Paranormal Activity

[Edward]

(Let's all just pretend the abominable 'Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2' never existed.)

Better yet, let's just drop the Blair Witch 2 element, and let it be viewed as the crappy-but-fun little B movie it actually was. I found it entertaining, at least.... in great contrast to its much hyped and extremely disappointing prequel. Blair Witch Project must for me rank as one of the most disappointing films of the 1990s. Two hours of my life I will never reclaim.... Perhaps had I not been already something of a horror film buff beforehand I might have enjoyed it, but really I found it wholly derivative and unoriginal. Every single scene, it seemed, I was thinking "oh, yes, that's [insert Horror Classic X here]". Even the basic concept of 'found documentary footage' was not especially original (as claimed by all the hype at the time), having been seen after a fashion in Cannibal Holocaust in 1980.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannibal_Holocaust

Needless to say for those who read the above link, CH is a much more disturbing watch.

Blair Witch Project wasn't one iota as clever as it thought it was. In fact it is second probably only to the Star Wars prequels as the most overhyped, steaming pile of trash to hit cinemas in the 1990s.

Your mileabe may vary, of course.

 

[Paisley]

I just watched The Orphanage, a Spanish movie about a family who moves into the building that was the orphanage where the mother grew up. Their plans to turn it into a home for disabled children are derailed after their son goes missing and strange things begin to happen in the house.

This seemed like the movie that Paranormal Activity wanted to be: suspenseful, subtle, using fear of the unknown instead of gore. Instead of a cookie-cutter house in the suburbs, the setting is a mostly-restored old orphanage near the ocean, which vintage fans should love. Instead of an annoying, yapping couple, the main characters are big-hearted and mature. Instead of amateur video, the movie looks like it was made by professionals who cared.