I just got back from seeing Paranormal Activity with Jon and, honestly, I’m disappointed. There was all this hype about the movie, like it’s the scariest thing in years, it’s like a Hitchcock film, it’s an intelligent horror movie, etc. It wasn’t bad, and I appreciated that Micah and Katie seemed like normal people I could know, but it really wasn’t scary, to me or Jon. It was creepy in parts, but that was about it. I was all apprehensive at first, waiting for it to get really scary because I’m usually a wimp at horror movies, but it never got to that. And now, I’ll dissect some stuff, so spoilers ahead.

It started off very sloooooowly, and I felt that it dragged. I think some build-up is necessary, but it wasn’t scary enough and I was getting a bit bored. I also thought Micah was ridiculous; seriously, who reacts that way? If I heard big slamming things for no reason, and video evidence of weird shit going on, I’d be outta there or calling a demonologist like Katie wanted to from the start. He was being macho and, I thought, unbelievably so.

I personally thought the creepiest stuff was seeing Katie get up and stand around for hours at a time, just because they sped up the clock and she waved back and forth. The footprints in the powder I thought was a bit unnecessary; did they really have to show three-pronged footprints? The shadows on the door I thought were a good addition, and the ruffling sheets were creepy because I get weirded out about my feet sticking out from under the covers anyway.

Jon was amazed they didn’t do more with the attic, since everything seemed to come from there and he thought there was real opportunity to do something creepier with it. Consider:

1. The loud THUMPs when no furniture was moved around could have been the demon jumping out of the attic onto the second floor.
2. The footprints seemed to originate from the attic, and that’s of course where Micah found the photo.
3. The chandelier swinging might have stemmed from the demon jumping from the attic onto the second floor and shaking the ceiling.

I was expecting Micah to come down the ladder from the attic looking all horrified or with something wrong, but instead he just found the burned photo. They left it at that, and never did anything more with the attic.

The psychic’s suggestion that leaving the house wouldn’t help seemed silly. Obviously it took a while for stuff to ramp up again after Katie’s house burned down, so maybe if they had left things would have calmed down for a while. Also, when Katie suddenly got all pacified and told Micah she wanted to stay, that should have been a major clue that things weren’t okay and that he should get her out of there, regardless of what she said. And what was with the cross squeezing? If I found someone doing that to the point of cutting herself, and she’s obviously whacked out and overstressed too, I would haul them to the hospital right then. He just carried her up to bed and then listened to her like she was a reasonable, healthy person later when she asked to stay. Not believable.

The ending was lacking to both of us; it felt anti-climactic. I think it would have been more disturbing if there had been less screaming. Katie goes downstairs, it’s quiet for a bit, and then she starts screaming bloody murder. What I think would have been eerier is if she had gone away for a bit, come back with a knife or something maybe less cliché, and attacked Micah right there in bed where the audience could see, with Katie still being all comatose and calm and methodical and obviously not in control of herself. The biggest part, like right when the movie should have been scariest, is what the audience was deprived of seeing and when the movie ended. It was creepy when she threw Micah and when she flew at the camera, but why couldn’t we see the part that happened downstairs? I find it believable that Micah didn’t grab the camera then, but I think it was also meant as a convenience to the director that they didn’t have to dream up the scary stuff that went on downstairs, like why the screaming and why the bloody circle on Katie’s stomach and why it suddenly got quiet. The final written note, too, about Katie’s whereabouts being unknown seemed silly to me, to the point of being cheesy.

Reading on IMDB’s forums earlier, after we got home, pissed me off because I found one guy asking what exactly was scary about this film, and I totally agree. It was like a really slow-to-take-off suspense film, and I found movies like The Shining, 28 Days Later, and Psycho much scarier. Hell, even The Ring with its typical horror-movie gimmicks was scarier, and The Blair Witch Project was too, though I admit it’s been a few years since I last saw that so it might not be scary to me at this point. Aliens was definitely a scary movie. Now I’ll have to think through and remember other movies that have scared the bejeezus out of me, but Paranormal Activity definitely wasn’t one of them.

Anyway, back to IMDB’s forums. This guy is just rude, writing “The reason you weren’t scared is because your a simpleton. You need to be shown what your supposed to be scared of, because your small brain doesn’t possess the imagination to scare yourself.” I dunno, I don’t think I’m a simpleton… And if some of my dreams are to be considered, I’d say I have a fairly active and capable imagination. Maybe kellenm-563-72160 is right, though, and you have to have a genius far surpassing mine to be afraid of this movie. *roll eyes*

Alternate Ending

Edit: I just saw the alternate ending and it was much better than the theatrical ending. Someone on IMDB said that “douchebag Steven Spielberg” wanted the theatrical ending, and while I have no proof other than that one guy’s comment, I can totally believe that because the theatrical ending was incongruous with the rest of the movie. It was more cheesy typical horror movie, with the evil grin and sniffing Micah’s body, whereas the alternate ending fit with everything else we had seen so far. More spoilers!

The alternate ending is fitting because it had Katie go into one of her states again where she’s non-responsive and she just rocks, which is believable within the world of the movie because she has already done that a couple of times before. It was also creepy how when a friend came, Katie stops rocking for a minute, her friend screams and then it’s silent, then Katie resumes rocking. Was that the demon leaving her to take out their friend, then returning to Katie? Also, with Katie finally snapping out of it when the cops come and her getting shot, that seems much more believable than the stupid cliché monster-Katie in the theatrical end.

Something Jon just pointed out was that Micah swiping the knife through the air in the beginning was foreshadowing for the alternate/real/better ending when Katie comes in the bedroom holding a knife. Damnit, why wasn’t that the official/theatrical ending? It fits, and makes the movie about 100% less cheesy. All the cheesiness comes in at the end when you get the demonic grin and the body sniffing and the crouching and the general sudden-motion techniques. Seriously, throwing Micah at the camera and then lunging at it? The script for that ending was cut-and-pasted in from another, dumber horror movie.

Edit again: I just read one guy’s comment on the IMDB forums and I think he nailed the reason why this movie is creepy, but not scary:

Like when a friend pops out behind a corner unexpectedly trying to scare you, you might get scared the first time, but if he tries the same exact thing 5 minutes later it’s completely lame. And that’s exactly how this movie is, it tries to scare you the exact same way like 15 times in a row within minutes of each other.
— griffmailz