing I've ever seen. Nerve wracking and exasperating are good descriptions.

A lot depends on how invested in the characters you get and how much, let's call it 'horror tolerance' you've built up over the years.

I think what they do extends far beyond kisseth the butt. They are full on using tongue!

That's bloody disgusting!

Does having "horror tolerance" mean that you're less likely to be scared by horror movies?

I completely agree. A lot of the kids in the audience liked it, so it should do pretty good. It's too bad they didn't push for a PG-13, as there's no gore, no nudity just a few F bombs. This would probably do twice as well with the lesser rating attached.

Aye, that it is. Indeed. :)

Am I the only one a little annoyed by this faux "grassroots" ad campaign? This "demand it in YOUR city!" jive is nonsense, plain and simple. This is getting released. The commercials are prefaced by the Paramount and DreamWorks logos. There's the proof right there. I'm not trying to be a killjoy--I'm really looking forward to seeing this--but just release it already. Enough with all the silliness just so a bunch of dudes can go to horror cons from now until the end of time claming that they had a hand in getting PARANORMAL ACTIVITY unchained from the shackles of big studio oppressors. Is anyone seriously falling for this?

The rep at the screening last night said it was being released nationwide on Fri. Guess they got enough votes....eh?

Hey, this isn't anything to do with the dumb footage I saw some time ago wherein a CCTV camera was clearly "manned" and pretty active until what's supposed to be poltergeist activity starts having stuff flung into the frame. Suddenly the camera that's so keen to follow people around won't turn to the left in case we see the stagehands! Perhaps I'm misremembering but that kind of fundamental implausibility would completely undermine the film for me.

Victor

Sounds like a good time to me...

This! Seriously, what would the studio do if the demand counter stopped at 999,997 votes before their deadline? Would they say, "Ah, screw it! We are three votes shy, so it ain't coming out."

Whatever they are doing, it appears to be working. From Deadline Hollywood Daily:

I watched a show on MTV (don't you judge me!) and there was an ad for this in every single commercial break.

Exactly! THAT'S why it's doing well. Not because people "demanded" it.

For me, this really didn't live up to the hype. (For what it's worth, I think THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT is a great film.) There's an art to making an atmospheric, suggestive horror film, and Oren Peli doesn't have it. Instead, he's made a banal relationship drama disguised as a horror film. Until the final 10 minutes, the average episode of GHOST HUNTERS is scarier. I usually find it fun to see horror films with a large, responsive audience, but the one I saw this with was almost catatonic.

Yeah, it's obvious jive, but I, like a lot people, miss good old AIP-style ballyhoo, and the sheer chutzpah behind the marketing rather delights me. If it helps insure a horror movie not called SAW opens big right before Halloween, I'll be even happier.

... and the talent it rode in on!

Well, I probably would have taken this "Demand it in your city!" thing with a much bigger grain of salt had I known that the planned release date was NEXT FRIGGIN WEEK! I feel foolish. :rolleyes:

I just saw this last night. It would have made a quite effective 25 minute short (or two-reeler, in now-antiquated film-speak). The very end was a good jolt, but waaaaaaay too much padding before then, where nothing much happens.



MILD SPOILERS AHEAD



I must ask...why didn't they immediately seek the constant companionship and support of her family during this period instead of merely consulting a psychic, attempting to consult demonologist, and stupidest of all, STAYING ALL ALONE IN THE HOUSE AND TURNING THE LIGHTS OFF AT NIGHT WITHOUT FAIL?

Yeah, I know...because there wouldn't be a film otherwise.

Another big-thumbs down here. Kudos to the great marketing, though. Really quite a story there. It will be interesting to see how other studios will try to recreate this kind of boxoffice success on another you-tube level nothing film.

Ten years ago, I thought BLAIR WITCH was quite effective in its use of sound and what you don't see and defended the film to all naysayers. I also loved OPEN WATER. So I do have an affinity for this kind of low-budget type stuff and that's why I thought I'd like this film as well. Unfortunately, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY only offers about 30 seconds of dread in its bloated 100 minutes. I became really bored with all the domestic 'drama', and the couple of semi-creepy moments near the end just weren't enough. Once again, I'm astonished at all the 5-star rave reviews for this "film", even from most of the major critics.

Maybe Paramount will accept my really old super 8 films and release them theatrically as some lost horror anthology that was discovered in the bowels of Hell and make more millions on the unsuspecting public.

Liked this just fine.

It was no BWP, but a great performance by the female lead, and some very effective scares.

Could have been 20 minutes shorter, but I was able to overlook the plot holes mentioned earlier in the thread.

As a micro budget $12,000 (or whatever initial amount was) horror film I think its more than decent, not exceptional per say as a straight up horror film but more as a creepy horror film. I saw it with zero hype so it was probably easier and for its budget I really wasn't expecting a whole lot and in that regard it surpassed my expectations but of course my own fears and experiences helped shape my experience watching the film. If this type of Ghosthunter TV show type outing isn't your thing then you aren't going to like a feature length version of it (more or less). At a glance the film seems to end about the end of the second act with the traditional 1st and 2nd act filling up its running time. Sans a real 3rd act and an overlong 1st and 2nd it just stumbles where it shouldn't but still all things considered its a nice little creepy film I won't soon forget.

Carriers was a nauseating film. The cinematography is about the only thing I cared for in it. The basic concept is intriguing but fumbled big time throughout. Between it Les derniers jours du monde, Zombieland, La Horde and The Road it feels like I've been seeing a lot of post apocalyptic films of late.

Kind of like how some kisseth the butt of Rob Zombie? :rolleyes:

Saw PARANORMAL tonight... it didn't reinvent the genre but it was solidly made, with above-average performances and a nicely claustrophobic atmosphere. At a time when SAW/Rob Zombie-style extremism rules the roost, it was nice to see something that relied on good, old-fashioned craftsmanship to earn its scares. It worked over my local theater's audience like a champ, drawing at least four unison screams from the crowd during the course of the movie and a lot of "OMG, I can't go to sleep now" chatter as everyone exited.

Don't know if it will hold up to repeat viewings but it was a great theater experience. If you have any interest in this, definitely see it with a crowd.

Finally saw this - pretty good - not amazing, but then I wasn't expecting that. I agree that, much like BLAIR WITCH, it might not have much of a repeat watching life but I also agree that it's nice to see a horror movie that concentrates on the small details in a prosaic setting, and evokes dread and suspense from those details and setting.

Still the pacing was a little off, it could have used one or two more creepy details (not spectacular or anything, just creepy little details) to sustain the dread vibe with a little more ummph.

But not a bad night out at the movies by any means.

I agree with the prevailing 'meh' on this, but would you believe this was only 1hr, 25min?

Later than you think... :ph43r:

According to Deadline Hollywood Daily, this little film has done the unthinkable and killed the SAW beast franchise. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY topped the charts yesterday with $7.5 million whereas SAW VI opened at no. 2 with $6.9 million. Outside of the original, every SAW sequel has opened at no. 1.

Mostly unrealized potential IMO. Some of the early low-tech moments with the stationary camera and noises in the hallway suggested that great things could happen. Then they never did.

And the ending? Trite.

I have to admit, though, that when the couple was bickering I did feel fear that the movie would never end. Does that count?

:o It seemed a lot longer than 85 minutes. I saw some posted running times afterwards as 99 minutes so that's what I thought the actual running time was. While viewing, I felt it was even longer than that. It's only 85? Wow.

Congrats to Paramount, though. This is really an incredible boxoffice story. An $11,000 film in a lot less theaters beating out mega-budgeted multi-million dollar so-called blockbusters. Gotta love it.

The original ending plays much better.

Yeah, I'd like to see that. And the alternate ending from the second screening. You Tube here I come...

The original ending IMO feels like the "square up" moments of a movie from the 1930s when the Motion Picture Code wouldn't allow evil to triumph. So, at the end,

<<trying hard to avoid SPOILERS>>

the deus ex machina comes in and sets everything to rights.

<<STILL SPOILERS TO COME>>

I think I'd prefer another ending that was shot in which the protagonist steps up to the camera and cuts her throat. More unsettling, I would think.

<<END OF POST. END OF SPOILERS> :)

I don't know, that seems a bit much - what's set right? Thanks to the whole movie, we all know she has no control of herself, so there's no "moral standard" being appeased because of the incident. Seems more like a logical extension of the realistic set-up - cops would show up and the ending is just as likely to happen this way as not (although it's not framed very well) - ask any crazy person swinging a kitchen knife in the street, or any guy holding a candy bar in NYC.

It just seems sad, which is fitting, although I don't particularly like one ending over the other - the one in theaters should have really sold it's TRILOGY OF TERROR final shot a bit better. I agree that the "later screening" alternate seems like it has more potential to be ghastly, which would provide a nice exclamation point for a movie that works well but is just a bit lacking in strong moments.

The original ending is on You Tube, for those interested.