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A bit more than a year ago, I started hearing the hype machine go into full force regarding Paranormal Activity. Apparently it was one of the scariest movies of all time. I saw audience reaction shots and became uber determined to see the movie as soon as it was available in my area. As soon as it was playing in a theater somewhat close to me, I bought tickets and rushed to see it with my SO.
The following experience was truly one of the most disappointing experiences of my life. During the first 45 minutes or so of the movie, my body was filled with tension. I was sure I was witnessing the slow buildup to what would surely be one of the scariest finales in film history. Wow, was I ever wrong. The scares never came. Instead, we were treated to such brilliant cinematic tropes as: doors slamming on their own, pots clanging together, chandeliers swinging, a strange low frequency hum in the background and occasionally pictures falling from walls. To say that the movie was lame would be the understatement of the century. I wasn't expecting to be terrified, but I expected at least one decent scare. And the R rating? What a joke. I'm sure the producers felt compelled to throw in several random "fucks" just so they could give the film some horror cred with an R rating. Without any of the foul language, the film would have earned a PG easily, perhaps even a G. There are a number of PG-13 horror films (Sam Raimi's "Drag Me To Hell" comes to mind) which were infinitely scarier and more fun than this worthless waste of a movie. And why the hell were people so impressed by the film's $15,000 budget? There was nothing in that movie that I saw that couldn't be recreated with some twine and a subwoofer. I imagine there's some member of the cast or crew that got away with about $13,000 of the producers' money before going into production. My SO, who doesn't watch nearly as much horror as I do, was equally unimpressed. I think there might have been one brief moment in the film where she squeezed my arm somewhat tightly, but that was the extent of it. She came away from the theater yelling shenanigans as $30 bucks and our evening had been wasted.
So, who here has seen Paranormal Activity? Were you unimpressed with the original, yet decided to give the sequel a try? PA 2 seems to be getting mostly positive reviews on RottenTomatoes.com, but I foolishly trusted those reviews a year ago and don't think I'll be making the same mistake again. Instead, to fill my annual desire to see loads of horror flicks, I'll be catching a number that I've missed from the past few years. I've got the French zombie flick "La Horde" and the Australian horror flick "The Loved Ones" lined up for this weekend. I've got a few more lined up for next weekend, plus the premiere of AMC's "The Walking Dead" for Halloween night. If you were just as pissed with Paranormal Activity as I was, do you have any good horror flicks to recommend?
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