Paranormal Activity

And for my second movie review of the week:


I'm sure you have heard all the hype of this movie through trailers shown on television and on the internet showing the audience's reactions while watching this movie. If you haven't, the trailer is available below. Don't expect Singaporeans to have the same reactions in the theater with our more reserved ways and pride. The most you will hear is whimpering or a scream here and there. This movie follows the same filming style as 'The Blair Witch Project'. However, unlike the 1999 movie, this one has a lot less hand shaking while holding the camera due to the fact that it is propped on a tri-pod during it's night scenes and the audience become voyeurs to the horrors of what the couple can see and cannot see. With the camera angle facing the couples bed, the doorway and the hallway outside, the audience sees more than what the couple is able to see from their angle. The movie is filmed over 21 nights with each night scene being labeled and a time stamp at the bottom right which fast forwards to the scary parts.

This movie was originally made in 2007 and slowly made its way into the theater just recently. Altogether it has 4...yes FOUR..endings. Three were made while filming the original and the fourth was made for the big screen by Steven Spielberg himself. I myself have seen three of the four endings and I can say the one being shown in the theater, although scary, is sort of an anti-climax to the pace of the entire movie.

With the slogan "What happens when you sleep", it should have been "What happens when SHE sleeps" due to the fact that it is one particular demon that has been haunting the woman, Katie, since she was eight years old. Aside from that, it truly is a scary movie..only during the night scenes. The day scenes are boring and draggy and the night scenes are scary but short. Just when things are starting to get exciting, it stops and cuts to the next day. This could work to create anticipation for the movie but also makes it boring at times.

Overall, this movie will scare alot of people and create sleepless nights for many but it did not do it for me. The movie uses the concept of playing with people's imagination of what's around the corner or outside the hallway but after watching 6 seasons of "ghost hunters" on TV, that approach doesn't scare me anymore. Good for one viewing in the theater with a good sound system as the sounds is what makes the movie scary but it does not merit a second viewing as you will already know what will happen.

Rating - 7.5/10

Paranormal Activity