Media and Pie (with Holly Huffstutler)

I just had a definition of insanity moment and rewatched Paranormal Activity 2, with the expectation of a different result than my reaction to the first viewing and the first movie.

Basically I was all:

....nothing's happening....

....nothings happening....

....these people are really annoying

...oh good, Micah and Katie are here, I've missed his stupid smile and their awful, shrill relationship...

....okay things are happening now, but normal house sounds aren't as scary as they think theyOH GOD WHAT WAS THAT?!.....that one worked...

...the husband is the most oblivious man in the world and everyone will die because of him....

....lots of running around with handheld camera, scary things are going down just out of frame...

....wait, they made a 200 million dollar profit on the first one and they still aren't doing any effects?...

...Really, abandoning the "Reveal nothing, because we have nothing to reveal" ethos wouldn't betray the found footage gimmick at all, the convenietly held camera would just capture whatever CGId ghost was tormenting them, yes?...

...And they end on the comforting reminder that Micah dies. Yay!

My reaction to the first movie (minus the bit about the money they hadn't made yet) was essentially the same. 

In theory I like the notion of a horror film that devotes inself to quietly exploring how people deal with terror (rather than focusing on gore) but in execution its...kinda boring for the majority of the run time. 

I've considered that my failure to be terrified by this movie may be my lack of sympathy with what the characters are facing. Paranormal activity doesn't top my list of knee jerk fears. Then again, I've given no scared thought to demonic possession in my life and I was told that The Exorcist wouldn't bother me unless I was a deeply devout Catholic with a healthy fear of the devil. 

A skilled horror filmaker should be able to make me afraid of anything, maybe especially things I formerly held no fear of. 

I was fairly content to let it stand that this was a franchise that just wasn't for me. And then I let a podcast talk me into thinking that I valued it more than I did. 

As a full time (At last!) cook, who's alone in the kitchen for six to eight hours a day after driving 40 minutes to get to my job, I've come to deeply value the art of the podcast. Like I think I've said here, it's like I found talk radio that I love. 

One of the ones that I loyally listen to is the /Filmcast. They can run a little long, with some eps going over an hour and a half because they address film news in addition to their in depth movie review, but their detail is appreciated, as is their focus on discussing the films thematically, rather than just recapping the plot. 

With my new acquisition of a 160GB Ipod, I can go back to older episodes so I found myself listening to their take on Paranormal Activity 3, and getting a little trapped in the vortex of their opinions rather than remembering my own take on the first two films in this (to me) inexplicably popular series. 

They were very persuasive, convincing me that the minimalism was revolutionary in a minor way and that the mythology of the series was growing admirably. These critics have led me to things I wouldn't have considered seeing, like Hobo with a Shotgun, or gently nudged me into watching movies that had slipped my notice, like Fright Night or Don't Be Afraid of the Dark. I'm also inclined to give the films they discuss the benefit of the doubt, taking their critical example to never reject anything out of hand. They always find something to value and deem distinctive.

For example, I've heard them do 20 minutes on the merits of A Serbian Film, a discussion which led to a brief intention to maybe consider checking that out before I came to my senses and remembered that just reading the Wikipedia entry on that nauseated me. 

And they've almost got me talked into Hostel. Well, them, and the fact that I caught about ten minutes of the sequel and it didn't seem as brutal as I expected. 

So now I'm facing the irksome fact that I feel compelled to watch Paranormal Activity 3; to see the ocillating fan they were raving about in action, to enjoy a bit more Katie/Kristy backstory, to see how they continue to make the constantly rolling cameras plausible (this time the guy is a wedding videographer. So naturally he tapes his children's bedroom at all times?) and to eventually confirm that, yes, I do find this series underwhelming.