But Jim, Paranormal Activity 1 and 2 are good movies. 3 is one of those take or leave, some like some hate. 4...I can't like it. It had some unique ideas but the protagonists have reached too dumb to live territory.
Jump scares are fine if the atmosphere is built up. They're better if they don't have that loud shrieking music along with them, and that's where Paranormal Activity has a big advantage. It's when the only scare is jump scares that problems arise. Don't even get me started on the Pop-Tart in Silent Hill: Revelation.
I wasn't aware that the first 2 needed defending? LIke Vausch said, 3 is take it or leave it, but me and my group of friends that went to see it left the theatre happy. Of course it was 1AM and we'd been drinking beforehand, and during- but it was definitely enjoyable.
The hidden footage / low budget handheld ones are my kind of bag too
What did you think of Quarantine? That would could probably use a Movie Defense Force mobilization.
I love Paranormal Activity too, though I was disappointed with #4. The story just didn't make sense in context to the others. I'm still interested to see what they do with Paranormal Activity 5 though. It's supposed to be out this coming January.
I think you may be defending against the wrong arguments here.
My complaint about PA as a franchise is that it's boring. It's not that the scares are "cheap" or what have you. It's just dull. The core of the issue seems to be that they're shooting it like an episode of Ghost Hunters which (while that show has never ever been scary either) mainly pulls its horror from the idea that this is really happening, but that doesn't work in PA because we know that this is a movie. Waiting through 20 minutes of pointless conversations between boring characters and watching them go to a barbecue and all that other stuff, just to wait through two full minutes of them sleeping in a dark room, all for the big payoff to be that THE DOOR SLIGHTLY OPENED BY ITSELF isn't even a jump scare. It isn't even really startling. It's just dull.
Can you imagine the theme park ride for paranormal activity? Where you like ride in a little car through a rich person's house and admire their cabinets and stuff and then kinda near the end there's like a knocking sound?
Indeed, the original PA was popular with both critics and real people. It's pretty much the only found footage movie that isn't total shit. (except chronicle if that counts)
I do agree that jump scares arent really cheap and a good jump scare takes alot of work and effort to pull of right. Although personally I dont really enjoy jump scares, so tend to avoid movies that reely heavily on them.
Yeah, I don't think at the very least the first movie is in need of any defence. The general opinion seems to be that it was, if nothing else, a serviceable film.
I still really enjoy the first Paranormal Activity movie but the fact that it's gotten the Saw treatment is what bugs me more than anything else, especially as it was the movie that unseated Saw at the box office in 2009.
Does this movie really need a defense force? I thought it was quite popular in the first place. Now if you wanted to defend any of the sequels, be my guest.
I'll just echo other sentiments: I'm pretty sure that the first PA was pretty well received. I know I found it legitimately unsettling (particularly with a good stereo system, as my laptop didn't pick up a lot of the subwoofer hum that comes during moments of tension).
Now, as to your assertion that the rest of the series isn't bad: BUNK, I say. They did the classic horror mistake of over-explaining everything. The thing that made PA1 so enthralling for me is that it's not explained what's going on and why the paranormal is picking on these people. The sense of helplessness is palpable throughout and really climaxes when the paranormal professor/medium shows up. In most movies, he'd be the guy with answers. He may be killed to emphasize a hopeless situation, but would reveal some crucial facts about the paranormal event in question. In PA1, he shows up, but only adds more tension, as he abandons the couple to the fate he dares not mention without so much as coming into the house. That was the real shining moment of the movie, IMO.
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