Movie Review

Paranormal Activity

Rating: Worth It

This has been hyped as the "scariest movie ever made". I wouldn't call it that, but I would definitely call it frightening.

I went to see it last night, after I had accidentally read the ending on a review blog. I thought I had prepared myself sufficiently to get through it.

Um, nope.

There were a couple scenes that I had to turn my head away because I knew if I watched them, I would not sleep.

The other theater-goers were scared also - lots of shrieks and nervous laughter. That made the experience all the more fun. Plus, people left the movie halfway through - it was hard to take sometimes.

I did find that watching with your eyes squinted and your fingers in your ears muting the sound was an effective way of dealing with all the boos.

Because it's filmed with a hand-help and told from POV it's constantly compared to the Blair Witch project. I do not stand by that comparison. Have you ever watched those shows on TV where ghost hunters leave a camera on for hours, and then they catch spooky stuff happening that's unexplainable? Well, this is what happens in the movie. And it's pretty good shit.

That said, I am going to now tell you about some of the scariest scenes in case you want to see the movie but don't want to "protect" yourself from a sleepless night.

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1. The Ouija Board - this scene is scary because no one is in the house when it starts to go bonkers. And then catches on fire. The entire theater screamed at this one.

2. Katie standing by the bed looking at her boyfriend for over an hour in the middle of the night. It's just damn creepy, and happens more than once. Because you get to thinking at this point, is it Katie or some demon?

3. Katie being pulled out of bed, legs first, by an invisible force and dragged out of the bedroom. It's one of the weirdest and creepiest things I've ever seen - I think what makes it so creepy is that it looks REAL.

4. The ending - since I had already read about this, I decided not to watch it. Good thing - again, the entire theater jumped out of their pants.

SPOILER ALERT! ALTERNATE ENDING BELOW!!!

Movie Review

Jeez Louise.

Inside surprised me. Completely. It is, by far, the goriest horror movie I've ever seen. It's also a very trippy, atmospheric movie.

The French seldom fail to entertain, and this little gem took gruesome to the limit.

The basic premise is that a widowed woman who's a day away from giving birth to her child is tormented by another woman. Tormented? Too light of a word. From the very first scene to the last, gore abounds. But it's not gratuitous gore.

There were some surprises along the way as well. The music and sound effects created just the right amount of anticipation and dread. There were points where I could not watch - my friend had to tell me what was happening, and then I would turn back to the screen feeling more prepared for what I was about to see.

It was scary, bold but not over the top. It played out in an interesting way - I don't want to give it away, but let me just say that this film makes the ordinary seem very disturbing. If you've seen "The Strangers", the "natural, anticlimactic" violence at the end is peppered throughout this movie. Very surreal.

If you are a horror fan, I would definitely recommend this movie. It's now in my top 10.