Happy Halloween everyone!

So, have you seen Paranormal Activity 2 yet? Did you like it? I've seen it 3 times! That's highly unusual for me-to see a modern day horror film 3x.  Usually, once is MORE than enough!  Horror films have been lame for quite a while.  It's all blaring, bombastic stings reminding you TO BE REALLY SCARED CAUSE THE MUSIC'S PLAYING REALLY REALLY LOUD!  Pshhhh!  Instead of tension we have MTV on crack quick cuts and instead of horror-well, we have plenty of blood and guts splashing the screen.

The Paranormal Activity movies are a breath of fresh air in the horror movie genre. It ramps up the tension and disquiet in every "thump" and every creaking door.  Paranormal Activity plays on the audiences own fears and imagination to make it many times more frightening than the usual hack/slash/BOO! tripe that we've been exposed to for a good many years now.

I'm sure that they'll wring every bit of originality and creativity out of Paranormal Activity by the time we get to Part V, but such is the beast known as Hollywood.

I've heard a lot of teens say that Paranormal Activity and it's sequel are two of the scariest movies they've ever seen. I don't know about that...but I do know that we're constantly forgetting and then remembering and forgetting again what cinematically speaks to our inner fears. For instance, go back and watch Robert Wise's THE HAUNTING. It's basically the Camelot version of Paranormal Activity.  The characters actually have, you know-PERSONALITY-and are believable as real, living breathing people.   The movie unfolds in a leisurely pace, setting mood and tension and motivation and then the viewers nerves are put on the rack and stretched to the breaking point. But time passes and movie makers slowly forget what REALLY works and what doesn't due to the ever present need to capitalize and squeeze every single dollar out of a creative concept.  Cue Friday the 13th Pt. VIII, you know? Halloween 27, Saw 7 (SEVEN!!??)

The Horror genre is definitely big enough for all types and flavors, but no matter the current in-vogue flavor, the underpinnings of tension, suspense, drama, fear, dread, and character motivation still needs to be there for a film to be truly thrilling, scary, and horrific.