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  #61 (permalink)  
Old 11-08-2009
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Paranormal Insomnia

Scary? Yes, to me it absolutely was, but just like you can't please everyone all the time, and like one man's junk is another man's treasure... all horror movies are not going to scare everyone!

Don't bother reading the rest.

It's just something I wrote during the night after I watched the movie when I could not sleep. I kind of had it in mind that I would post it on the review section of the theater where I saw the movie. I attempted to, but it turned out they have a character limit of 2000. I tried unsuccessfully to register at a few other forums before this one. I landed here I suppose. I have never posted on a forum before. It has crossed my mind many times to just not bother sharing it at all, or to post it on my blog that no one reads, but I wrote it with the intent to have it appear somewhere more public... so whatever...

Yes, this post is abnormally long, and it's more like an irrelevant short story than a forum post, and I give things away about the movie near the end. I'm just over-tired at the moment, and feeling rather ridiculous for losing a night's sleep over a movie!! But I've made myself feel a little better by visiting several theater sites where this movie is now playing. I have been reading people's thoughts of their Paranormal movie going experience... about half say it scared them quite badly, and the other half think it was a completely useless waste of time and money, good marketing but that's it, don't bother watching, Blair Witch clone, can't believe I got sucked into the hype, anyone that is scared watching it is stupid, or likely scared of their own shadow, chickens!... etc, etc. It has made me think about it all in general terms... about how it has nothing to do with the acting, the story, or anything else within the movie... how it's something inside of the watcher that makes it seem scary. I've been pondering and writing about it all night.

Through pondering it like this, while waiting for the sun to rise, I've concluded that, for me anyway, my reaction to this movie goes way back to when I was quite young, certainly less than 10 years old. My parents dragged me to a back road corn roast drunk-fest party thing, and the hosts of the gathering had a story to tell after the bonfire had burned itself out, and the dampness of the night had moved the few remaining guests indoors. They sat around the kitchen table smoking cigarettes, sipping enough booze to keep the hangovers at bay, with the lights dimmed, and music playing softly. Most of the children were exhausted and sleeping on any available piece of furniture. I, though equally exhausted, had remained awake and hovering around mother and the other adults, got to hear about their experience of using an Ouija board. About how they made contact with a deceased woman on it. Said that the dog was in the house and it had started barking at a wall and then was jumping at something all the way across the living room over to where they were sitting... and then at the same time it abruptly stopped barking the planchette began to move around the board as though an unseen fingertip was dragging it. They said the spirit had spelled out her name for them, among other things, and that they went to the graveyard down the road the next day and found an old weather worn grave marker with the same name on it. Then, as though that wasn't weird and disturbing enough for my fragile child mind, I recall seeing a documentary just days after on television about a kid they said had become possessed by a demon from using an Ouija board by himself. I recall images of this kid in his pj's floating up the walls and around the ceiling of his brightly lit bedroom, hair messy and face all twisted in a weird evil grimace. That doc, and the story at the party were likely completely fabricated... but at that age I was totally convinced, and utterly terrified by it!! I had to sleep with the light on, and couldn't go to sleep without the clock radio playing for MONTHS. I think that experience has stuck with me over the years, and it surfaces from time to time, mostly just momentary flashes that pass as quickly as they arise, but it seems to come all the way to the surface and lingers there for awhile when I experience something like this movie.

What's really weird about it to me now is that all through the movie I was thinking about how ridiculous the entire experience was. At the same time that I was near shaking with fear while it was playing I was also thinking about how it is just light passing through images on film onto a big white screen, about how the actors were not even reacting like people really would in a situation like that. How the acting was bad, and the movie was actually repetitive and boring nonsense... ((( spoiler begin ))) like things moving on their own, noises with no visible source, moving shadows, something bursting into flames, people sleeping in fast forward and then arguing all day and then going to sleep again. But still, despite all those internal negative valid arguments against the movie, there was something about that girl getting out of bed moving strangely, and acting all weird and trance like, and then later on being pulled from bed and down the hall by her ankle, by something invisible, screaming. ((( spoiler end ))) It just triggered a feeling that is totally, irrationally horrifying, and it is like those images and that feeling are on continuous loop in my mind!! But I suppose that's the point of going to a horror movie... to be horrified! I should be pleased that I got my money's worth, and that I got an opportunity to dig up and examine some weird psychological trauma from my childhood that adults and television inadvertently inflicted upon me. But anyway... I've rambled on. Hope I've made some kind of point.... or something
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  #62 (permalink)  
Old 11-08-2009
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good points, maybe in need of edit but appreciated.
it's just that there are radio shows (the old dinosaurs that they are) like coasttocoastam.com (not a spammy thing, just like the show) that do it just as well or better with live audio crackpot stories that scare me to sleeplessness with similar tales. eg one theme night called ghost to ghost come crazy kid calls up talking about a 5 ft spirit ghost hand that went around the house moving furniture. just this big ol' hand. silliest crap ever but the way they told it i was freaked out. just listening.
as you said "the actors were not even reacting like people really would in a situation like that"
& i think although i could believe in that sort of thing numpty micha just freaking ruined it.
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  #63 (permalink)  
Old 11-09-2009
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thedeparted View Post
I just got from going to see this movie, and I'm just too tired to type out all of my feelings, but I can't hold myself back from letting everybody here know that I feel like I just wasted $25 for nothing...anybody else see this and agree? I'll let everybody know all my feelings tomorrow.
i feel the same way buddy..it seems like a bad porno,what i really hated most is the shaky camera...it pissed me off
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  #64 (permalink)  
Old 11-18-2009
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Originally Posted by talkingfilms View Post
i feel the same way buddy..it seems like a bad porno,what i really hated most is the shaky camera...it pissed me off
There was almost no shaky camera in the film. Even when they were holding it it was relatively static.
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  #65 (permalink)  
Old 11-18-2009
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Originally Posted by auslander View Post
I recall seeing a documentary just days after on television about a kid they said had become possessed by a demon from using an Ouija board by himself. I recall images of this kid in his pj's floating up the walls and around the ceiling of his brightly lit bedroom, hair messy and face all twisted in a weird evil grimace.
So you're saying they actually documented these images on film? That's something I'd like to see. Mm-hmm.

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Originally Posted by bjornfjordnord View Post
There was almost no shaky camera in the film. Even when they were holding it it was relatively static.
I have to disagree. That dude holding the camera was starting to piss me off because he shook it so damn much when he was just standing for. Luckily for the most part, the video was sitting stationary when the freaky stuff started to happen.
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Old 11-19-2009
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Originally Posted by Escape View Post
I have to disagree. That dude holding the camera was starting to piss me off because he shook it so damn much when he was just standing for.
LOL. Yeah, was so shaky at certain points that I got the impression the guy was secretly jacking off with the other hand.
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  #67 (permalink)  
Old 11-19-2009
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Originally Posted by Deaf_Null View Post
LOL. Yeah, was so shaky at certain points that I got the impression the guy was secretly jacking off with the other hand.
lol, the guy was an idgit. Maybe the weight of that gigantic camera was too much to handle lol.
Seriously, I have a video camera and I don't shake it quite like that. It's like they want reality in these types of movies but then go overboard with it which makes it less real.
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Old 11-19-2009
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^ hehehe Yes, and usually shake at points that are hard to believe a person would shake at those moments. I have to compare with Danish Dogme95 style movies though, they are genuine when it comes to this type of filming.

I saw the 2nd ending (the one that is shown in all the theatres now) btw, that one scared me a bit though, beter than the one I saw.
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  #69 (permalink)  
Old 11-20-2009
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bjornfjordnord View Post
There was almost no shaky camera in the film. Even when they were holding it it was relatively static.
have you watched the movie?
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Old 11-20-2009
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Originally Posted by Deaf_Null View Post
^ hehehe Yes, and usually shake at points that are hard to believe a person would shake at those moments. I have to compare with Danish Dogme95 style movies though, they are genuine when it comes to this type of filming.
In one part of this movie, you can see him actually in the mirror of the bathroom I believe was the place, and the camera was moving quite a bit but the reflection showed him to look pretty still. So that looked a bit weird.

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I saw the 2nd ending (the one that is shown in all the theatres now) btw, that one scared me a bit though, better than the one I saw.
Yeah they give off two entirely different emotions to the viewer. I'd be very happy though, to see the DVD have both endings with an option of choosing which one you're in the mood for.
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