As a Counterpoint to Arnold Babar’s Review of Paranormal Activity, we offer a different perspective. Sure Arnold didn’t hate Paranormal Activity, but our intern evidently thought it was the the ghost’s rattle, aka superlative. So in the honor of the open forum (and cos he was practically obsessive about it), we offer his review…
By Shaun Boylan
Last night, after leaving the midnight screening of Paranormal Activity at ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood, I was fully transformed into a terrified, prepubescent eight year old boy. Driving home alone and walking into an empty house had never been so distressing. I slept for a total of two hours and spent most of the night using my cell phone as a light to check if something or someone was in my room. Every time a tree branch screeched outside, every time my AC unit grumbled on and every time the rickety fan over my bed hummed aloud I peed just a little. There’s no other way to say it, Paranormal Activity scared the shit (or quite literally, pee) out of me.
Hit the Jump to continue reading Boylan’s review…
For those still wondering what Paranormal Activity is or why the bladder of a healthy twenty-two year old became uncontrollable in a single night, speculate no further. Get up off the couch or your computer chair and head on over to your local movie theater to check out the latest and greatest supernatural thriller/horror film to be released in years. Paranormal Activity follows a couple plagued by a series of ghost encounters who decide, after a resurgence of attacks, to capture their confrontations on video tape for proof. To give away anything else would certainly spoil the fun.
Filmed in similar vein to that of The Blair Witch Project and more recently, Cloverfield and REC (another lesser know but great horror flick) first time writer/director/producer/editor Oren Peli nails the archival footage genre on the head with a film that will surely haunt your core and chill the soul. This movie is not for the easily disturbed; however, if a thrill ride of a horror film is what gets your socks off than you must not avoid seeing Paranormal Activity.
Even more shocking then the film itself, is the film’s budget which was made for under $20,000, an amount that puts this years Hollywood blockbusters to shame. It continues to mystify me when films like X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (both sequels, BTW) are given upwards $150 million to make, with the intent to entertain, but instead have me leaving the theater yawning and depressed wishing I hadn’t shelled out twelve bucks for a ticket. And it always seems that just when I’m about to give up on going to the theater, along comes an indie, low budget film to save the year. I know this review reeks of “over-hype” but when a film so refreshing and different than the others is released, it deserves to be celebrated.
I have read the critics reviews, and yes, I recognize that the film has its flaws but they are slight and inconsequential. If you find fault with this film, you will find it in any film and you might as well shelve your weekly Saturday movie nights with your hubby and opt for the Senior’s special at the downtown Appleby’s, because someone like you suffers from being unable to find pleasure in any decently prepared product. So, I would like to take this time to address any negative reviews written about this film: Fuck You! It is reviews like yours that keep audiences from seeing movies that should be seen; it is reviews like yours that keep Hollywood studios from green lighting “risky” investments. For the sake of experimental and future of risky endeavors, go see Paranormal Activity!
[Ed note: plus, you gotta love that Paranormal Activity stole the No. 1 spot with $22 million from that most tired and retarded of horror franchises, Saw, which saw its sixteenth sequel nab just $14.8 million. Nice!]
