The Freak's Rating: B+ :The Blair Witch Project revolutionized American cinema, proving that not only could an extremely low budget film succeed, but that viral marketing could carry a film almost entirely into the mainstream. BW was the first of its kind, lending its style to a slew of copycats, the newest of which, Paranormal Activity, has just received a wide theatrical release.
PN very slowly injects fear into the audience, and does so quite well. I cannot imagine myself sleeping very well tonight based upon the scares. If there is a noise in my house, I believe I'll be alert faster than I have ever been in the past. On this level, PN succeeds drastically. Some go to a horror/suspense film for this alone. They will be quite satisfied with the results.
Despite the annoyingly stupid leads in the film (one who is truly cast to resemble Jenna Fischer), the dialogue and storyline are semi-forgivable due to the pacing, which is done particularly well. Once you realize that these two are most likely headed for death at some point after the opening credits give thanks to "their families" for the footage, all flaws go out the window in light of perhaps being able to see these idiots meet their end in dramatic (and frightening fashion). The largest flaw is the closing slide of the film. It is as Hollywood as it gets and no doubt has writers desperate for a gig to begin attempting to pull a sequel out of the film.
All in all, PN isn't an awful film, just too much of a stylized retread to garner more than a B. Though spots of originality exist, PN essentially gives us docu-style scares that are nearly impossible to fully embrace since the acting is so terrible. The biggest flaw here that could have avoided this problem all together is the lack of additional characters. BW had three people and was 82 minutes long. PN has 2 and is 7 minutes longer. Perhaps we are left entirely too much time with these two to notice how horrendous their acting skills really are. Character development is hardly needed here and I would love to see a 60 minute cut.
PN will no doubt have a great theatrical run due to the viral marketing and word of mouth. Many adore this film and some have even called it "one of the scariest films of all time". It has a few good scares, no question, but scarier than The Shining or The Exorcist? I'm just not willing to give it that kind of kudos. PN has good scares, a decent storyline and merits a see for fans of the genre, especially those with attention spans limited enough to not remember when they saw the bulk of this film's style in 1997.
Caahlen's Rating: A+ : Recently, our respectable movie freak wrote this regarding a movie released this summer:
"Documentary style filmmaking has lost its lustre completely and Hollywood should take note. Blair Witch took it to peak interest, but the appeal has vanished."
I'm writing this review to say that Paranormal Activity does the documentary style PROUD! The Freak mentions Blar Witch...this movie is done in almost the exact same fashion except that the plot is completely different, the film is far scarrier, and the documentary style is done to even greater effect. In fact, Paranormal Activity is the Darth Vader to Blair Witch's Obi Wan Kenobi. Paranormal is more sinister, the student that surpasses the master, and ultimately, cooler (although I loved Blair Witch too).
Let me say one thing before I procide a brief movie synopsis. Don't watch the trailer. DON'T watch the trailer! DON'T WATCH THE TRAILER!!! The trailer is good, but shamefully gives away KEY scares on this one, including one big one at the very end ov the movie. You won't know what your watching at the time, but you'll regret it later. Watch the trailer after you see the movie and you'll thank me, I promise.
So...without giving too much away...this is a very simple ghost story. Man and wife suspect they are being haunted at night, so they set up a video recorder to see what happens while they're sleeping. What they find is...freakin' nightmare inducing. The movie succeeds by very slowly building up the couple's harrassment, and your terror, until they are both at levels that I've never seen in a movie. Ever. It's not the kind of terror provided by the likes of the Shining, or Friday the 13th, or even the Excorcist (although that one's closer). Those movies work by showing you what you should be afraid of. This movie works because the fear is already in you. It plays with that which you are already afraid...the unknown. There's no blood here. No CG, no virgins running (then falling) through the woods, no insane assylums or chainsaws.
This movie was made for $11,000.00. This movie currently is under EXTREMELY limited release (see the official website for showings, but STAY AWAY FROM THE TRAILER). This movie may well be the scarriest movie you'll ever watch.
Brian's Rating: B+ : Scott is dead on with his review of this one. Its great that a movie can be made on a budget like this, and it succeeds in slowly freaking out the viewer. If it had decent lead acting, this would be an A for sure. It blows the socks off of Blair Witch if you ask me, as I didn't like that movie at all.
Its hard to talk about this one without spoiling it a little. So read on with some caution. I am not overtly spoiling anything, but in a movie driven by the "mood", even slight statements could alter your personal perception of the material. I did not see the trailer, as suggested, and wonder what was in it. I can think of a few things they could put in that would have been egregious. The first 10 minutes of the movie made me think I made a terrible mistake, but then the pacing slowly starts to build. I honestly felt tense during most of the movie, and that is more than most horror/suspense films will do for me.
Its just too bad about the acting... it throws the whole mood off. In some of the setup times during the movie (in between the "paranormal activity") I was actually laughing due to the sheer unbelievability of the acting in trying to sell me emotion. I shoudn't be laughing like its Army of Darkness. I found that it broke up the mood and screwed up the entire experience. It would be like the first scene in Inglorius Basterds... the tension is slowly building throughout. It keeps stretching like a rubber band until its about to snap. It would have not had near the impact if the acting caused me to snicker right in the middle of one of the monologues.
So its a docu-drama. I'm cool with that. It was a good way to do it. However, it is clearly not believable, and not really meant to be. So why try? Why throw in that leading line that Scott mentioned that gives away the fate of the couple before you even see them? Just to make it seem like it was a real news story? I wish it would have been left out, and then let the story play out.
So I am criticizing it quite a bit, but in the end I think they did an excellent job. Despite the things I didn't like, it does a successful job of tapping into the part of your mind that "knows" that stuff like that is out there. It inspires fear, and would give my wife nightmares. I would recommend for anybody to see the movie, if only just to see what the talk is about and support this viral form of marketing which is cool. Its amazing that this was done so cheaply. Hats off to the creators.
Daniel's Rating: A+ : deffinitly one of the best horror movie endings.
Connor's Rating: A+ : I haven't been freaked out by a movie since I was little and it was awesome seeing this movie and being freaked out! It's really suspenseful and will freak you out and keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole movie.
Angie's Rating: B- : I have to say that there are things in this movie that are highly successful and so terrible that it's a tragedy. I agree with Scott on his review. The actors are terrible, the ending is awful, and some of the film is, for lack of a better term, stupid. However, I am glad for these things because it does succeed in the psychological scare. It preys upon what everyone fears, the unknown. The failing points of this movie allowed me to fall asleep, thank goodness. I think that some of the effects are very well done, the best being when the girl is seemingly pulled from her bed by the demon. I will probably not waste my time watching this again... it just wasn't that enjoyable for me. The ending still makes me roll my eyes and laugh.
