[PLEASUREMAN]

Paranormal Activity is that no-budget indie horror you may have heard about that repeats the Blair Witch conceit in which the principals are filming events on a digital camera. Movie has been building a huge amount of hype during limited release with a wide release expected shortly.

Actually the movie was made a couple of years ago and has been around the festival circuit looking for a distrib, which it got in Paramount and DreamWorks. Spielberg supposedly was so "scared" by the movie that he sent it back in a garbage bag--I know that makes utterly no sense, but that's what the "legend" of his involvement is. Since it's Spielberg, any part of it could even be true.

Paramount marketing seems to have pulled it off. Released to midnight showings in college towns, it has built up an uncritical, easily impressed following of 20 year olds and a huge list of glowing reviews from middle-aged critics who can't afford to miss out on any youth trends. Just an aside but critics have no observable impact on movies anymore; movies open or tank independent of what these hacks write. Possible reason might be that groupthink and no understanding of how to talk about movies makes their reviews boring and uninformative. They're all gutless, same-thinking libarts fags who think in reviewer metaphors. Audiences have learned to tune them out.

Getting back to PA, the movie was best summed up by a commenter on Nikki Finke's site as the longest YouTube video ever. That's really what it is. Featuring amateur but passable acting in the already well-worked vein of fake documentary horror, it brings nothing new and never escapes the monotony of its tract home setting. It does have a few effective moments, mostly playing off the tension created by nothing happening, but that's it. Movie needs to take it to the next level but the third act is just more of the same, and the final scene is a wince-inducing gimmick that must have had Spielberg's hamprints on it, it's so hokey and just plain fucking retarded.

That's why this movie sat around for two years. It was basically waiting for a spot on the calendar following a disappointing season so its hype could turn this Filmmaking 101 project into some $$$ for the distributors. Another very similar effort that has been flirting with buzz for a few years is The Poughkeepsie Tapes (about a serial killer); having seen PA, I can only imagine Tapes is so dire it's unreleasable even to lobotomized college student auds.

As for plot, some demon (maybe) is haunting some chick, no one knows why, premise is cranked up to 10 with no further development. Movie almost figures out that it needs to do something by bringing in a psychic researcher (the best actor of the small group) but that also goes nowhere. With a million directions it could go, movie is almost masterful in the way it stands still and accomplishes nothing.

In fairness it is a step up from the Saw or Hostel series. Someone could have taken this raw material and remade it into something good, whereas the Saw and Hostel franchises are for degenerate cretins only.

[Probably Not]

Saw this last night in a theater surrounded by yammering 14 year olds. The film probably scares that demographic because they can identify with the protagonists and haven't already seen the same thing in better films already.

In addition to the review above (pretty much spot on), the film makes the mistake of telegraphing a possible path to safety for the main characters (the demonologist) and waiting too long to demolish that hope. While watching, you start to wonder why they haven't contacted the doctor - and it usually undermines the tension when the audience suspects the protagonists are idiots. Idiot protagonists work in a slasher pic, where body count and creative dismemberment are the goal. They don't work in a horror film, where caring about the protagonists is key to the effect.

The film also seems to offer a curious but not unexpected attack on manliness. The male lead responds to the unknown as a more or less traditional man: he's curious about it, wants to force the issue, is physically and emotionally protective of his woman, issues challenges to and advances into the unknown rather than run away (he's only willing to leave near the very end, and it is out of concern for the emotionally wrecked Katie). He's also dismissive of the psychic and reluctant to turn to some other doctor rather than "solve the problem myself." Of course, all of these actions are, in the world of the movie, foolish provocations for which the man eventually pays a heavy price. Unfortunately there really is no legitimate alternative - Katie's more or less typically female response (intuitive "knowing" about the unknown, desire to appease and forget rather than provoke, cowering in fear) ends up in possession and death of personality. The other "female" character, the psychic, is comically undercut in the second scene. The third possibility seems to be that of reason or intellect (the unseen demonologist and the psychic, though to a lesser degree), but this is unavailable - and the unavailability is just lame. (Durr, he's out of the country. What? No cell phone?) In the end, the manly response - the one, by the way, which ultimately makes the film possible - appears to be foolish with no legitimate alternative. Could have been interesting - especially since the film shares a lot of features with the traditional rom/com.

This post has been edited by Probably Not: 12 October 2009 - 10:42 AM

[Muswell Hillbilly]

PLEASUREMAN, 10 October 2009 - 03:24 PM:

In fairness it is a step up from the Saw or Hostel series. Someone could have taken this raw material and remade it into something good, whereas the Saw and Hostel franchises are for degenerate cretins only.

I recall someone (you?) writing about some film or TV show: "Not only do I hate this, I hate the people who watch it."

That's how I feel about Saw and Hostel and such stuff. I'm generally a puss when it comes to horror stuff - I can enjoy thiller-tension, but watching innocent people murdered/tortured is usually just unpleasant and disturbing to me - but even a horror connoisseur should find that stuff at the very least pointless, unless they really are just dilletante sadists or geeky obsessives interested in the technical aspects of gore and blood spatter. Either way, I despise them.

[PLEASUREMAN]

Good spotting of the feminist subtext. I liked the male character because he was funny and straightforward and couldn't get why he was with this emotional basket case (who was 20-30 pounds overweight). Also the female lead really tries too hard in this movie. It's a typical untrained theater workshop performance. But college kids love this stuff, it has an "I could do that" vibe.

[Probably Not]

Muswell Hillbilly, 12 October 2009 - 10:55 AM:

I can enjoy thiller-tension, but watching innocent people murdered/tortured is usually just unpleasant and disturbing to me

"The more innocent they were, the more they deserved to die." - Bertolt Brecht

Incidentally, the quote which really made me start to despise the Left.

[cleon]

I liked her tits

[Murdoch]

they really were some fine titties

[cleon]

Tits on swole

[HopeAndChange44]

They're... making a sequel... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1536044/

I guess it will be like the Blair Witch sequel where they forget the whole guerrilla video premise, just cashing in on what was already a disgusting cash-in in the first place. I'm pirating this on principle.

[eloH]

you're retarded h&c

[Jeff Fries]

Drunk monk strikes again

[PLEASUREMAN]

Can't imagine the sequel will be any good, although they really have to do more than show shadows and creaking doors this time. It's just another Blair Witch 2 cash grab, without any real involvement from the original cast and crew. Writer/director Oren Peli is relegated to "producer", but you know no one in Hollywood is going to give a shit what he thinks because they regard him as a fluke nobody--there's nothing that makes Hollywood hate you more than unexpected success. The town is full of unproduced failures who will rage about what a no-talent this guy is to anyone who will listen.

By the way I found a torrent of The Poughkeepsie Tapes since writing that review, it's worth a look because the overacting in that movie is hilarious. Way below cable television standards. That's why the movie will never be released in any form.

[THAT RED GUY]

PLEASUREMAN, 05 July 2010 - 10:36 AM:

By the way I found a torrent of The Poughkeepsie Tapes since writing that review, it's worth a look because the overacting in that movie is hilarious.

you should watch any herschell gordon lewis masterpiece to get a good comparison point for other horror movies. i'd recommend the wizard of gore, for starters.