I posted my daily blog a bit later than usual today. The reason is pretty simple. I saw “Paranormal Activity” yesterday, and falling to sleep last night was a bit…difficult.
Have you seen the trailer? They call the movie this generation’s “Blair Witch Project.” It was made in one week for $11,000 by director Oren Peli. There’s no CGI and no special effects to speak of…just a young couple who feel they are being haunted in their own home who use a video camera to catch the ‘presence’ when it is most active — at night when they are sleeping.
The trailer focuses more on movie audience’s responses to the film than the film itself…and they looked pretty freaked. That’s why I wanted to see it. But then, I like movies that are scary without being gory.
Seeing the movie was really fun. The director did a nice job of building the tension, and the spooky scenes were definitely jump-worthy. I laughed a lot, too — both at the boyfriend’s apparent cluelessness and at myself for screaming like a little girl. And the climax? Perfection.
I didn’t leave the theater creeped out, though, and had no worries about being alone in my apartment or going to bed.
And then I tried to go sleep.
I have never heard so many unidentifiable noises in one night! Someone broke a bottle in the back alley, and when I looked out the window — nothing. It sounded like my dishwasher was running, but it wasn’t. I heard Rory walk into the living room, and when I called him, he looked up at me questioningly from the foot of the bed.
I was even running a fan — which usually blocks out unwanted noises — and could still hear every breath in the building.
Now that I’m up and awake, it’s pretty funny. And I’m still glad I saw “Paranormal Activity.” In fact, I highly recommend it.
Just go when you can afford to lose some sleep.
Chucky, too. And rumor has it Jason’s mask has been seen lurking in the deep freeze.
Scared for life
Halloween weekend is here.
The pumpkins are carved. Parties planned. Costumes conceived.
And now critics on-air and online are recommending what horror films you should include in your Halloween movie marathon. The expected have risen to the top — the Halloweens, the Nightmares on Elm Street, the Screams, the Exorcists.
Your basic nightmares.
And while Paranormal Activity 3 has been advertised to have 15 minutes that will “mess up your life,” I’ve already “been there, done that.”
I saw this film in the theatre with my sister, mom and her good friend Jeanean who loved horror movies. (The rest of us really didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into.)
Based on a true story, The Town that Dreaded Sundown follows a Texas ranger’s hunt for a serial killer who terrorized the people of Texarkana, Arkansas in 1946. The killer wore a pillowcase over his head as he preyed on the residents of the town, primarily young people parking in the woods.
He was brutal and cruel and terrifying. And he was never captured.
Suffice to say no one slept in our house that night. Actually, I’m not sure any of us slept much that week, even knowing he was probably long dead. The imagine of his face covered by that pillowcase — breathing in and out like an animal — will haunt me for the rest of my life.
If you like really scary movies, I recommend it.
But it will mess you up.
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Tagged advertising, been there done that, commentary, entertainment, Halloween, Halloween costumes, Halloween movies, Halloween parties, Holiday, horror films, Humor, life, lovers lane, movie critics, Movies, Nightmare on Elm Street, Paranormal Activity 3 movie, pillowcase over head, pumpkin carving, Scream movies, serial killer, Texarkana Arkansas, Texas ranger, The Exorcist movies, The Town that Dreaded Sundown movie