Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Paranormal Activity

There's a lot of talk going on these days about this new scary movie in theaters, called Paranormal Activity. I had heard about it from a friend last month and saw the trailer (also embedded below), and found it quite intriguing. The movie then was playing only in select theaters and the closest place from my home was a good 40-50 mins away and the only show was at midnight. I didn't really wanna go see it because frankly I thought it wouldn't be worth the trip. Fortunately, on my recent trip to Seattle to visit family and friends, I was able to finally see this movie and absolutely loved it!

Ok first off, I know the movie has a lot of mixes reviews and people don't think it's THAT scary blah blah. But I really really liked it despite all of its obvious flaws (whether it was the acting, the handheld camera or whatever) . The reason I like it so much is the creepiness factor, which can scare the shit out of you (to put it mildly). And another strong reason why I was able to connect with the movie instantly was the fact that I have experienced some paranormal activity before and firmly believe that this sort of stuff exists (although, not to the extent depicted in the movie). Some of my friends (who thought the movie was terrible) say none of this is possible, that ghosts etc. do not exist and that it is human psychology to justify seemingly unexplainable phenomenon as paranormal. Also, they deny it on the basis of science for e.g., nothing can cast a shadow without being visible etc. etc. You get the point. My argument is simple: Science does not explain everything, and it never will. There are things (and forces) at work in this world which are beyond our control and there can be instances when we come across such phenomenon when we somehow interact or come across those forces, although admittedly it is very rare.

Also from a religious standpoint, we KNOW that there are other forms of life on this planet. Be they be the Djin, ghosts, or some other evil entity, it is believed that they exist. Since the connection to religion is inevitable, this gives agnostic people another reason to deny the existence of these things citing that there is no proof, scientific or otherwise (sightings etc.).

Oh well, it is a long debate and I'd rather not talk about this stuff too much. Here is the trailer for this movie. If you haven't seen this movie, I suggest you go see it asap! Oh, and good luck sleeping after that! :)



6 comments:

Ali said...

>> the fact that I have experienced some paranormal activity before and firmly believe that this sort of stuff exists

hey that sounds like plot for another detailed post :P .. do write about it sometime.

Unknown said...

I'd like to but I don't think a blog is the best place for that. Not ready to publicly disclose that stuff in detail.

Ayesha said...

It was scary. Horrified me. What else is needed? :D Usually filmmakers try to enhance the element of horror through sound effects but here the filming technique did the trick because in my mind through out the movie I was thinking that looks so damn real.

Luckily, I've never experience any paranormal activity but I do believe it exists to an extent.

Unknown said...

@Ayesha
Yes, it was original in that sense wasn't it? There was no blood, no gore yet the suspense was enthralling.

The movie also suffers from being over-hyped. People (me included) recommend it to others saying that is really really good and then those people go in with HIGH expectations only to find that the movie was OK and NOT THAT SCARY. Too bad. Sorry for ruining it for you guys :P

Saadia said...

Your friends didn't like it because they thought it wasn't realistic? Is that an argument? There is reality and then, there is fiction. I thought Paranormal Activity rescued the sinking boat of the typical obsession with exorcism in the horror genre.

Unknown said...

@Saadia
Well, that was one of their arguments. They claimed they weren't scared one bit

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