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The last time I remember being genuinely scared at a movie was the remake of Dawn of the Dead. I am Legend was pretty tense at parts, but I appreciated the crushing loneliness of the main character more than the occasional jump-and-go-boo frights. Since then, I've been scared by a few video games here and there (damn you, BioShock!) but not movies.
Then Tor.com sent me to see Paranormal Activity. I make a great show of not being totally freaked out by this film in my post over there.
I think it says a lot about a film that I can have it hyped, immediately prior to the screening, by no less than three people, one of whom was a studio suit promising that it was so scary that people walked out of the screening they did when they bought the film after it showed at a festival. I always find that movies that are hyped are never even 1/10th as superlative as promised.
I admit to being wrong with this movie. It was suspenseful and anxiety-inducing for a good hour and a half. I am a horror fan, which means I'm desensitized to a lot of horror movie scares. The Ring? Found it duller than ditch water. Cloverfield made me nauseated, not frightened, and for much the same reason, I found The Blair Witch Project to be an outright snoozer. So color me more surprised than any that this movie got to me. If it gets a wide distribution, I would say it's definitely worth seeing in the theater, the better to appreciate the creeps without distractions around you.
(It might also be better to see with people because they'll freak out and you'll feel superior to them. Until you get home and are laughing hysterically at random noises to make sure that they know that you're not afraid of them. Yes.)
Then Tor.com sent me to see Paranormal Activity. I make a great show of not being totally freaked out by this film in my post over there.
I think it says a lot about a film that I can have it hyped, immediately prior to the screening, by no less than three people, one of whom was a studio suit promising that it was so scary that people walked out of the screening they did when they bought the film after it showed at a festival. I always find that movies that are hyped are never even 1/10th as superlative as promised.
I admit to being wrong with this movie. It was suspenseful and anxiety-inducing for a good hour and a half. I am a horror fan, which means I'm desensitized to a lot of horror movie scares. The Ring? Found it duller than ditch water. Cloverfield made me nauseated, not frightened, and for much the same reason, I found The Blair Witch Project to be an outright snoozer. So color me more surprised than any that this movie got to me. If it gets a wide distribution, I would say it's definitely worth seeing in the theater, the better to appreciate the creeps without distractions around you.
(It might also be better to see with people because they'll freak out and you'll feel superior to them. Until you get home and are laughing hysterically at random noises to make sure that they know that you're not afraid of them. Yes.)
