hey all,

I take we have all seen either BLAIR WITCH PROJECT,
CLOVERFIELD or either one (or both) of the PARANORMAL
ACTIVITY films. or maybe we saw all of them. anyway,
they are part of a horror subgenre know as "found
footage". several factors make one of these films.

1. it is shot documentary-style

2. there is a "less is more" approach to telling
the story, making the audience use their imagination
to fill in the blanks

3. it starts with something innocent, like a wedding
or someone showing off their new home, before things
take a turn for the worse.

4. as the title infers, the person or persons
who shoot the documentary winds up either dead
or missing

in fact, when the ending has something like "Katie
disappeared on the night of October 8th, 2008 and
hasn't been seen since (PARANORMAL ACTIVITY)",
that's a pretty good indication the studio is
thinking a sequel. whether the sequel(s) are good
or the movie warrants a sequel in the first place
is irrelevent. the studio feels the audience might
wonder "What happened to Katie?" "Is she alive or
dead?" such is the case of all "found footage" films.
did the person make it? did "pick-your-favorite-evil
entity" survive and is it still out there? I look
forward to hearing from folks about this. TTYL.

Make sense, thanks for sharing this...i want to see paranormal activity 2

I don't care what they call it, it still sucks, Those types of movies are worse than any Roger Corman B movie EVER.

IMHO they show a complete lack of imagination by the writers, horrible acting and an grasp on what a horror movie should be much like Bieber's idea of music.

Quote:

Yeah, don't bother even watching movies like this, instead just go to Wikipedia and read the entire plots online.

The original Blair Witch Project was interesting at the time because it was new and different. Unfortunately, it doesn't hold up well to rewatching -- too much of the movie has basically nothing happening.

I thought Paranormal Activity was a good idea, but with a horrible execution -- unlike Blair Witch, where I could at least believe that the characters were trying their best with the resources and skills they had, PA's characters seemed like idiots. (For example, why keep the camera in the bedroom when you keep hearing noises from downstairs at night? Why not put it downstairs where the noises are to see what's happening? Or, hey, since they could afford to buy a video camera just for this, rent another couple of them and set them up in different places? Idiot boyfriend insists on using the Ouija Board, even after being told it's a bad idea and promising not to. Idiot boyfriend is also completely against getting help, even when they know for sure something is going on. And lastly, since the creature seems to have a physical presence (leaves footprints, etc.) -- CLOSE THE DAMN DOOR AND LOCK IT!)

To add insult to injury, the original ending of PA sounds like it would be much better than the one they used in theaters. Of course, it also didn't leave as much room for a sequel, or go for the "shock scare" of Katie jumping at the camera, which is probably why they changed it....

Cloverfield I liked a lot -- unlike the other two, it actually had a budget, good special effects, and, again, the characters for the most part seemed to be reasonably intelligent (except the guy with the camera, but we're given strong hints that he's pretty much an idiot before the disaster starts). Unlike the other two, I felt it to be worth re-watching.

They have a series on Discovery or Travel or one of those channels called "Lost Tapes" It is based on "real life" found tapes and it is about monsters and sh!t. I find that show interesting and fun to watch because it is only 30 minutes long. (or is it an hour...) If it was any longer it would be unwatchable. I find it funny though that these "lost tapes" are shot from 3 and 4 points of views. Hell, one lost tape was of a girl that disappeared on her boat and it was videoed from a helicopter. HAHA. SOOOOO stupid... but entertaining.

Now as for the movies. Yup... I don't really like them. They have one or two moments that might make you jump... but as a whole they are pretty boring.