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For my moviegoing public: Paranormal Activity
Brilliant marketing strategy: Make a low-budget horror movie, put it out in extremely (like, ridiculously) limited release, let word of mouth create buzz for you.
Not-so-brilliant marketing strategy: Let some idiot call it "The scariest movie of all time" and stick that all over the commercials. How quickly we forget The Exorcist. How quickly we forget The Shining. (Or Jaws. Or Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Or Alien. Or Poltergeist. Or....) Nothing ruins a movie faster for me than that kind of overselling.
Simple plot (all the best ones are): Katie is convinced something's going on at night while they sleep. Micah thinks her fears are adorable, but jumps at the chance to buy expensive video equipment to try to get some answers.
He sets the camera up at the foot of their bed, and consequently this is our view through most of the film:
At first not a whole lot happens. Her keys are found in the middle of the floor in their meticulously neat and tastefully furnished house. Some ominous, heavy-sounding footsteps on the stairs (note to self: never ever get hardwood floors) which sometimes wake them, most of the time don't. That's about it.
But Katie insists there's definitely something wrong and they bring in a psychic, over Micah's protests: He's the man of the house and he's got the problem totally under control. The psychic determines from Katie's history of strange nocturnal goings-on, even after her childhood home has burned down and she moves, that the entity is connected to her, not the house, so there's no point in running. This conveniently provides a solution to the illogic that plagues most "haunted house" movies, namely why the hell don't they just LEAVE. He also is the first to mention the word "demon."
After he leaves the activity steps up a notch. More footsteps, and one night a single, house-shaking crash that leaves the downstairs chandelier swinging wildly in its wake. Micah becomes obsessed with getting a ouija board and asking the spirit what it wants. Katie thinks this is a terrible idea, and I had to agree. (A/N: True ouija board story. We had one growing up, a Parker Bros model, because summoning otherworldly creatures is fun! Anyway, one afternoon we were fooling around with it, and got into a fairly intense conversation with....something. I don't remember most of what was said, but I'll never forget how it ended. The...something....said it didn't live in Heaven any more. When we asked it why, it answered, "No hate." We put it away and never touched it again.)
Of course you can see where this is going -- Micah DOES get a board (just like a man, tries to use the loophole "You said I couldn't buy one. This one is borrowed"). He never gets to use it because Katie storms out of the house. He follows. In their absence the board is set on fire by unseen hands. Pretty creepy.
From here the attacks escalate rapidly. The couple finally breaks down (after days of Katie weeping and Micah insisting he's still got it under control) and call the demonologist recommended by the psychic, who (in)conveniently is out of the country. They bring the psychic back who, in an unwittingly hilarious scene, steps into the house (supposedly after driving hours out of his way), says, "Oh, this is very bad. It doesn't want me here. I HAVE TO GO" and runs out again (I missed it, but our friend Kristin claims Katie almost broke out laughing just before the scene ends).
After that the movie rockets to its (extremely abrupt and I felt just a touch disappointing) conclusion. There weren't even any end credits, leaving me with the certainty that it would pop back on at any moment to give us SOMETHING else. But no, the lack of credits was only to keep up the premise of it being police evidence (Cloverfield, anyone?)
If the movie does nothing else, at least it gives us a crystal clear view into male/female relationships: He becomes increasingly alpha male the worse the situation gets, and she just wants him to pull over and get some damn directions. And stop playing with his high-tech toys for one minute.
For what it is, a movie made in a week on $11,000-$15,000 (depending what you read), it is EXTREMELY effective in scaring you. Like one review said, it would have been even more remarkable if Blair Witch Project hadn't already happened. There are one or two scenes that seem to have something invisible in the room, but all the other "effects" were literally just lots of noise and things happening off-camera, simple but scared the crap out of me. Like Blair Witch, I found myself straining to peer into the dark to try to see something. I jumped in my seat, I grabbed at Tery's knee. It was my very favorite kind of horror, psychological, not a drop of blood anywhere.
Will it hold up to repeat (and DVD) viewings? I'm not so sure. Although looking around online I learned there were about seven alternate endings (all of which sound better than the one they went with), which might warrant a purchase if they're included and the price is right. If you do watch it at home, make sure that subwoofer is cranked up. And throw out any ouija boards you've got lying around.
Not-so-brilliant marketing strategy: Let some idiot call it "The scariest movie of all time" and stick that all over the commercials. How quickly we forget The Exorcist. How quickly we forget The Shining. (Or Jaws. Or Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Or Alien. Or Poltergeist. Or....) Nothing ruins a movie faster for me than that kind of overselling.
Simple plot (all the best ones are): Katie is convinced something's going on at night while they sleep. Micah thinks her fears are adorable, but jumps at the chance to buy expensive video equipment to try to get some answers.
He sets the camera up at the foot of their bed, and consequently this is our view through most of the film:
At first not a whole lot happens. Her keys are found in the middle of the floor in their meticulously neat and tastefully furnished house. Some ominous, heavy-sounding footsteps on the stairs (note to self: never ever get hardwood floors) which sometimes wake them, most of the time don't. That's about it.
But Katie insists there's definitely something wrong and they bring in a psychic, over Micah's protests: He's the man of the house and he's got the problem totally under control. The psychic determines from Katie's history of strange nocturnal goings-on, even after her childhood home has burned down and she moves, that the entity is connected to her, not the house, so there's no point in running. This conveniently provides a solution to the illogic that plagues most "haunted house" movies, namely why the hell don't they just LEAVE. He also is the first to mention the word "demon."
After he leaves the activity steps up a notch. More footsteps, and one night a single, house-shaking crash that leaves the downstairs chandelier swinging wildly in its wake. Micah becomes obsessed with getting a ouija board and asking the spirit what it wants. Katie thinks this is a terrible idea, and I had to agree. (A/N: True ouija board story. We had one growing up, a Parker Bros model, because summoning otherworldly creatures is fun! Anyway, one afternoon we were fooling around with it, and got into a fairly intense conversation with....something. I don't remember most of what was said, but I'll never forget how it ended. The...something....said it didn't live in Heaven any more. When we asked it why, it answered, "No hate." We put it away and never touched it again.)
Of course you can see where this is going -- Micah DOES get a board (just like a man, tries to use the loophole "You said I couldn't buy one. This one is borrowed"). He never gets to use it because Katie storms out of the house. He follows. In their absence the board is set on fire by unseen hands. Pretty creepy.
From here the attacks escalate rapidly. The couple finally breaks down (after days of Katie weeping and Micah insisting he's still got it under control) and call the demonologist recommended by the psychic, who (in)conveniently is out of the country. They bring the psychic back who, in an unwittingly hilarious scene, steps into the house (supposedly after driving hours out of his way), says, "Oh, this is very bad. It doesn't want me here. I HAVE TO GO" and runs out again (I missed it, but our friend Kristin claims Katie almost broke out laughing just before the scene ends).
After that the movie rockets to its (extremely abrupt and I felt just a touch disappointing) conclusion. There weren't even any end credits, leaving me with the certainty that it would pop back on at any moment to give us SOMETHING else. But no, the lack of credits was only to keep up the premise of it being police evidence (Cloverfield, anyone?)
If the movie does nothing else, at least it gives us a crystal clear view into male/female relationships: He becomes increasingly alpha male the worse the situation gets, and she just wants him to pull over and get some damn directions. And stop playing with his high-tech toys for one minute.
For what it is, a movie made in a week on $11,000-$15,000 (depending what you read), it is EXTREMELY effective in scaring you. Like one review said, it would have been even more remarkable if Blair Witch Project hadn't already happened. There are one or two scenes that seem to have something invisible in the room, but all the other "effects" were literally just lots of noise and things happening off-camera, simple but scared the crap out of me. Like Blair Witch, I found myself straining to peer into the dark to try to see something. I jumped in my seat, I grabbed at Tery's knee. It was my very favorite kind of horror, psychological, not a drop of blood anywhere.
Will it hold up to repeat (and DVD) viewings? I'm not so sure. Although looking around online I learned there were about seven alternate endings (all of which sound better than the one they went with), which might warrant a purchase if they're included and the price is right. If you do watch it at home, make sure that subwoofer is cranked up. And throw out any ouija boards you've got lying around.