Paranormal Activity

[Cebby]

Re: Paranormal Activity

To each his own but I suspect that some of you might have too short of an attention span for this movie. Skipping chapters? No wonder you disliked it. You missed the entire point of the movie. The tension slowly builds in a dramatic fashion. What is made terrifying can only be so when contrasted with the mundane.

I didn't really get the whole "tension building."

I spent most of the time of the movie thinking about the far more interesting things I would do if I was a demon, and as I stated earlier, locking the door would have solved most of their problems.

[ODogg]

Re: Paranormal Activity

Locking the door wouldn't have solved anything. If a demon can open and shut a door i'm sure it could unlock it as well. As for tension building, I think it was very tense as the movie went on, simply because the behavior escalated exponentially. I honestly don't see how you could watch that show and not feel the tension but then like I said, to each his own I suppose.

[Bellsprout]

Re: Paranormal Activity

I didn't really get the whole "tension building."

I spent most of the time of the movie thinking about the far more interesting things I would do if I was a demon, and as I stated earlier, locking the door would have solved most of their problems.

The demon had the power to possess someone. I feel pretty confident he has the power to unlock doors.

I personally loved the movie, but I can see where some people were expecting more. I love suspense and tension but some people aren't into it. Quick example: I watched Inglorious Basterds with my family. I was on the edge of my seat during the opening scene with Landa and the milk, just so much tension in that scene because you feel like you know what's going to happen, but the movie takes it's sweet time in getting there. The rest of my family was bored and already wanted to turn it off. So, yeah, different people think different ways.

[ODogg]

Re: Paranormal Activity

It's funny you should mention that WeAreAllWitnesses because I watched that movie last night and I too greatly enjoyed the milk scene. I guess some people just really just find that sort of scene boring. I hate to be insulting but I was the same way when I was younger, I wanted scenes like that to "get on with it already". So maybe it really is an age thing, I dunno, but now I love scenes like that, they are the best part of movies for me.

[NC State-31 UNC-27]

Re: Paranormal Activity

the acting killed it for me in several places. Things so amateurish my girlfriend and I were laughing out loud. Just really killed it.

[ODogg]

Re: Paranormal Activity

I thought the acting was great for the most part, it seemed like...well natural. What parts were you laughing out loud at? I did find issue a time or two with the dialogue, like...would they really say that? But that was more of a script issue than acting issue.

The only thing I found sort of distracting was I found the woman very attractive. In fact now that I think about it there were a couple of things that were distracting me in that movie, LOL !

[Cebby]

Re: Paranormal Activity

Locking the door wouldn't have solved anything. If a demon can open and shut a door i'm sure it could unlock it as well.

I can open and shut a door, yet unless it's a flimsy door or a fense, I have very little luck in unlocking doors without a key.

As for tension building, I think it was very tense as the movie went on, simply because the behavior escalated exponentially. I honestly don't see how you could watch that show and not feel the tension but then like I said, to each his own I suppose.

1. The escalating behavior was pretty predictable. They weren't going to have the demon start pulling shanigans early on. That would have made it a lot better if it was in a more random order such as wobbling door=>savage beating=>chandelier moves=>house burns down=>lights turn on and off=>random banging=>mysterious picture=>2 weeks of nothing=>murder

2. Again, locking the door would have eliminated much of the demon's activity.

The demon had the power to possess someone. I feel pretty confident he has the power to unlock doors.

Why? Maybe this was a human demon and the mechanical demon was all the way in the Ukraine. Perhaps the human demon and simple lock demon are beefing. You can't assume.

[ODogg]

Re: Paranormal Activity

Cebby, I don't think you really follow the paranormal much do you? First of all, there is no such thing as a human demon. A human spirit is a ghost. Demons were never human. Secondly, locking the door wouldn't have solved anything at all, even if, as you say, the demon couldn't unlock it (which trust me, a demon can from what i've read) the demon would have either just hammered the door or simply did something else even worse somewhere else in the house.

As for your analysis that the behavior escalating was predictable, that is not the point, the sense of dread, of knowing it would escalate was what made it scary. Perhaps you are right that the movie could have used more randomness in that sense, but that doesn't make it any less scary. Having been involved in a similar situation I do agree that a sense of utter randomness can make such things most frustrating of all.

However this sort of randomness was not needed in the movie because the woman clearly stated that random things had been happening to her since she was 8. That was the setup. The movie dealt with the escalation of events that the randomness led up to.

[NC State-31 UNC-27]

Re: Paranormal Activity

I don't care if demons can open doors or not, I still would have shut the darn thing.

Maybe the LOLing thing was a script issue. It was kind of a combination I think.

And my gf and I argued about whether the girl was cute or not. I said yes, she said no. She thinks all girls are ugly and fat.

[ODogg]

Re: Paranormal Activity

Also, just a note on the "lock" debate. Most house bedroom doors lock from the inside with a simple switch that turns left or right or you press in to lock. Since a demon can move through walls I don't think it would have had any problem unlocking the door. Although honestly i can't believe we're debating this aspect as a real debate about locking the door stopping the haunting, LOL.

[ODogg]

Re: Paranormal Activity

I thought the girl was perfect in how she looked. I know a lot of women would say she's fat (and some guys too) but I think she looked great.

BTW - I do agree I would have shut and locked the door too, regardless of my above posts. Sure the demon could slam doors elsewhere but at least it wouldn't be the one 5 feet from head slamming shut, LOL

[Bellsprout]

Re: Paranormal Activity

Maybe the LOLing thing was a script issue. It was kind of a combination I think.

And my gf and I argued about whether the girl was cute or not. I said yes, she said no. She thinks all girls are ugly and fat.

From what I read there was a loose script, but a good portion of the movie was "here's what you're talking about in the scene, now improvise it".

From Wikipedia:
"Peli says that the dialogue was "natural" because there was no real script. Instead, the actors were given outlines of the story and situations to improvise, a technique known as "retroscripting""

And your girlfriend is wrong. Lol.

[ODogg]

Re: Paranormal Activity

Yeah, she was nice, she reminded me a little of Pam from The Office with dark hair.

[Cebby]

Re: Paranormal Activity

Cebby, I don't think you really follow the paranormal much do you?

I would, but I'm too busy hunting down Zombie Hitler and his army of Easter Bunnies.

First of all, there is no such thing as a human demon.

How would you know?

There is a distinct possibility that the demon in question was quite poor with technology.

Secondly, locking the door wouldn't have solved anything at all, even if, as you say, the demon couldn't unlock it (which trust me, a demon can from what i've read) the demon would have either just hammered the door or simply did something else even worse somewhere else in the house.

1. The demon demonstrated that his ability to knock on the door was quite futile

2. The demon appeared to be nocturnal and thus any events elsewhere in the house would be lacking in effect

3. If someone has written something about demons and thus believed in demons and was writing for people who held the same view, would it not be logical to assume that the person writing was not in fact possessed by a demon?! Much like the Soviets prior to their collapse, could a demon's door unlocking properties not be the result of a vicious propaganda campaign to ensure humans that locking doors is futile?!

However this sort of randomness was not needed in the movie because the woman clearly stated that random things had been happening to her since she was 8.

Again, how can we know the woman is to be trusted?

The previous events in her life very well may have been the delusions of a paranoid schizophrenic girl, or perhaps a woman with an active imagination. Maybe by attributing a previous demon's failure to destroy her to the current demon, the current demon was forced to terminate her with extreme prejudice.

[Chip Douglass]

Re: Paranormal Activity

Again, locking the door would have eliminated much of the demon's activity.

I was actually thinking the same thing.