18th
Saw Paranormal Activity tonight (by myself, no less!).
I’m still not sure how I feel about it. On the one hand, it clearly knows what it wants to do, and it succeeds at doing it. It’s creepy and unsettling (and at times, scary) and never feels anything less than “real” for a second. I’m a pretty seasoned horror fan, and I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that every time the water pipes have made noise tonight in the hotel room I’m currently in, my heart hasn’t started racing a little faster than usual.
That being said… I feel like it could have been more. I’m all for a slow build, but instead of gradually leading up to a “10” on the scare/creep scale, the movie basically goes 1… 1… 2… 3… 4….. 9 10! -end.- I feel like speeding up the beginning to make room for some 6’s and 7’s and 8’s in there could have made for a more satisfying experience. And maybe giving us the 10 for just a *bit* longer. (And also not ruining the 10 in the movie trailer, which I thankfully didn’t watch before seeing it.)
Still, it’s nice to see scary movies trying something new/smart and achieving success. In my mind, the shot pictured above is nothing less than iconic. What an awesome motif; every time the film returned to this setup, the audience went DEAD silent. Very neat to experience.
