Escape to the Movies: Paranormal Activity

thatwi3rdguy8008

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Jun 5, 2009
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Just saw the movie a day ago, thought it was okay not the scariest thing in the world. But me and my friends were cracking jokes throughout....the chances are slim but if you heard someone singing black eyed peas "Tonight's Gonna Be A Goodnight" that was my friend lol
 

JUMBO PALACE

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Jun 17, 2009
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I usually agree with Bob but for this movie I feel the complete opposite. The Boo in the intro was scarier than this movie until the last 4min of it. The hand held camera made me feel like i was watching amateur porn without the sex, and some of the "paranormal" events during the night as simply laughable. When you see Katie standing at the edge of the bed for 3 hours doing nothing it isn't scary, just laughable. Anyone who can't sleep after watching this movie needs to man up because it just plain isn't scary. Don't waste your money like I did. Go see zombie land again.
 

ZehGeek

[-Militaires Sans Frontieres-]
Aug 12, 2009
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PA is not for those that are blood fest lovers, and only get "scared" due to blood. It's more of like the movies before we got all bloody like SAW, and some other movies, Psycological Horrior. You know something's happend, but things in your mind go back and forth, and it's just creepy. It's nice to see people atleast trying to get that psycological horror genre back, insted of Blood Fests and a generalized hyped up movie like SAW. I agree SAW just needs to end, and people do something more creative like PA. From what I've seen, it looks like a good movie to good see.
 

CuddlyCombine

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Sep 12, 2007
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Monshroud said:
Oh, and sorry Movie Bob, I still plan on seeing Saw 6... Yeah I know they are not the best, but I have this twisted side of me that loves seeing people get killed for their past bad or evil deeds, or for just flat out being too stupid... It's like watching Karma come and bite people in the ass...
If you want to see that done well, watch Dexter or something; by now, all the Saw writers are doing is thinking up more violent and impractical ways to maim people.
 

Rocketboy13

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Oct 21, 2008
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gamegod25 said:
I stopped listening at the point he said he liked cloverfield. I'm not going to take film recommendations from anyone who thought that piece of trash was good.
You hate Cloverfeild so much that it completely defines your opinion of any individual's aesthetics? That seems a bit obsessive.
 

MovieBob

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Dec 31, 2008
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Since I mentioned it IN the review, I think it's appropriate to mention that according to the early estimates, "Paranormal Activity" is the #1 movie of the 10/23 weekend, making almost double what "Saw 6" did. Normally, I completely despise the "scorekeeping" of box-office results, turning moviegoing into some kind of SportsCenter monday morning quarterbacking; but in this case I regard it with interest and no small amount of enjoyment. In terms of the movie business, this is a big deal especially for studios that have (official or otherwise) horror-divisions: The "Halloween Window" is no longer owned by a single franchise - so look for A LOT of genre projects to be crowding screens this time next year. It's also potentially great news for anyone trying to score distribution for an independent horror movie; everyone is looking for "the next Paranormal Activity" as of Monday.

Now, for the record: I don't hate "Saw." I loved the first one - I think it's one of the all-time great modern horror films, all the twists work, the gimmick is ingenious and the ending is holy-shit-fantastic. Aside from the common plagues of the genre - namely dodgy acting and a visibly-low budget - it's a great film. And the immediate sequel was better than it had any right to be. But since then the whole franchise has lost it's way: The traps are ONLY gross without also being inventive or especially scary, the ultimate embodiment of a series that no longer seems to understand what made the original good or popular to begin with.
 

Herr Wozzeck

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Oct 23, 2009
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MovieBob said:
Since I mentioned it IN the review, I think it's appropriate to mention that according to the early estimates, "Paranormal Activity" is the #1 movie of the 10/23 weekend, making almost double what "Saw 6" did.
It's not quite double, but Paranormal Activity did in fact take the no. 1 spot at the box office this past weekend, earning 22 million over Saw VI's 14.8 million:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/movies/box_office.php
 

gamegod25

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Jul 10, 2008
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Rocketboy13 said:
gamegod25 said:
I stopped listening at the point he said he liked cloverfield. I'm not going to take film recommendations from anyone who thought that piece of trash was good.
You hate Cloverfeild so much that it completely defines your opinion of any individual's aesthetics? That seems a bit obsessive.
It's nothing personal. If he liked it then hey good for you. However I thought that movie was complete ass and a waste of my time and money. The main reason I went to see that movie was because I heard people say it was good. So after being (in my opinion) mislead like that I think you'll understand why I feel that way.
 

witchkid42

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Jun 10, 2009
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Don't get me wrong, I love these reviews. In fact, this show is one of my favorites on the Escapist. That said, I can't help but notice that "Movie Bob" seems to love just about every movie he sees. So basically, I'm stuck between mainstream critics hating everything and Bob loving everything. I think that this show could be a hell (pun semi-intended) of a lot better if he was more objective in his reviewing.
 

Disthron

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Aug 19, 2009
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I could believe the guy was still carrying around the camera in Cloverfeald but not in Diary of the Dead. In Cloverfeald they were using a very small cam-corder where as in Diary of the Dead or Quarantine it was a full sized TV camera. Those things are pretty heavy.

Anyway, I was definatly not going to see Saw 6 but I might check this out.
 

bcponpcp27

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Jan 9, 2009
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Reeper0278 said:
How unexpected, I just keep hearing on how much it sucks.
Well that was a good review then, keep it up!
Those are just trolls trying to dash your hopes and dream, ignore them, this movie rocked!
 

Seamus8

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Mar 26, 2008
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Liked this movie, can't fathom why so many people were walking out of it...

Oh, while I agree saw 2 wasn't a horrible movie like the later installments, it was so much of a step down from the first one that it actually felt worse watching it =(

I went to the original "Saw" movie hoping to see a bloody gorefest that was more stupid and repulsive than scary... what I got instead was less slasher (even going so far as cutting away from or speeding up through what would have been the more intense parts) and more thriller. It was right up there with silence of the lambs imo, or at least beat the snot out of identity and the other thriller attempts of that time. I was pleasantly surprised. So I go to see the sequel thinking it was done in the same spirit and I got what I was expecting in the first movie.

Edit: Moviebob said it alot better above, guess I should read all replies before posting.
 

lionpaw16

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Aug 11, 2009
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i guess a lot of people watch MovieBob because paranormal actvity is #1 at the box office and i also heard that saw 6 got the worst opening weekend in saw history i guess saw 5 suck so hard not a lot of people wanted to see what happend next (i didnt really like saw 5)
 

lionpaw16

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Aug 11, 2009
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a real scary movie is steven kings it i wasent scared wathcing it but that clown made me scared of clowns and now the dvd is popping up EVERYWHERE
 

Chipperz

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Apr 27, 2009
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witchkid42 said:
Don't get me wrong, I love these reviews. In fact, this show is one of my favorites on the Escapist. That said, I can't help but notice that "Movie Bob" seems to love just about every movie he sees. So basically, I'm stuck between mainstream critics hating everything and Bob loving everything. I think that this show could be a hell (pun semi-intended) of a lot better if he was more objective in his reviewing.
Go and find a review he's done of a movie that he hated (Transformers 2 is a good one). It's easily the weakest episode he's done. I actually stopped watching for a while after that one. However, unlike Apocalypse Lane, it's got better!

I like MovieBob a LOT more now that he's found his stride and isn't afraid to like things, which is a glorious breath of fresh air after Yahtzee's bile and Unskippable's knowing pisstakes. I genuinely felt more upbeat after watching his review of Up than I had in a long time (and now it's actually coming out in England, I might get to see it!), because he does his best when he likes what he's reviewing.

Also, I'm not gonna go see this, I've never been a huge Horror fan, but it does look better than most handicam-docu-drama-horror-banana movies (Diary of the Dead was an absolute joke...)
 

solidstatemind

Digital Oracle
Nov 9, 2008
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Some observations:
This style of filmmaking is usually (somewhat misleadingly) called cinema verite. (accents over the 'e's in that). It isn't really because it's fiction, but that's the style they're shooting for.

I personally am glad that PA is doing well. I may or may not see it, since it really attacks a vulnerability of mine, but it deserves to succeed because if nothing else it was a little different and well-executed.

Re: Saw. I saw the first one; it was clever, inventive, and original-- to the point where I was prepared to endure the gore; it had a pretty specific point. However, there are too many films that indulge in gore for gore's sake, and the Saw series seems to have devolved into exactly that, perhaps in an effort to attract that audience.

I have my reasons for not liking gore. Foremost among them is that I think to almost every filmmaker, it becomes more about trying to be revolting rather than horrifying. (To wit: Midnight Meat Train.) I will always think that the suggested is more powerful (not to mention artful) than the explicit-- my mind is a very strange place, and my imagination is very creative: it's highly likely I'll come up with something wayyyy scarier and disturbing than what you could show me. Additionally, you allow each person to scare themselves rather than having to come up with something that will scare many, many people, and even then, you're sure to fail with some.

EDIT: forgot to include the pithy link applicable the "Saw" series: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2002/12/13/