Kermode Uncut: Paranormal Activity

[ogfunk187]

YO KERMODE REVIEW THE THIRD FILM!!!!

[horgandavid]

reasons its scary: 1. be interfered with while asleep and totally defenseless. 2. scary to a man living with a woman who has dangerous baggage. 3. sudden loud noises

[UnworthyFun]

this video is scarier than paranormal activity.

[etocadet]

paranormal activity was a film constructed on 15000 dollars and pulled a lot out of the box, however it is scary to those who aren't horror fans. I do think its a shame that it got released as an A grade film because that ruined it, if it was a viral film that got posted about on download sites it would have had a legacy and mystery surrounding it, as it stands its just over hyped crap when it could have been a film to ween people onto horror films, before showing them event horizon

[richardhealy]

Those really are massive hands...

[leviterande]

anybody loves kermodes silent insane comedy

[Samplelord]

This movie was a tired, boring, possesion mixed with Blair itch......

And it felt realy, realy weak.....

[mrbain123]

I really liked Paranormal Activity 1. Although it wasn't "scary" (I watched it in a dark room at midnight and slept like a baby afterwards) it was certainly "creepy", well-done and kept my attention. The same was true with The Exorcist (sorry Mark).

Theres a difference between being "disturbed" by something and being "gripped" by it. Ultimately with PA (like most horror films), you know its not real. I'm much more likely to be "disturbed" by something Ive seen on Crimewatch.

[fieldingmellish44]

It's not as good as Ghostwatch.

[DrGregoryHouseIT]

Paranormal Activity wasn't scary at all, unless it's scary to see people being offered a way out of a dangerous situation and wallbangingly doing the exact opposite knowing they are putting themselves in danger all the way through. Case in point: the Ouija board. Micah is repeatedly warned not to use it, and knows he shouldn't clown around with it, if only for Katie, yet the jackass does what the fuck he wants and ends up giving the demon more power. That's not scary, but aggravating.

[terrycharnley]

I don't see horror movies to be scared by them, I go to enjoy the creepy atmosphere. And this film had atmosphere in abundance. As avastyer said, it was that dark doorway, everything seemed to come alive and the simple things like sounds of steps and the light on and off by itself were really spooky. You never actually saw the monster. Never showing the monster is always the toughest but most imaginitive thing you can do. It was actually in her.  Even more spooky and a terrific ending.

[SandBarAndYou]

@terrycharnley Don't make me laugh. None of what you said is true. And I did not get the impression that the "monster" was in her all along. I got into her at the end for the most comical seen in a horror movie ever. Any creepiness is obliterated by the fact that the actors were as good as any two random people chosen on the Earth.

[avastyer]

There are two things about Paranormal Activity that were creepy to me ("scare" is too strong a word).

1. That dark doorway. The darkness seemed to be alive when you were required to stare at it for so long. That was a bit Lynchian. The actual shocks, when they came, were not great.

2. The fact that it is not the house that's haunted, but her. I find that quite chilling.

It's a flawed film and overhyped but there's still a lot that's good about it. The original ending is better

[Nopperabou]

If you'd never seen a horror movie and didn't know what they were or how they worked I can see how it would scare you.

[woodyrulesok]

Looking back after it had finished I realised it wasn't that scary (although I probably wouldn't sit and watch it by myself to be fair) but at the time I was shitting myself.

[axl77]

Mark,i understand why dont get it. Its because your too steeped in the workings of the horror genre. Thats it. You need to just sit back and let it wash over you and you might find yourself buying in to it.

[terrycharnley]

@axl77 yes, I think that's fair point. You should tell him! And I thought the film was terrific.

[DrGregoryHouseIT]

@axl77

There's NOTHING to GET! The main characters are a couple of MORONS who basically deserve what they got because they were too stupid to actually DO something about it other than making things worse for themselves.

[etocadet]

final comment on the actual movie, it was ruined by whoever did the advertising for it

a) they claimed it was THE BEST horror so we all had high expectations

b) the trailer showed all the scaries

what b) meant was the movie was original in the fact most scares have a build up, more build up an anti climax then a BOOM this rarely delivered the BOOM but you were expecting one constantly

overall a brilliant film for what it had to work with but not as good as It was made out to be

[etocadet]

another thing that ruins movies is the sound effects or background stuff that's added post production. alot of it is unnescessary and cheesy, alot of good horrors ive seen have stuff in the background but have no added sound effects that makes the viewer paranoid as they dont know if they saw what they saw (especially in cinema) the sound effect (or BOOM) would confirm it however a paranoid person or viewer is gonna be more easily scared

[etocadet]

there are verry simple things in life which are scary and yet I have never seen them in films. people always seem to be afraid of the dark as its an unkown one thing i know that would freak people out is, when ur house lights are on seeing outside is impossible as its darker outside, turn the lights off and instantly u can see everything, ive yet to see a horror with blackened windows where when someone turns the light out you see a clear figure behind the glass.

[scartillery]

I think its the fact that the main characters are in a populated area....not in a remote forest, or creepy castle.

Its in a place which people can identify with, meaning, when they see these unsettling things; for a period of time, actually believe it can happen to them

[rp1816]

To Mark, I think it is about exposure to the material. I remember a tutor at university who was a postmodernist who said you cannot come to a classic text in the 21st century without bringing all of the previous readings and adaptations to it. However, I always thought when you do start reading literature for the first time, you don't have anything to compare it with. It must be the same with this film - if you're steeped in the genre, you will think you've seen it all before.

[000Caitlin000]

My friend and I saw it the other night. And we are no strangers to horror movies. And I left literally shaking. I think it depends on your ability to get lost in the story. To not over think it. If you go in with massive expectations, that leaves a lot of room for disappointment. I think it also depends on your openness to the concept of the paranormal. If you're overly cynical, then of course you won't be as scared as someone who thinks it's a possibility things could happen in real life.

[UgoStrange]

I absolutely love this man.

[bigfatcosmo]

I can't explain why I found it so scary, the plot was like an episode of Supernatural, most of the noises would've been done post production and it followed the same day/night formula through the whole thing. I'm a huge fan of horror movies and I recognised how this was been done so many times before, but I still couldn't sleep after seeing it!

[blackcatbr]

ya u know it all man..lol

u shouldve just had sat there and enjoyed the movie instead of going braniac on it

[Yannak]

It wasn't very scary, but the entire movie was paced well up until the climax. You werent sure when the ghost was going to strike, and you saw a lot of stuff the camera picked up that the unaware humans had not.

[Warnerchild]

worst film of 2009

[LazarouMonkeyTerror]

Watch it under the influence of weed, then it'll scare you!

[velocitygirl66]

Glad to hear it wasn't just me that wondered what all the fuss was about. I'm no horror nut by any means, rarely watch them...but I had the opportunity to see this last night so decided to give it a go. At no point did I jump out of my seat or gasp in fear, nor did I find it disturbing. Disappointing as, like the good doctor says, I did want to feel all these things. Ho hum.

[Konve]

It's the other way around. You're French and you watched it in French. You "understood" too much. The point is not to understand, it is to be scared and enjoy the screening - don't over-analyze everything.

[ndgreenaway]

hit the nail on the head..i feel exactly the same...and had a sence of frustration when people said they were scarred with this movie..i kinda found it a little dull

[kerealciller]

It all depends on what is scary to you. I personally am a sucker for ghost/haunted house movies. They always creep me out. So Paranormal activity was terrifying to me.

On the other hand something like a slasher movie never ever scares me. Not that I don't enjoy some of them but I'm never at all scared by it.

It's all about what gets to YOU.

[plentyofcalcium]

Thank God I'm not the only one who doesn't understand the hype. I thought I'd seen a different film to everyone else! :)

[LordTrilby]

You're not going to like this Mark, but, the way this is shot and what you're wearing make your hands look MASSIVE.

[ps2gether]

I thought it was scary but the final few seconds were cheesy. Should have left it when she was screeming downstairs and he went down after she was dragged out of bed.

Still doesn't beat the scariest horror film of all time which is The Haunting (1963). .

[longclawson]

A great film but surely NOT the scariest? It was filmed in Ettington Park Hotel which is a moonlit walk from my mother's house where I grew up. Menacing, like!

Kermode........stop reading from a cue card!!! PAY ATTENTION!!

[pimlico108]

both my eardrums have just burst. Cheers for that!

[coasterman16]

I don't think you're missing anything. I rarely see horror films, and I fell asleep after the first 30 minutes. It was really quite boring.

[notaninvaildname]

Maybe it's because you've watched horror films all your life, and when something that comes along that to others is very scary, you've become desensitised to the fear.

But then again, this is just an idea and I haven't seen the film yet.

[kface001]

I think this is exactly what happened.

some people can go into a film and think constatnly 'its just a film' but whats the fun in that?

iv never in my entire been scared at a film, this is the one exception.

[salibubba7]

I found myself unable to get past the fact of how low budget it really is. I can appreciate low budget but not when its to the point where I could make the film myself. Movies like Cloverfield and Quarantine do a very good job of giving you the perspective of reality with the quality of hollywood.

That is why I was not scared.

[snowhole87]

Really huge hands...

[ollyh82]

I wasn't too scared while i watched the film in crowded theater in Amsterdam but afterwards the more i thought about it and the scenes did creep me out the more disturbing i found it and i found it hard to sleep that night.

[johncrwarner]

I was wondering if it is like Japanese food - which I find bland and uninteresting but others notice the subtle tastes and relish it as a result. Perhaps the gestures were too small in the film. The minor incidents that happen to us all - if they are linked to a horror film could be devastating to those sensitive to them.

[Flipflopab]

oh yeah, wasabi's f*in hot

[johncrwarner]

But if you eat the cuisine of Japan it is by Western European standards much blander - and wasabi is not a big feature of it. The subtly of the flavours is a bigger key to understanding Japanese cuisine.

[jhuan0]

P.A. scared me for the first half and hour because ghost stories freak me out.

Then it got silly and quite predictable.

I am a horror film fan, and 99% aren't scary

I was surprised it had an after effect on me. I think its more that the film started out as a classic creepy haunting. And that kind of ghost story has always scared people.

It was more the ghost story than the way the film was made that was scary.

.

.

[666rocko]

ok first point, paranormal activity is an entertaing creepy movie

second point , this guy revews movies as a job, somthing most people do on youtube ( and in many cases just as good) for free, and most people who go and see movie arnt looking that much into it, there just looking to be entertained and somthing to take thme away from the real lifes for an hour or two,

[toonuraccoon]

maybe because you are a die hard horror fan, and you see the movies with your doctors hat on. The same way a doctor doing autopsies is not put off by the constant sight of horrific real death. Some people are just not affected by scary things and it makes sense that you are not one of them, you really really enjoy horror.

[moeezS]

Jealous of our scared experiences with the movie?

[666rocko]

kermode has never written a movie, and theres a reason, he has no talent,

[petertyson2]

No, but he has written several documentaries and also written for Fangoria magazine, so when it comes to horror he knows his stuff. It's not as if he is saying the film is terrible all he is saying is that it didn't scare him anywhere near as much as it scared others.

[Dante1Savage]

Nothing is scary about the film. I found it unsuspensful and found it to be very cliche in many respects. I thought it was tried and tired and the "horror" was lacking any real sense of terror or threat. I also had logical issues with what happened between how the boyfriend acted and even the spirit's actions. Overall I wasn't scared at all, and infact when I saw the film the last 5 minutes were met with the entire cinema laughing out loud.

[kevycanavan]

It's just a very well made. Creepy show.

I can't say that I was actually "scared" by it. I haven't been actually scared by a film since I was a small boy. But I was left freaked out by it for a couple of hours after the screening.

I think maybe you didn't give yourself to the film enough to have the experience some of us had.

You say you thought during the film that you weren't scared by it. Which seems to indicate that you weren't fully in the story.

[Tendu]

Have you seen the spanish [REC], Mark? I would heavily recommend it! It's in the same 'found footage' handy cam style as Cannibal Holocaust, Blairwitch Project etc, and very VERY intense.

[petertyson2]

I've never seen or heard Kermode mention [Rec] but I should think he's seen it. I'm looking forward to the sequel but it looks as though we'll have to wait for the DVD here in the UK, no cinemas are shwoing it as far as I know, definitely not in my local area anyway.

[owdl114]

I think he did like [Rec]. He mentions it when talking about the guy who did the sound (who also did the sound for The Orphanage) and was a winner of a Kermode award (though i don't think he's yet to recieve it)

[petertyson2]

I'm not too sure why it's scaring so many people either, I enjoyed it and thought it contained some genuinely creepy and jumpy moments but it was overhyped to the max before it's release. Maybe it's like Kermode says and the majority of the audience are not too familiar with the history of horror movies and are new to this documnetary style of filming. Or maybe it's an issue of how sensitive some people are compared to others...who knows?.

[alabam5]

I'm not sure why it scared me so much. I thought it was a little frightening when i watched it but it has stayed with me and i am still spooked after 3 weeks. I saw the film with the original ending too - much better. Dunno Kermode, sorry.