I wish we would have seen the original ending, but the theatrical was ok. It was a decent waste of time. Wasn’t the greatest movie ever, but I don’t think it was bad.
If that happened to me the first thing I would have done is call a priest. Secondly, move. Third: “You’re cool and all babe, but this thing is following you around: peace. I’m out.”
In the theater before PA, they played the trailer for “2012” - there was so much special effects going on - enough for 10 disaster movies. PA was like the “anti-2012”.
Alternate Ending is online here:
It scared the ever loving shit out of me. Best scary movie I’ve ever seen. (Most horror movies are a complete bore to me, though.)
The “bump in the night” part was one of the creepiest parts for me. I wondered how I’d react if something like that ever happened to me. Then I remembered that I live in an apartment building and noises like that are common. Damn upstairs neighbor.
She pronounces his name Meee-cuh? That’s what it sounded like in the clip…not My-cuh? That’s good enough reason for me to never go see this movie! Plus, I don’t do well with scary…still recovering from The Hills Have Eyes that I saw in 1978!
That’s the version I’ve seen. Can someone put the official ending in a spoiler for me?
She watches him in bed for a while, then goes downstairs. After a while there’s a blood curdling scream from downstairs. He runs down, then the screaming stops. You hear footsteps coming up the stairs, getting louder and louder. Then his body is thrown at the camera. Then she comes up the stairs covered in blood. She bends down over his body for a minute, then makes a demonic face and lunges at the camera.
The End.
Nice one.
Thanks.
That’s the guy’s actual name. The two main characters used their real names for the movie.
I saw this on a whim after finishing up work on a traditional Halloween fireworks show in Banff. My friend and I drove past the theater as we were driving back to Calgary and decided a good old fashioned horror film would be a good call on Halloween!
We saw it, and while she was genuinely frightened by it I didn’t think there was really much. Sure, the time-lapse sequences gave everything a bit of an otherworldly feel, but I was expecting something every time the camera switched back to real-time and that ‘theme’ played. For some reason, even though I really do love suspense, it didn’t click for me.
My friend, on the other hand, actually thought it was real. I’m a skeptic where as she’s absolutely a believer in all things spiritual and otherworldly. I had to actively convince her it wasn’t a documentary, so I guess the premise does actually work on some people.
I understand that…I’ve just never heard the name Micah pronounced that way before, and of course in that scene, she sort of exaggerates it…"Meeeee-cuh? Where’s MEEEEEEEE-cuh?
Try *Exorcist III *(directed by William Blatty, author of the original). Here’s the famous Nurse Station scene, one of the scariest movie moments ever.
I thought it was pretty effective, but not the scariest movie evah.
The scenes when she was watching him sleep were super creepy, and I was struck by how vulnerable we all are while we’re asleep. They just seemed so small and helpless, covered by nothing but a sheet.
I also could put myself and my husband in their shoes easily–imagining waking up in the middle of the night hearing these creepy noises and trying to figure out what to do.
But, some of the Bad Choices took me out of the movie. Why not spend the night at a place with other people around, someplace open 24 hours? Sleep during the day in shifts until the expert they were waiting for could get there? And Micah was kind of an ass in the whole thing.
But over all, yeah, I thought it was good. And impressive that it was done with an eye toward atmosphere rather than special effects.
Ditto. I saw no previews, but after reading about it in EW I simply could not resist. So I mumble mumble, then parked my ass on the couch last night, turned off all the lights and fired it up. Nicely effective when home alone at 3am in the pitch dark.
Those of us that did this saw the original version, not just ending. The studio release added:[ul][li]a sound effect under the demon presence (which I find comically unnecessary though they probably did it well)[/li][li]a few scenes of banter between the two leads to make them more relatable[/li][li]some daylight spookiness[/li][li]sound effects on the girl’s voice when she started to go all demon at the end[/li][li]Apparently a goofy ending where the girl lived. WTF?[/li][/ul]Someone upthread mentioned clawmarks through the guy’s picture; this happened during the day, yes? That was not in the version I saw.
Agree with everyone that her watching him sleep for two hours was uber creepy, but nobody else mentioned her getting up and going outside. I found that almost as creepy, though I couldn’t really explain why.
Loved the experience; I did it just right. And I think the original ending was perfect, with her rocking back and forth until the cops gun her down.
Saw it at a late-late showing last night, and thought it was very effective. Granted, I hadn’t seen the trailer and knew nothing about the movie other than that it was some kind of suspense. The makers of that trailer should be banned from filmmaking - it’s awful how much they gave away, and I can understand how much worse the movie would seem if you walked into it already having seen the heights of the demon’s interventions.
The worst part of the movie? MICAH. Totally agree with those who say he was an asshole. The thought even crossed my mind that the demon was somehow using him to get to Katie. Let’s see: he’s told that the presence of the camera might agitate the demon? Screw that - let the camera run 24 hours. Told not to get a Ouija board by both his girlfriend and the psychic guy? That it will be like inviting the demon in? Never mind - little twerp gets a board anyways. Insists that his girlfriend not call the demonologist, even when she’s reduced to lying on the floor in a fetal position, crying? Tough luck - “this is my house and I want to take care of this problem!” What a dick.
I agree that Micah was kind of a dick, but I thought he was well-drawn and believable. The character at first didn’t really believe anything paranormal was happening, then didn’t really believe it was that serious, and when he was finally moved to belief, he was so attached to the idea of seizing control of the situation, he rode roughshod over Katie’s wishes. He wasn’t being a jerk on purpose, he just wanted to take the situation in hand somehow - have some power to make a difference.
He started off believable, but by the end he was a slave to the script. I still really enjoyed it, but his dedication to ‘solving’ this issue by himself was ridicolous and imposible for me to believe–no one would stick around after watching their girlfriend get dragged down a hallway, let alone refuse to have her call psychic guy again.
This was the turning point for me. The only tension that I felt was the suspense that something horrible was going to happen to the girlfriend. Once it was obvious that she had succumbed, the suspense/tension turned into exhilarated anticipation knowing that Micah was about to get his.
We had a “date” to see this movie in the theatre on Friday night. As it happened, baby was cranky from her H1N1 shot, so we had mercy on the sitter and stayed home.
Dodged a bullet there, holy crap! We ended up watching the festival version at home on Saturday night instead. It alternated between being intolerably boring and actively irritating.
I think the concept was okay, and could have been spared if they had bothered to find a cast capable of acting its way out of a wet paper bag, and writers who could be arsed to work a little bit of story into it. As it was, it felt too much like a student film. (It might help if you’re twenty.)
I don’t think you need a huge special effects budget to tell a good traditional ghost story - you can put a lot across with atmosphere and performance. The Changeling (the one with George C. Scott) remains one of my favourite “haunting” movies, and the scariest parts of this movie were achieved with sound effects and the barest of practical effects. It also had a story and some talent to put it across.
I am a believer that a sort of cinéma vérité can work for supernatural horror films. (I liked Cloverfield well enough - not fantastic, but I certainly don’t resent sitting through it.) I just think that you need a little bit more in the way of an interesting narrative, and actors that can sell it to the audience att a level that’s a little further above “summer camp skit.” Oh, it helps if the writers sketch out at least one character who you might sympathise with to the point of hoping that they don’t have their faces eaten off by demons.
Finally got around to watching it tonight. I went to high school with Micah Sloat (yes, it’s pronounced Mee-kah) so I felt obligated to check out his acting debut. Really, I went into the movie not knowing anything about it, and I wasn’t scared at all. I thought it was a good movie, but it takes a lot to actually scare me, and it did feel like 90 minutes of a couple arguing and watching them sleep, with the occasional door slamming. I was watching the DVD screener which had the original ending on it. Like most alternate endings, they should have just stuck with what the director first envisioned. If I saw the theatrical ending originally, then I would be coming in here to throw rotten tomatoes at it. Leaving most of the final action off screen actually worked really well for this movie.