A couple begins suffering increasingly disturbing ghostly activity as they desperately try to find a solution for the problem.
Written and directed by – Oren Peli
Starring – Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Mark Fredrichs, Amber Armstrong, Randy McDowell, Ashley Palmer, Tim Piper
I was dying, DYING, to see this movie. I never get scared in horror movies. Sure a really loud noise and a masked killer will occasionally cause my butt to leave my seat for a second, but it’s hard to really scare me. The kind that gets your heart pounding and your blood pumping leaving you light headed afterwards and sleeping with the lights on for weeks. Other than some films I may have watched as a child, Shutter is the only film to really scare the crap out of me in the recent years. Excited would be an understatement when I heard of this film. Everyone shouting up and down the streets how scary it is and how it will be frightening people for years to come.
You know what? It didn’t scare me in the slightest little way at all. It’s a great movie, don’t get me wrong and the scenes that should be scary did carry alot of tension in them. They just didn’t scare me. Like a huge build up with no payoff, it left me a little disappointed at the end. My girlfriend has taken to watching an excessive amount of Ghosthunters lately and that’s just about what this movie really is. Plenty of night vision shots of doors opening and closing, lights going on and off and creepy voices coming from nowhere.
Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat carry the movie quite well.
The most interesting part of the movie is all the talk of the multiple endings. Before I watched it I was browsing around the net and started hearing about them. I almost started reading about it but with such huge hype surrounding the film, I didn’t want to ruin it for myself. Sadly, that’s the biggest problem with the movie for me. I wouldn’t dare go into even the slightest of hints towards any part of the film besides the ghostly happenings, it’s still a great movie that shouldn’t be ruined. But having read all the different endings, I can’t decide which one would suit the film the most. Ya know what, I don’t want to say anymore than that.
Expect to see this shot alot. If that bothers you, skip this flick.
This movie suffers from one of two things. It either doesn’t live up to the hype of its fear factor or I’m just not easily scared anymore. I’m thinking it’s a bit of both. It’s still a great movie but it won’t be for everyone. My girlfriend still found it to be scary but the scares are cut between long scenes of the couple talking about what may be happening or just going about their daily lives. It’s a great change of pace from ‘masked killer slices and dices teens’ and certainly has a tension that can be cut with a knife at times. The fact that you pretty much know when something creepy or spooky is going to happen kills what scares there could be but some of those scenes are really impressive. I’d tell you my favorite but you’ll just have to see for yourself.
I still say the scariest movie around is Shutter, and not that terrible American remake that destroyed all the really good scares. This one can’t compare to that in my books. It’s an interesting blend of Blair Witch (Oh come on, you knew the comparison was coming), The Exorcist and any ghost hunting TV show you may have seen and while it didn’t frighten me, it entertained me. It’s also one of those great movies that can silence an audience, everyone holding their breath as they wait for something to happen. Those flicks don’t come along often enough for me and I love to be a part of them. Don’t assume you’ll be scared so badly that you’re sleeping with your teddy bear again, but most people should really enjoy it. I’m just waiting for the DVD so maybe I can see all these other endings I’ve been hearing about. What a great marketing tool!
Under the marquee – Will
The film had a tiny budget of just $15,000, making it a huge success financially though. I saw the film over the weekend too and even though, like you said, it wasn’t scary and CERTAINLY didn’t live up to the hype for me it still made 4160 times more than its budget. LOL thats just insane.
Great to hear. I’m not sure I have the ability to be scared anymore either. Watching The Strangers, I realized how creatively and beautifully that movie was constructed to scare people and it seemed to work. Me? I just got the adrenaline rush a few times, and then it simmered. Really good movie, but not really scary. Ghosts are what get me though, so I was hoping this was good, but my boss told me the same thing: the scary moments are ruined by the cues that they are coming. Oh well, still sounds like a lot of fun.
I think part of the tension for the movie is you know that something is gonna happen. I found it’s the same way in Shutter and alot of Asian ghost flicks. You can see the ghost but it’s not jumping out at you. It’s just there and you’re screaming at the screen ‘It’s right behind you! Don’t you see it!’ so it builds a nice tension.
I think in the end it’s just really creepy and tense, which is fine in my books compared to the endless amount of ‘torture porn’ we’re treated to now. Whatever happened to being subtle???
I saw this movie. I thought it sucked big time. Some “scary movies” don’t scare me at all. Like when I saw “American Werewolf in Paris”, a couple beside me were jumping. I barely flinched. It was the same for this movie.
I admire what they have done with a small budget, but it’s not the scariest movie ever. Not by a long shot.
Did you think it sucked because it wasn’t scary and everyone said it was or just because you thought it sucked?
I really liked the movie but felt the hype was way too much. I guess some people scare easier than I do so that might be why. The more I think about it though, the more it seems like Blair Witch to me. Alot of hype that people thought was too much, the night vision, it’s not as scary as I thought it would be and it is slaughtering at the box office. I’d love to see what could be done with a pile of money which I’m sure will be handed over for the next one.
I think it was a combination of both. I heard the hype and saw the footage of people getting scared out of their seats. I didn’t have high expectations of the movie.
I thought that the actors were horrible, the frights would scare a little kid (not an adult). It was awful. I admire the way that could pull off those sequences with the limited budget they had, but it was terrible.
Ah, you’re a harsher critic than I! I enjoyed it. I did find the acting a little on the lame side, especially with the boyfriend who was too annoying and stupid to really like.
While I did enjoy it, I don’t see where all the excitement is coming from. It’s not nearly the next best thing. I thought it was an interesting idea that was pretty well executed for it’s budget. Not to mention the insane marketing machine it’s a part of.
I am brutally honest with my opinions. If I hate same something, I will lay waste on it like I did with my review of the film. The concept was okay. The execution was not.
You think it’s possible all those years of watching people get spliced and diced and splattered and hacked to bits have hardened you? Hell, I’ve only been on a nonstop horror binge — praise be to the Great Holy Aardvark for Fearfest ’09 — for the past five days and I’m starting to feel unshockable.
I kind of wanted to see “Paranormal Activity,” but you might have talked me into waiting for the DVD. It’s too bad the hype overwhelmed it, since it had that “Blair Witch” feel to it. Speaking of, what IS your take on “Blair Witch” — scary or stupid? People tend not to have lukewarm feelings about it.
I’m sure I’ve lost some of the ability to be scared by movies but I think that nobody tries it the right way anyway. Is it scary to have someone jump out from behind something with a crash of loud music? Sure, but it’s not the same as having that ‘it really feels like someone is behind me and I’ll just turn all the lights on in the house’ kinda feeling.
Obviously Blair Witch had an effect on movies. As soon as something goes the handheld first person account route it gets the comparison to Blair Witch. I saw Blair Witch opening weekend with a huge crowd and was blown away.
I am already afraid of the woods. I hate camping because of the silence of the outdoors, in fact silence anywhere scares me. That’s the whole movie right there. They’ll be talking, you’ll hear a sound and they all just stop and you’re listening to nothing, just waiting for something to happen.
The effect of the theater of people helped as well. When the characters in the movie were talking, the audience had a low rumble to it. Once the characters were silent, so was the theater and if a twig snapped in the movie, the entire audience would squeal in fright sending me into giggles. It was so awesome and is an experience that the home theater can’t reproduce.
That and my friend thought it was true until about 5 minutes before the movie started and we found out that’s what he thought and made fun of him for the rest of the night! HAHA!
This one had me turn all the lights on in my apartment. And I saw it in the afternoon!
I liked this one just fine, but I really think it’s overrated and I actually prefer The Blair Witch Project. In actuality, I think I also prefer that director’s Seventh Moon (another cam-look movie) to this too.
In BWP, they are lost in the woods and it was safely enough before the cell phone craze to imagine that the wouldn’t have anything like that on their person. And they couldn’t get out. In PN I had a hard time believing they had such a lack of self preservation skills that they wouldn’t have skedaddled the moment they ***MILD SPOILER*** found the photo****SPOILER END.
I finally saw on Halloween! I agree with Bartleby though. Blair Witch a far superior film overall, but even so I really enjoyed Paranormal Activity. I think it has a very specific audience it’s catering to, and I happened to be one of those people that really enjoyed what they did with what they had. Was it the scariest flick ever? Absolutely not, but it was spooky as hell, and a breath of fresh air from typical slasher flicks that are 100% predictable. Here’s my review if you feel like listening to another person praise this flick:
http://www.moviemobsters.com/2009/11/02/paranormal-activity-2009/
I also watched the alternate endings, and I think the one meant for theatres was probably the best way to end it. The rest were silly or anti-climatic.
Man, I’m just jaded or something, I just didn’t find it even remotely spooky. The creepy part is the girl at nighttime, that I liked. I haven’t seen all the endings yet, I should look to see if I can find them. I read about them and thought the theater one was the least fitting to the movie but I’ll need to see the rest to compare for sure.
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i thought it was scary as hell!! watched it alone at night with headphones and could barely fall asleep that day
Well then, hagiblog, I guess, the way you “receive” a horror movie depends on your expectations, at least. The ones dealing with ghosts and demons are way more effective than, say, the old run-of-the-mill zombie horror (although the Spanish [REC} was a very efficient goosebumps-fest). Paranormal Activity was fun. Not as much as I expected, but still fun.
If you’ve lost some of the ability to be scared by movies, then try Noroi – a Japanese movie with BWP feeling all over it. No effects, no makeup, no overratings, but sure creepy as hell. It’s weird, it’s boring, it’s building up slowly, but it’s worth it. Damn, that story makes my skin crawl. I don’t think I would care to see it the second time around. Once is enough.
Cristina – Lots of people I know found it pretty scary as well. I found it creepy enough but without a payoff. It just didn’t get under my skin like I had hoped.
Strigoi – I loved [REC] and that last scare in the movie made my friend jump out of his seat, literally! I’ve never seen that happen to anyone before. I actually have Noroi but have never watched it. I’m gonna make sure to check it out tomorrow night. Let’s see if I can still be scared! HAHA!
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***May Contain Spoilers***
I was holding off watching this film for a very long time, as I suspected it would be like every other lame-ass ‘horror’ film that has come out this decade. In fact, only today (August 15/2010) did I actually watch it, as I borrowed it for free from my friend… just to be ‘fair’ to it.
Well, it sucked… as I expected. Same old same old… and nothing frightening…. and I’m a total suck for fear… I spent a good 10 minutes or so just standing outside a dark hallway in the old Frankenstein’s Castle exhibit at Niagara Falls, as I couldn’t force myself to walk into it… despite desperately convincing myself that I was in no danger.
The structure, although SEEMINGLY ‘real and random’, really was terribly predictable and extremely common and formulaic…
The painfully overdone ‘videocamera’ gimick was already old when this film came out… and say what you will about it, this gimick has a serious flaw… that being that the camera HAS to (somehow) always be on, otherwise you don’t have a film (or you at least miss sections of the film)… which results in frequently awkward and implausible moments where the camera is still on, and still being pointed at things. It’s just a concept that is simply flawed… Works great in pieces, but not for the whole film, as it forces realism out the window.
Minor point… How about keeping the flippin’ lights on at night, for one thing?
Lastly, the ending(s)…. [face palm]…. Sorry…. Predictable, and overpoweringly Hollywood…. (***SPOILER ALERT AGAIN***) I mean, WHY go up to the camera, and (virtually) head butt it?…. aside from creating a big scary face startle gag for the audience. Think of it in terms of the FILM’s reality… It’s just a camera sitting there… No real need for a demon to head butt it. Ditto for the alternate ending… again, just a ‘play to the audience’ with no relevance or logic to the reality of the film’s world. And, no, neither was shocking or surprising.
I always know it’ll be lame when I keep hearing the traditional ‘The most terrifying film of the year!’ blurb… Seriously, guys, have we forgotten what ‘terrifying’ is? It at least implies making you paralized with fear, and somewhat at a loss of control. The only things I was losing control over was my ability to keep watching.
Additional note… Even film with ‘jump scenes’ are not what I consider true horror. A true horror, to me, is judged AFTER the viewing. If it sticks with you… upsets you… changes your routine… makes you keep the lights on, or fear things that previously weren’t considered. A good horror film, too, scares you on repeat viewings.
This was just more overhyped, carbon copy crap… and the blind little sheep eat it up, as always.
(Oooo.. that was a bit nasty…. but I won’t retract it… tee hee….)
Incidentally.. for the record, I really liked Blair Witch… Loved it, in fact.
I really enjoyed the interaction between the characters, the laughs, the anger, the fear… I felt for them, and cared about them (which I can’t say for most films). Hell, even without the ‘horror’, I was entertained.
It too sufferered from the ‘camera has to always be on, even if it doesn’t make sense’ thing, but I found that was it’s only ‘flaw’ (…that’s actually more of a flaw of the genre.. no film can really remedy that fully…). I found it to be scary. Like Will, I too find the woods naturally spooky, and they did a wonderful job with the ‘friend shouting for help in the distance, and you want to help, yet want to run away too’ dillema.
I find it frustrating (yet, sadly unsurprising) that Blair Witch gets most of the flack, when I find it’s the most successful of the pile of ‘video’ movies that followed.
I agree that the hype was way overboard for this one. I didn’t find it frightening at all and that was the reason that I wanted to see it in the first place. I never really pay attention to the whole camera being on and pointed in just the right direction kind of thing.
I also don’t think Blair Witch gets flack. I think the concept is so overused now that maybe people forget that Blair Witch was good while many of the other films aren’t so it’s almost as if they blame Blair Witch for starting it without thinking of how good it really is.