Paranormal Activity….the new Excorist…good luck sleeping

Sorry I’ve been away this summer…been all over the place and then some.

But a little movie called Paranormal Activity has brought me back to you all for my review. And if you haven’t seen it yet…I’ll let you know when I’m about to spoil it…because I want everyone to see purely the first time.

All in all…this movie scared the shit out of me!!! Which is GREAT…

I never get scared in movies. I am more critical of horror movies than any other genre, because it is this genre and can so easily be over done and lame compared to others. There are very few horror movies that are done well in this era of fim because so many are relying on the use of special effects. We are forgetting about the very basic ideas that scare us as human beings. The things that all the old horror movies always remember…which is why very few modern day horror films are better than oldies like The Omen and Rosemary’s Baby.

Personally…I never liked The Excorist. I thought it was boring, slow and went a little overboard at the parts that are supposed to be the most frightening. So I have never believed with the claim that The Excorist is the scariest movie of all time. But I do respect the impact it has had on the public. Considering the fact that it released in the theaters two full generations before mine, and the book has been around even longer than that…it is a wonder that it still does have the “scare power’ to frighten movie lovers today, who are used to special effects in every frame and the new era of film as it continues to fall into the 3rd dimension. Although it has never scared me, it continues to scare my generation, and and the 2 after me. Still, in every conversation about horror, it is mentioned along side horror giants like Hitchcock and Stephen King.

And now, in the aftermath of one of the most spectacular rushes on the internet that covered facebook, twitter and myspace…the “Demand It!” button has been hit 1 million times, and the newest horror film of 2009 continues it’s decent into horror legends as it will open nation wide next friday.

Paranormal Activity has done what no film has done in the history of the entertainment industry…by demand of the public, it is the only film to go from select theaters to nation wide. And in only a few weeks. From the moment the trailer hit the theaters, the word began to spread. And for a horror film that has never gotten so many great critic reviews, the film certainly speaks for itself.

Planning to see it after it’s nation wide opening, I spent the last week clicking the “Demand It!” button myself, hoping to see it soon, not expecting to find myself in LA for a sold out showing.

Paranormal Activity has finally done what I’ve been wishing horror films to do for years. It goes back and rediscovers the basics of what terrifies us. From fear of the dark to being hunted in your own home…Paranormal Activity takes a very basic storyline of a couple trying to catch the ghostly events going on at night…and takes it a million steps further to terrify the audience in their own beds.

The most unsettling part of this film is the fact that most of it takes place in the middle of the night, in their bedroom. A place where we all naturally believe we are safe. And once you become powerless in your own home, and own bedroom is a fear that no one ever wants to encounter. This film promotes that, and lives in it. When we sleep, we are at our most vulnerable state. And as the audience watches this invisible force move door, punch glass and pull off sheets…it makes you wonder without even wanting to, what goes on in our own rooms at night.

As Kate and Micah sleep, we sit in our theater chair, straining our ears and looking everywhere at once for what will move next. The brilliant thing about the progression of this movie is that it doesn’t just jump in like most horror films do, with blood and gore in the first ten minutes. It is gradual with the unexplainable events, and slowly gets more and more terrifying…each time, making you curl up more and more into a ball in your own chair and more and more unaware of the person next to you.

I have never seen a movie where the entire audience is so engrossed, laughing, gasping, jumping and screaming all together. I will tell you honestly….I have NEVER gotten scared in a movie in my life. Whenever I go to a horror movie, I go in with the expectation to be disappointed, but hoping to be surprised. And I never am. With Paranormal Activity carrying a few simularities with The Blair Witch Project, I was afraid of disppointment once again because I completely HATED that movie. With all it’s hype, I was sincerely disappointed with it.

But I was not disappointed with this. Along with the rest of the audience, I gasped, jumped and even screamed at the very end….much to my much and absolute joy!!! Finally, a horror movie did the impossible…not only impressed me with it’s “scare power’…but really did scare the shit out of me…LOL.

Not only was I visibly trembling walking out of that theater…I was scared of the dark, scared to drive home, and scared to go to sleep. And although I slept perfectly fine with no nightmares…I was ready to see it all over again. And I did.

I went to Universal Studios Hollywood Horror Nights with a group of friends last night, telling them all about the movie…and they pulled me with them to see it yet again. And even the SECOND TIME…it scared me. I still jumped and screamed…and walked out trembling, and turned on all my lights when I got home 5 am…hoping the sun would rise before I fell asleep.

The critics were certainly right with there reviews…if you can go home after seeing this movie and not be afraid of the dark, and not jump or flinch at every little tiny sound you hear…that is quite the accomplishment.

Overall….it is important to know that this movie is for the people that go to the theater and love beings scared. There are plenty of people that I dont want to see the movie because I know how easily they get nightmares, and how long those same nightmares frighten them for years and years.

I even witnessed two people walk, or rather run out of the theater about 20 minutes before the end because they couldn’t handle it anymore. Going into this movie, you have no idea how or for how long it will affect you.

That is why is it simply so TERRIFYING…BECAUSE YOU DON’T KNOW…

well…that’s what I think…I ended up giving no spoilers after all…I want everyone to discover the end themselves…not from me.

…GOOD LUCK SLEEPING…