The Ohio Sci-Fi and Horror Marathons

http://www.paranormalactivity-movie.com/

Paranormal Activity will be showing at Studio 35 starting Sept. 25th

Studio 35 Cinema
3055 Indianola Ave
Columbus, OH 43202

_________________
Jaws3dfan®
Follow me on Twitter

Trailer looks fantastic! I fully intend to see this movie.

_________________
Remember ... no matter where you go, there you are.

Just saw it last night. It's really good. Much better than Blair Witch and that ilk

_________________
"I came here to chew bubble gum and kick a**. I'm all out of bubble gum."

Ok, it's a midnight showing; I arrive at 11pm and they are freaking sold out!!! Guess I'll try again next weekend.

_________________
Remember ... no matter where you go, there you are.

Figured Halloween weekend would be an appropriate time to catch PARANORMAL.

I liked it. Simple. Scary. Effective.

More interesting to me is the public's reaction to it. In an era of much more visceral horror hits, it's somewhat surprising that this has broken through. Simplest explanation - it's scary.

But, I think there's more to it than that. Let's face it - PARANORMAL ACTIVITY hasn't become a hit because of it's plot, characters or themes.

Super mild spoilers

One way it can be read as a reaction to all the over the top gore and explicitness of the torture porn set exemplified by SAW, HOSTEL etc. In a way, all that gore works as a buffer to the viewer as they expect to see everything, so when you do see blood and guts it really isn't scary. PARANORMAL goes against that grain by showing you - a door opening and closing! And, audiences jump.

Another way to read it is as a reaction to the wisea$$ SCREAM franchise and it's offspring like FINAL DESTINATION. In those films everything is a joke. No matter what happens - don't worry, it'll be laughed off as "just a movie". PARANORMAL says 'no, this ain't a joke!" And, audiences jump.

And, don't minimize the hype. Folks have been told - this is scary. They come primed to be frightened. They sit through a pretty protracted - and to be blunt - somewhat pretty dull first half hour. But, they've come to be shocked. So, again, a door opens and closes...and, audiences jump.

In the end, PARANORMAL is just a pretty good horror film without much lasting artistic merit (on that level I prefer the similar and oft-compared to it BLAIR WITCH PROJECT). Once the hype fades away, future horror film fans will be left with - "What? A door opens and closes? That's supposed to make me jump??!!"

_________________
Long Live the Orson Welles Cinemas

I agree. I really liked this movie (but then, I was also a fan of Blair Witch). The first half was REALLY slow, but the last half was totally worth it. This week’s Entertainment Weekly gives a description of a few of the many alternate endings that were filmed and considered.

_________________
Remember ... no matter where you go, there you are.

I think BLAIR WITCH has a bit more substance. The original ending of PARANORMAL wouldn't have been as effective (not to mention that it's similar to the original unused ending of CLERKS!)

_________________
Long Live the Orson Welles Cinemas

That's true, I didn't think about that.

_________________
Remember ... no matter where you go, there you are.

I was going to go to see this because a friend said it was really scary. But less substance than Blair Witch? Is that possible?

Yes.

At least BLAIR WITCH had a semblence of a plot, characters etc. PARANORMAL is really more of a funhouse ride - one long continuous scene broken up by days.

That's not to say that PARANORMAL isn't effective for what it is. But, even just a couple of days later - it's already left my head. Meanwhile, I still have good memories of BLAIR WITCH - It's creepiness and confounding ending.

_________________
Long Live the Orson Welles Cinemas

Another thing that helped Blait witch was some of the outside backstory. There was the "documentary" on sci-fi, which I found creepy in its own right. The case book was also nicely done.

The sad thing about Blair Witch was everything else they did was rushed to cash in on it and it showed. I think there were 3 video games. As I recall most if not all of them were orignally developed as non Blair Witch games, but were recoded to put them in the Blair Witch Universe. Then there was the sequel.

_________________
The wages of sin are royalties.

I don't count the sequels, ripoffs and the threatened remake against the original BLAIR WITCH. What struck me then (as it does with PARANORMAL presently) is that both movies take the 'horror' in Horror Movies seriously.

Not tongue in cheek.

Not grossout gore for gore's sake.

It's hard to explain to the youngins that there actually WAS a time before SCREAM (the original isn't bad - just the result of its success) and before HOSTEL, SAW 36 etc etc.

_________________
Long Live the Orson Welles Cinemas

I finally saw Paranormal last night and I really liked it. As previously stated it puts the "horror" back into horror movies.

_________________
Jaws3dfan®
Follow me on Twitter

Paranormal Activity [Blu-ray]

Paramount Home Entertainment has officially announced the sleeper hit 'Paranormal Activity' on Blu-ray for December 29. The BD will include the original theatrical version of the film, plus an unrated version with a "shocking alternate ending" not seen in theaters. The Blu-ray also includes a digital copy of the theatrical version.

Special features include:
Unrated version with alternate ending not seen in theaters
Digital copy of theatrical version (Blu-ray only)

_________________
Jaws3dfan®
Follow me on Twitter

Still haven't seen this one yet.

_________________
The wages of sin are royalties.