Para Normal Activity.

What did you see over the weekend? Care to share?

The only movie I managed to catch, on a total whim, was the original Paranormal Activity on Instant Watch just as the new one was packing them in at the box office. Hey, I've never claimed to be current with horror. I am totally not that guy. So here I am talking about a year after its sell-by date! I'm not in the now. I am beyond time.

See, even when I do catch horror movies in the theater (rarely) I tend to wait until I feel like I have to see it (due to overwhelming acclaim or whatnot) and thus I get there at the tail end of the run when it's already "over."... like The Descent. I had the theater to myself for that one which is C-R-E-E-P-Y.

I am easily scared but despite a few really good jolts, a pleasingly low-fi approach and that super creepy repeat scene of the girlfriend standing by the bed for hours on end in the middle of the night, Paranormal didn't really get to me. I had no trouble sleeping afterwards. Maybe it was the now ancient and probably nostalgia-boosted memories of The Blair Witch Project (which I saw in a huge cavernous freezing cold theater late at night) that spoiled the experience by comparison or maybe it was the lack of a theatrical crowd to heighten the fear by proximity. But I also think I just had trouble suspending disbelief. People being scared and making stupid decisions in the middle of the woods feels plausible to me. I too would lose my mind. But in the suburbs? I would totally always be having people over or I would just not be hanging out around my house and I sure as hell wouldn't stay in the house when there are so many other options of places to be.

Were you part of the huge box office haul for Paranormal Activity 2? I was reading the box office reports and thinking oh here we go again. When is this genre going to slow down? Most genres are cyclical but horror has been going strong for an awful lot of years now. This bit in the report is annoying

The sequel to last year's ultra-low budget viral blockbuster opened to a surprisingly strong $41.5 million at theaters in the U.S. and Canada this weekend, demonstrating that fans are willing to come to a studio-produced quickie follow-up to an indie hit if it's done well.

Correct me if I'm wrong but when people actually pay tickets for a franchise movie on opening weekend -- totally normal behavior -- it has nothing to with "if it's done well." No one knows that it is. Opening weekend purchases are an act of faith, not a reward for quality.

Pet peeve. Had to get that out.

I understand that Paranormal Activity 2 takes place concurrently with this one? So it's neither a prequel nor a traditional sequel... so what's the word for that? We need a new word. "Equel"?
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