Saw Paranormal Activity.
Predictably, not nearly as scary as the trailers make it out to be.
It wasn't terrible, considering they had a budget under $15,000 and shot the whole thing in a week. It had a few things going for it such as simplicity, the idea that seeing nothing is scarier than a guy in a big, cheesy demon suit tormenting this ugly couple. Points for sound effects and suspenseful build-up as well. There was one scene where the male protagonist covered the floor with talcum powder to see if the poltergeist left any footprints, sure enough it did, and not only do you see the footprints appear on camera, but they're three-toed demon feet as opposed to human footprints. Though this was corny, I thought it was a nice touch.
I think the degree of scariness of the films depends strongly on the viewer's constitution. During the film three people walked out, though not with any urgency, so I assume they were just bored as opposed to scared. If you find doors opening and closing and lights turning off and on by themselves, then this film is for you. Coming in at close to two hours in length (surprising right?), none of the really cool stuff happens until the last twenty minutes of the movie. Not unlike Cloverfield, you could probably save yourself time and money by just looking up a compilation of all the scary scenes on Youtube. Definitely not worth buying, and definitely not worth seeing more than maybe twice in your whole lifetime.
I'm being cruel of course, as it was a stalwart attempt by an amateur filmmaker at making horror (which is by far the hardest genre to work in as it's almost impossible to scare anyone these days). All in all it's passable, and it's all you've come to expect from such movies that have tried to capitalize on the shaky-handed camcorder style made famous by The Blair Witch Project.
Note: There are apparently multiple endings. Naturally, the mainstream theatrical release has the crappiest ending, which is the one I saw. The others are longer and a little more exciting.
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