Last night I saw a truly great film. I wouldn't say I enjoyed myself as I watched it and I wouldn't say its one of my favorites, but it was truly great. I wouldn't say I enjoyed myself because I don't enjoy a racing heart and feelings of dread and I wouldn't say its one of my favorites because...well...dread again. I say it was great however, because its so rare that a film accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do. Last night Paranormal Activity did exactly what it set out to do – it scared the hell out of me.
I’m a 28 year old guy who mainly sees horror movies because my girlfriend really likes them. She’s gotten me more into them than I used to be, but I find aside from the occasional ‘jump’ moment, scary movies aren’t scary anymore. This one’s different. Micah and Katie, a young “engaged to be engaged” couple, have been experiencing some strange things in their first home. The film begins as Micah decides to document these occurrences in the hopes of finding out their source. We experience everything with the couple via his handheld camera.
The genius of the film is its slow crescendo of eerie events. The overnight scenes gradually get more and more disturbing resulting in groans from the audience each time a new one rolls around. I’ve never been part of a more reactive crowd in which nervous giggles, muttered swear words, and full blown screams were more than frequent.
I learned about Paranormal Activity while surfing the net last Tuesday. I read a tiny article calling it the “Scariest movie of all time” and was immediately intrigued. After looking it up, I found that Paramount Pictures had given it a limited release. For example, my city (Toronto) was only offering midnight showings from Oct 8-Oct 11. I also found that fans had the opportunity to ‘demand it’ in their city. If 1,000,000 people voted to have it play in their city, Paramount would give it the major film release it deserved. I promptly voted.
Paranormalactivity-movie.com reports:
HOLLYWOOD, CA (October 9, 2009) – Following 2-weeks of nationwide midnight only sellouts and fan frenzy over the limited release hit thriller PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, moviegoers everywhere have been heard!
Over 1,000,000 people from around the country demanded the film play in their city by logging on to ParanormalMovie.com. In response, Paramount Pictures will release the film nationwide beginning Friday, October 16th.
Tickets for the movie will be on sale via ParanormalMovie.com by 5pm PST on Tuesday, October 13th. Those who have ‘demanded it’ will get the first alert when tickets go on sale.
“From the very beginning, we put this film in the hands of the fans and we trusted them to tell us where and when it should be seen. We couldn’t be more thrilled by their overwhelming support and we are happy to release the film in every town - big and small,” said Rob Moore, Vice Chairman of Paramount Pictures.
The movie Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times called “an ingenious horror film. It’s so well made it’s truly scary” is currently garnering 90% on RottenTomatoes.com.
This article is part review and part news. I could write more on the review side but I think this movie needs to be experienced before being read about. I went into it knowing nothing about it and came out a huge fan. Costing just $11,000 to make, Paranormal Activity proves that good film making has nothing to do with a big budget.
See it - then regret seeing it. Sweet dreams.