Mundane Activity
Wow. Paranormal Activity was stupendously boring. How is it possible to make a boring movie about demons? Bleck. Where to begin?
First off, the leading lady kept whining about "Why is the demon after meee?" And I couldn't help myself; I kept just thinking, "Sweetie, if you put your breasts away, even just for five minutes, maybe the demon would leave you alone." She was wearing shirts down to Tokyo for the entirety of the film. It also would've helped if she could act.
I am a fan of the notion that you keep viewers in the dark; the things you can't see are often scarier than the things you can (with notable exceptions). In John Carpenter's The Thing, the atmosphere, along with the notion that your friends may not be your friends, is much more terrifying than when the thing manifests itself and rips characters' arms off. The psychological aspects of the story are stronger than the physical ones.
That said, you have to give me something scary to work with. PA is kind of a pointless movie. It's supposedly a big, frightening demon, but for the first hour of the movie, the scariest thing it does is turn their lights on. Maybe given today's economic crisis, it is terrifying to contemplate a demon who runs up your electric bill. But filmmakers have to do a little bit more than that to keep my interest, especially when they offer me characters I couldn't care less about. The "let's pretend it's all real" approach is also eyeroll-worthy.
You know who would've improved this movie? Jensen Ackles.
First off, the leading lady kept whining about "Why is the demon after meee?" And I couldn't help myself; I kept just thinking, "Sweetie, if you put your breasts away, even just for five minutes, maybe the demon would leave you alone." She was wearing shirts down to Tokyo for the entirety of the film. It also would've helped if she could act.
I am a fan of the notion that you keep viewers in the dark; the things you can't see are often scarier than the things you can (with notable exceptions). In John Carpenter's The Thing, the atmosphere, along with the notion that your friends may not be your friends, is much more terrifying than when the thing manifests itself and rips characters' arms off. The psychological aspects of the story are stronger than the physical ones.
That said, you have to give me something scary to work with. PA is kind of a pointless movie. It's supposedly a big, frightening demon, but for the first hour of the movie, the scariest thing it does is turn their lights on. Maybe given today's economic crisis, it is terrifying to contemplate a demon who runs up your electric bill. But filmmakers have to do a little bit more than that to keep my interest, especially when they offer me characters I couldn't care less about. The "let's pretend it's all real" approach is also eyeroll-worthy.
You know who would've improved this movie? Jensen Ackles.