Title:  Paranormal Activity (2007)

Genre:  Horror, Drama, Not so bad after all

Summary: After moving into a suburban home, a couple becomes increasingly disturbed by a nightly demonic presence. (from IMDB)

Yes.  The film is over ten years old, but I wanted to include some of the horror movies that made a splash in more recent times. Also, I rather liked Paranormal Activity. It’s a charming little film that doles out the scares just enough to keep the you interested.  There are two main characters, Katie and Micah, a couple who have a cute little home except for the issue of what may or may not be an issue with haunting.

The film is shot in POV style, which is a fancy way of saying one of the characters has a camera and makes it their business to film any and everything thing.  In this case, it goes with the plot, since Katie and Micah want to see what’s happening while they’re asleep.

I won’t give away the movie on the off chance that you haven’t seen it by now, but suffice it to say I did enjoy this movie, although I feel the characters made some questionable choices.  I also felt that Micah was kind of a jerk at some points, as he deliberately went against Katie’s wishes in a few instances. And I think that in doing that, he was the cause of the final events.  

But if he followed all the rules, there wouldn’t be a movie, now would there?

I’d also like to note that I’ve seen both endings, and personally, I can see the value in both. I can also see why they did the modified ending, to open up that sequel door!

I recommend Paranormal Activity, if you haven’t seen it already.  It’s worth it to see what all the fuss was about.

Grade:  B

Title:  The Bye Bye Man

Genre:  Horror, Drama, it wasn’t terrible…..

Summary: Three friends stumble upon the horrific origins of a mysterious figure they discover is the root cause of the evil behind unspeakable acts. (from IMDB)

There’s an old song, from the seventies, that says, “Where do I begin/To tell the story of how sweet a love can be?”

In this case, I would change the words to: Where do I begin/to tell the story of how crap this film it be?

The movie begins in what looks like the 1960s where some dude with glasses is walking around with a shotgun chanting “Don’t think it, don’t say it” and systematically shooting everyone in his house and finally himself.  Okay. That’s fine. It is a horror, after all.

Fast forward to the present time, and the good ol’ pack of those kind of young folks that you see in horror all the time characterize themselves for the viewer.  Hopefully, this briefest of character sketches will make us feel sorry for them when things go woefully wrong. Spoiler alert: I’m just here for the Bye Bye Man. Also, I see you black dude!

There are several good things about the movie.  The atmosphere is appropriately creepy and foreboding.  The dark cinematography, even over the daytime scenes, give you a feeling that anything can happen at any time.  There are some jump scares that are kind of effective and the monster/killer itself gives off a type of Freddy Krueger vibe.

That being said, the film did not quite make it for me.  It wasn’t that the film was so bad, in fact, it had an interesting premise and the actors (for the most part) were adequate.  It just felt like something was missing. They seemed to be playing fast and loose with the plot, which made some of the reasoning behind characters’ motivations hard to follow.

All in all, I won’t turn you away from seeing this movie.  As I said, the premise was intriguing and parts of the movie were effective.  Go into this with the thought you’re just going to have fun, and you will.

Grade:  B-