My 3 year old nephew cries at America’s Funniest Home videos. “Uh…Why do I care?” you say. I’ll tell you why. Because I just went to see Paranormal Activity. People really freaked out. I mean seriously, there was this girl on my row that I thought we were going to have to call an ambulance for. I was pretty sure she was going to have a heart attack.
Something that looks like home video now seems more real than something with higher production value. Everybody alive now has at least a passing experience with home movies. That is what made Paranormal Activity (not to mention The Blair Witch Project) so. Freaking. Scary (I mean, to everybody but me, I didn’t get scared….I promise…I did not almost break my fiance’s hand holding it to tightly….seriously….).
Going back to my 3 year old nephew. He loves Transformers 1 and 2. Which has some violence. He laughs and claps, he loves it. But one kick to the nuts on America’s funniest home videos sends him into hysterics. He knows the difference between Hollywood violence and real hijinks that can cause pain.
Which is how a movie made with $11,000, beat Saw IV for the opening weekend. Goodbye torture films, hello, low budget horror! Next up is “The Fourth Kind” starring Mila Jovo…Jovovich? (Crazy ass Eastern European names) These movies break all kind of filmmaking rules, break the fourth wall and address the camera, ideas about resolution and payoff go right out the window. No real script to speak of. All of these things lend a certain amount of realism to the picture that sends audience members screaming from the theater. And I love it.
So if you are looking for a good scare this Halloween season, Paranormal Activity is the way to go, or just wait for the next few low budget horror films the studios will be buying up over the next year. As far as cultural memes go, I am on board with this one. I mean hey, it’s better than vampires.

2 comments:
I think it is Saw VI...
It will be interesting to see if movies take on a different form of reality. Hopefully it just doesn't turn into News report turned movie (not saying anything bad about quarantine, which is exactly that...) MOVIES!
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