# Paranormal Activity is the worst movie I have ever seen! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 3, 2011, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranormal-activity-is-the-worst-movie-i-have-ever-seen/573352 "2011-03-03T15:05:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![PeskiPiksi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e495f1/32.png) [@PeskiPiksi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeskiPiksi)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranormal-activity-is-the-worst-movie-i-have-ever-seen/573352/41 "2011-03-04T19:07:10Z")
> [@ArrMatey](#): > > For Blair Witch? I’m with ya, even though I saw it on a friend’s dime. I thought it was great build up, great build up, and then… > > The ending came. I literally stood up from my seat and yelled, “Is that fucking IT?!” > > Luckily, me and my friend were the only two people in the theater (early afternoon matinee). See, that’s what I liked about Blair Witch…that it didn’t really ever show you anything. What I can imagine is much scarier than what any filmmaker can show me. Kind of like the shark in Jaws. I liked Paranormal Activity for the same reason. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranormal-activity-is-the-worst-movie-i-have-ever-seen/573352/42 "2011-03-04T19:21:29Z")
But at least in Jaws you got a payoff when it hopped up on deck and ate Robert Shaw. That was worth all the suspense: “Holy shit! That really IS a monster!” BWP could have just been a bunch of hillbillys messin with the city folks. ---
**Author:** ![Atrael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Atrael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atrael)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranormal-activity-is-the-worst-movie-i-have-ever-seen/573352/43 "2011-03-04T19:22:22Z")
I liked it…the biggest thing I think bothers people is that you have to watch this movie the opposite way you normally do. Usually you go into a movie, and you **suspend** your dis-belief. In order to really enjoy this movie, you have to **embrace** your dis-belief. For all the complaints about how stupid the characters were, and how you’d have been out of there right from the start, I suspect that what people mean is thats how they’d behave if they were **in the movie** , but in real life? Come on. If you had someone tell you they felt a menacing presence that was haunting them, you’d be like “Yeah, whatever” and go looking for the cheese dip. Same with a few bangs around the house. Hell even if you saw video of the door to your room moving, would you **really** think it was a deamon? Hell no. You’d assume the wind or something. That’s why I liked this movie, the boyfriend does just about what I’d have done…roll my eyes and want proof. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranormal-activity-is-the-worst-movie-i-have-ever-seen/573352/44 "2011-03-04T19:27:31Z")
> [@PeskiPiksi](#): > > See, that’s what I liked about Blair Witch…that it didn’t really ever show you anything. What I can imagine is much scarier than what any filmmaker can show me. Kind of like the shark in Jaws. > > I liked Paranormal Activity for the same reason. I agree with what you are saying and I liked Blair Witch. The problem was what PA was presenting just wasn’t scary until the very end (which admittedly was a good scare.) ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranormal-activity-is-the-worst-movie-i-have-ever-seen/573352/45 "2011-03-04T19:58:53Z")
I liked the movie when I caught it on Netflix Instant View, and it was relatively easy fast-forwarding through the stupid parts… “No, honey, I don’t know where the footsteps came from or why things keep moving… now let me _sleep_, willya?” But I found parts of it creepy, especially when she got out of bed and stood over him for about an hour of FF time. I also saw the alternate ending and I think that one worked better, but all in all, it was an enjoyable hour. ---
**Author:** ![llcoolbj77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/eb9ed0/32.png) [@llcoolbj77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/llcoolbj77)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2011, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranormal-activity-is-the-worst-movie-i-have-ever-seen/573352/46 "2011-03-04T20:19:10Z")
> [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](#): > > “Scariness” is not objective. > > In an essay precluding a section of short horror stories, Orson Scott Card described the three types of fear: dread, terror, and horror. Terror is fear of the immediate: something is jumping right out at you. Horror is fear of what has happened, and is usually tied strongly to gore and unsettling images: the corpse of your brutally murdered friend. Dread is the most powerful, and it is the fear of what is to come. It lingers and builds. Paranormal Activity has 0 horror and a small amount of terror, and relies largely on dread. > > While almost all fear is irrelevant if your suspension of disbelief is broken, I would argue that dread suffers the worst from that. QFT. I thought it was ok. I love scary movies. And I watched this in the basement, by myself, at about 2am. The anticipation of something bad happening was hitting me in the right spots. But I also agree with some of the other posters that setting makes a huge difference. I saw the movie Signs at a midnight showing at the movie theatre (with almost no one else there). Walking out of the theatre was creepy. When I rewatched the movie during the daytime… hysterical!!! Still nothing is scarier than JAWS. Oh, the danger that lurks where you cannot see. Pure dread. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranormal-activity-is-the-worst-movie-i-have-ever-seen/573352/47 "2011-03-05T01:07:35Z")
> [@Atrael](#): > > I liked it…the biggest thing I think bothers people is that you have to watch this movie the opposite way you normally do. Usually you go into a movie, and you **suspend** your dis-belief. In order to really enjoy this movie, you have to **embrace** your dis-belief. > > For all the complaints about how stupid the characters were, and how you’d have been out of there right from the start, I suspect that what people mean is thats how they’d behave if they were **in the movie** , but in real life? Come on. If you had someone tell you they felt a menacing presence that was haunting them, you’d be like “Yeah, whatever” and go looking for the cheese dip. Same with a few bangs around the house. Hell even if you saw video of the door to your room moving, would you **really** think it was a deamon? Hell no. You’d assume the wind or something. > > That’s why I liked this movie, the boyfriend does just about what I’d have done…roll my eyes and want proof. Exactly. The other night, I went out to out shed to look for an extension cord…late at night…without a flashlight. I thought, “If I were in a horror movie, I would be in deep shit.” But, it didn’t even occur to me to be scared in real life. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranormal-activity-is-the-worst-movie-i-have-ever-seen/573352/48 "2011-03-05T07:07:33Z")
> [@Atrael](#): > > For all the complaints about how stupid the characters were, and how you’d have been out of there right from the start, I suspect that what people mean is thats how they’d behave if they were **in the movie** , but in real life? Come on. If you had someone tell you they felt a menacing presence that was haunting them, you’d be like “Yeah, whatever” and go looking for the cheese dip. Same with a few bangs around the house. Hell even if you saw video of the door to your room moving, would you **really** think it was a deamon? Hell no. You’d assume the wind or something. The wife is literally dragged out of bed by an invisible force and pulled down the hallway causing the husband to have a tug-of-war with thin air. When he finally does pull her free, there are bite marks on her arm. _ **Caused by an invisible force.** _ This happens more than 24 hours before the wife is fully possessed and the husband is killed. I enjoyed PA, but the husband is one of the stupidest characters in all of movie history. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranormal-activity-is-the-worst-movie-i-have-ever-seen/573352/49 "2011-03-05T07:19:35Z")
I thought the movie was an extended Youtube video. And that’s about it. I kept watching hoping something cool would happen, but seriously, if it’d been cut down to 5 minutes it’d have been great. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paranormal-activity-is-the-worst-movie-i-have-ever-seen/573352.md?page=2)