I know this film has come up in threads before but I really need to know, am I the only one who thought it wasn’t scary at all? It was a complete joke, and so very boring.
When everyone, including hard core guys I know, was saying how they couldn’t sleep after seeing it, I really geared myself up for being terrified. And I scare easily. I jump at nothing and there are a lot of films I can’t watch, or sleep after.
However my friend and I were so bored we talked through a lot of it because we were the only ones in the cinema, and laughed at what we thought were meant to be the scary bits.
I didn’t think it was awful but it wasn’t even close, to me at least, being “OMG THE SCARIEST MOVIE EVER !!shiftone” like my roommate and her boyfriend said.
I didn’t think it was awful at all, but it was definitely a victim of its own hype (of course, the producers would beg to differ with me as to it being a ‘victim’ as they laugh all the way to the bank).
Had I never heard anything about it, and chanced upon it with no word of mouth, I probably would have thought it was a somewhat clever, fun film that worked within its own budget constraints and created a reasonably creepy vibe with a handful of decent scares. I’ve seen a lot of horror films, and there is much, much, much worse out there. I thought it was a long way from being great, but far from awful as well.
But yes, with the buzz of it being ‘the scariest film of all time’, you almost couldn’t help being let down by it.
Also, you being the only ones in the theater almost certainly did not help your experience of it. This is one of those films that definitely is helped by a shared experience. I haven’t seen it at home on dvd, but I imagine watching it alone is not nearly the same thing as seeing it in a theater full of people.
It’s like an extended episode of one of those stupid ghostbusting shows on cable. Night cam videos of doors opening and closing, gravely serious “psychics” talking about demons, and a Blair Witch ending.
I basically hate movies that take shit like ghosts, and psychics and ouija boards seriously anyway (and movies where people are shown “researching” spernatural bullshit like there’s anything to research), so this thing had an uphill battle with me anyway. The entire gimmick is really predicated on trying to be creepy/unsettling/shocking as well as pseudo-realistic with the video footage, but to me it’s just boring and inane. Plus the girlfriend is a stupid, crazy bitch and the boyfriend is both an idiot and a doormat.
I haven’t seen it because the 4 people who beat me to it I asked had opinions ranging from “boring” to “crap”. One guy suggested the makers be sued for the trailer showing the terrified audience because they couldn’t have been watching Paranormal Activity.
That’s what I thought, too, and although I suppose I’m interested in the idea of the paranormal, those shows (like the movie) are boring as hell.
I honestly thought it was going to turn out that the woman had been molested as a kid and the ‘demon’ was her own telekinesis or whatever. Not on that budget, I guess.
Saw it last night at the 3-dollar theater. We found it unintentionally funny, not scary. Great movie to give a MST3K treatment to. A couple of moments startled me, but I wouldn’t call it scared. When the two lead characters are so annoying that you want them to die and you actively root for the demon, the film is probably less effective than it could have been.
I thought it was not particularly good, but it wasn’t terrible. I had somehow managed to avoid 99% of all advertisements and discussions of the movie, so I really had no idea what to expect. Certainly it wasn’t scary, but it was watchable.
While watching it, I had the impression that I might have been able to derive some entertainment out of it, if I were thirteen, had never seen a film before, and suffered from fetal alcohol syndrom.
As it was, it was terribly, terribly dull. The acting was dreadful, the characters were vapid, and overall it was a whole lot of nothing going on, with the “scary bits” about as scary as a Scooby Doo episode. One of the later ones, with Scrappy Doo and the bitch.
I believe that this sort of thing can be pulled off in such a way as to be watchable (Cloverfield held my attention well enough) but with God as my witness, I will nail my own bell-end to a park bench in Cleveland before I sit down in front of anything promoted as "From the people who brought you Paranormal Activity.. <-- Straight up, no hyperbole.
I thought it was really, really funny. I mean, I went in to watching it with an open mind, not with the automatic expectation of it sucking. But at some point, I just couldn’t help myself. I mean, if you think about it, a demon deciding that he doesn’t have anything better to do than fuck around with two douchebags is a pretty hilarious set up.
there were a few really scary bits that should have landed in a better movie. The characters were annoying, the ending anticlimactic, and the visual conceit half-baked (I know a demon can penetrate through closed doors, but it still seems a bit ridiculous to keep that bedroom door open night after night). But scenes like the girl going outside in her sleep, or the Ouija board bursting into flames, were pretty awesome.
This is about what I think of it. A Ouija board bursting into flames isn’t that scary, but the timing and context of it made it good. For that scene. I kept waiting for somebody, other than the demon to close the door. The characters weren’t THAT annoying to me, considering the genre, and she did have a nice rack.
It had a good way to get one’s attention, because I kept waiting for something scary to happen. Unfortunately, it didn’t deliver. The girl’s horse ass smirk/smile/whatever was totally retarded.
I give it a 4, if the girl had been flat chested, it would be a 2+.
80% of the movie (the parts where they were talking) was annoying and I was sorely tempted to fast forward. The 20% that was supposed to be scary was… not. The scene where the monster dragged the girl out of the bed had both me and my buddy simultaneously burst out laughing.
I kept expecting it to get better, since I’ve heard it was good and scary. When it ended… I almost couldn’t believe that was it.