I went to a midnight showing of "Paranormal Activity" last night in my city. For those who haven't (or have) heard about it, this is a movie that was shown two years ago at the screamfest film festival, and has since existed in a few rare DVD screeners floating around, and the occasional showing here and there at film festivals. Steven Spielberg saw the flick, and the rest is history. Dreamworks picked the film up and decided to give it a viral/grass roots marketing campaign, with a limited release in only a few cities, selected by demand. According to the site, if 1 million demands are made, the film will get a nationwide release (I'm thinking this is B.S., there will be a Halloween-ish release). The TV spots and trailers show people in the theaters freaking out. Hmmm.

What sparked my interest, though, was the reviews coming from respectable Horror media. Fangoria gave it praise, and Bloody-disgusting.com said it was "one of the scariest movies ever made". Really? Would a hardcore horror fan like myself be scared by a ghost story? Was this marketing all hype? I found out it was playing a midnight show at one theater in Charlotte. I dedcided to found out for myself.

The film is a mockumentary about a couple who is being haunted by a demonic spirt in thier new home. The boyfriend Micah, buys a camera to record possible paranormal activity (he begins the movies as a skeptic), and every night sets the camera up in the bedroom while they sleep. And then stuff happens.

So, was it scary, or was it just some Blair-witchesque stupidity? Well, at first, I thought it was going to be the latter. It starts off slowly, with little things happening here and there, that might elicit a "wtf" response, but nothing scary or creepy. However, the movie does a very good job of building things up. The best scenes are the bedroom scenes. The position of the camera is genius, and it creates and incredible tension and eventually, a feeling of dread during these scenes. The film is a cinema crescendo, starting off as things just going bump in the night with a few cheap scares, to an assault on your nerves. But is it scary?

The protaganists do their fair share of dumbassery to drive the plot, but this is something EVERY horror movie does, and what they do doesn't break the context or the essence of the film at all. BUT IS IT SCARY.

I'll say this. If you're the kind of person where nothing scares you, and you've seen so much horror that no movie can scare you, then overall, you won't find it "scary" (OVERALL, I did not). However, the last 20 minutes or so of the film is right on the money, and even the most hardend horror fans will enjoy it. The final scene is so incedibly nerve wracking- even if it doesn't scare you, you'll be on edge for a few minutes. The ending apparently was revised from the original- if so, the revision was a good one from what I've read about the original.

This film sticks with you. You'll turn it over in your head for hours, and some of the imagery won't leave you. It's a fun ride. People were in the theater going bananas. However, I might suggest waiting and wating it alone in your home with the lights off. I think the effect would be heightend.

I must warn, DO NOT WATCH THE TRAILERS. If you must watch one, watch the TV spot. The main trailer shows pretty much all of the best parts of the movie, literally. The TV spot still spoils some shit, though.

dude i was wondering what the hell this movie was about. the trailer shows u little to nothing. but what made me not want to check it out was when they used the BLAIR WITCH PROJECT as an example. that made it clear for me that i wasn't interested at all. i don't even think it's at the theaters here. so it's one of those BLAIR WITCH, CLOVERFIELD type movies huh? i'll pass. it's probably good, but unlike hiphop, i like my horror movies dumbed down and cheezy to the point of RUDiculousness where i don't have to think..

btw, they aint even showing NIGHT OF THE DEMONS anywhere near greenville. are they playing it in charlotte?

It's playing in Durham. I thought it was much better than the Blair Witch Project (which I hated) and Cloverfield (which I actually liked).

Every so often, a midnight showing of Night of the Demons will pop up, but it's been years since I last saw one.

i just saw it. almost everyone around me was scared and so was my gf.

it did have some wtf moments and some parts that startled me. like you said the ending was the best part as it built up to it. overall, i liked it, part of the reason i do is because of the audience reaction. lol.

i can see how watching it alone will probably creep me out more.

what creeped me out more was that my gf is teacher (like the girl in the movie) and that she is almost living in my house (almost like the living arrangement of the characters in the movie). i told my gf after the movie that she better not do the stuff that the girl did in the movie. lol!

Ill see it, cant wait. But since i dont believe in any form of ghosts or goblins or zombies or whatever i doubt it will do more than make me smile.

Im not trying to be hard, im just not a believer of the supernatural and happen to think ghosts are completely in our heads. Speaking of which........

Being damn near obsessed with horror movies my whole life, I'm always looking for the next "scariest movie ever" coming out of Hollywood. When I saw the trailer online with the audience reactions, I was both curious and a bit skeptical but it's definitely something I want to check out to see what all the fuss is about.

While I'm all about some Fulci gore or the surreal horror of Lynch, I like a good ghost story too. Don't know if it'll get released around my area but if it doesn't, I'll definitely be checking it out on DVD when it comes out.

Yeah just saw it, and there were some parts that had that exact effect...just a smile. The ending was good...but for me it was like a good punchline with a set-up so long it kills the joke.

To it's credit, the last scene does stick with you though. I just realized that after coming home to only the light in the back of the hall on (reminded me of the camera angle Darx mentioned).

Not to be a bitch or anything.

Saw this and I don't know about everyone else but I thought the movie was reall blah. Some parts were a bit scary but I walked out of there thinking it was a waste of my time more than me being scared.

I watched the trailers which now that I read Darx post, I should not have done that because all the scary parts are in the trailer. I think the movie is a bit overblown, I think they could've done some stuff to make is scarier. Everytime something "happened" at night I was left thinking "that's it"?

People were scared in the theatre tho. I wasn't and neither was the wifey. I'd wait for it on dvd as it will probably be scarier watching it in your house then with a entire audience.

It got a thumb's up from my longtime boxing & horror movie buddy, so I'll definitely be catching it on video.

I thought the movie was good but the ending ruined it. Funny, because most people seem to say the opposite.

And I agree with money truweather...this movie had a LOT of potential...but seemed to fall short most of the time.

I believe that she wasn't, you? not so much.

It's pretty clear that this is a lie.

It's impossible for a Movie to scare me. Any horror movie gets one of three reactions from me, Bored, disgusted or laughing. Most of them fall in the first category.

This movie is trash and way overrated.

I saw the movie, and it did kind of startle me a couple of times, mainly because the whole home video thing brings a certain realism to it, and then the whole stuff of being haunted is also believable, I heard stories and seen documentaries and shows about that type of stuff. So yeah it did creep me out when I was alone at home after watching the movie.

Not really a horror fan mainly because most are stupid, but there are a few good ones, just about 99% don't ever scare me.

The movie had its moments, but all in all, I can't say it was great. It's definitely one of those films you should see in a theatre. Most of its effect comes from the sound design. Especially a deep rumbling bass that really makes you uncomfortable. My viewing of it in a theatre also benefitted from a pretty into it crowd of mostly teenagers.

Good idea, good build up, weak ending.

compleletly cosign


saw it with my girl, thought it was good fun because it was scaring the shit out of her...... then the ending came.



********sort of spoiler ahead****


















They could have done much, much better in the end of it. Even a glimpse of something otherwordly, blair witch style would have been preferable to that. You got those fucking feetprints that looked like something from the first ghostbuster movie, why end it without just a glimpse.

******SPOILER WARNING******











Apparently, the ending in the film is a studio ending that was shot after the film was picked up. From what I've read, 2 or 3 other endings are shot. One where the girl comes back into the room and slits her throat with the knife (the knife that was shown prominently earlier in the film). And a second ending (which I think is the original ending) where the friend shows up and discovers the body of Micah and calls the police. The police show up and Katie is catatonic, holding a knife (or a gun, can't remember). I guess the police end up shooting her.

From what I've heard, these endings have been screened publicly and most people seem to prefer the original ending with the police shootout.

I would imagine all the endings will probably be on the DVD. I'd also be curious to see the original festival cut of the film, which is longer and has the scare scenes in a different order.

I wish I would have seen it at a festival before I heard all the hype.

I probably would have liked it a lot if my expectations weren't as high.

This movie sucked ass. Way too over hyped.

Maybe it was all the beer I was drinking or wondering if the two lesbos snuggled in front of me were going to make out, but not once did I find this movie scary. I was expecting Exorcist type stuff. Sorry, doors opening and closing and powdered feet don't scare me.

edit.

The girl did have some nice boobage though.

Halfway through the movie i texted my freind (who was seated just down from me), "The demon needs to make that bitch hit some naked jumping jacks"

You thought the Exorcist was scary? The Exorcist is P4P the most overrated scare flick of all time. Good movie, but there isn't anything scary or even creepy about it. The bad special effects make it a laugh fest at times. I remember seeing that as a kid and thinking it was some cheesy monster movie.

Overall, I thought it was really decent. The camera placement is genius. I particularly like how they keep using the mirrors in the house to draw your attention away from the action point. Stereotypical horror movies have trained the audience to look in mirrors with the expectation to see something. This movie used that expectation to misdirect the audience.

I thought they did an excellent job of building tension slowly and effectively.

Supposedly the ending that test audiences reacted the most to was the one where she comes back into the room and slits her throat. From what I've read, in that version you also get a glimpse of the demon as he leaves her lifeless body. This ending was cut, along with the cop ending, because they plan on releasing a sequel with Katie. Hopefully those will be in the DVD package.

Also it was nice to be able to stare at her titties during the slow parts.

On second thought, I may have to check this out.