Paranormal Activity (2-Disc Digital Copy Edition) [Blu-ray]

One scary movie! This movie scared the heck out of me. It's not for those who enjoy seeing movies such as "Saw" where bodies are mutilated, (not scary just very disturbing). But if less is more, this is the movie for you. It taps into fears I think we all have, ...

Format : AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen Publisher : Paramount Company : Paramount List Price: $39.99 Our Price: $17.20 You Save: $22.79 (57%) Used Price : $8.99

Description

This intense edge-of-your seat horror film follows a young suburban couple who record the sinister disturbances in their home while they sleep– even as the domestic haunting becomes more frequent, more threatening and all too personal. Hypnotic and harrowing, Paranormal Activity uniquely delivers frightful suspense punctuated by moments of sudden and unexpected terror, all the way to the shocking ending.

Featuring a version not shown in theaters with an exclusive alternate ending, Paranormal Activity is the one supernatural thriller Blu-ray to own that plays on your most primal fears, and guarantees you’ll need to sleep with the lights on.

Amazon.com

Like The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity is an impressive and harrowing indie chiller that derives much of its terror--and there is quite a bit of that in its brief running time--by playing on the most basic of human fears: that which cannot be seen. Though one might assume that the point-of-view aesthetic had been worn out thanks to Cloverfield and Quarantine (and, lest one forgets, Blair Witch), Paranormal makes excellent use of the single-camera technique, which helps to not only preserve the film's central conceit--a new-minted couple records the increasingly threatening supernatural phenomena that have invaded their home on a camcorder--but underscore the realism needed to drive home the low-fi (if completely persuasive) special effects. The approach is also crucial to the film's suspense, which unfolds in long, largely broken takes to nerve-rattling effect. Not every horror fan--or moviegoer--will fall for the film's spook-show approach. Those that found Blair Witch's less-is-more approach aggravating will feel the same way about Paranormal, but the sleight of hand exhibited by first-time director Oren Peli, and assisted by his two leads, relative newcomers Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat, should provide adventurous viewers with fresher and stronger scares than anything from Hollywood in recent years. --Paul Gaita

SimilarProduct

• The Haunting in Connecticut [Blu-ray]
• The Fourth Kind [Blu-ray]
• Orphan [Blu-ray]
• Quarantine (+ BD Live) [Blu-ray]
• Jennifer's Body (+ Digital Copy) [Blu-ray]

Customer reviews

One scary movie! by .. Christina Antolos ()
This movie scared the heck out of me. It's not for those who enjoy seeing movies such as "Saw" where bodies are mutilated, (not scary just very disturbing). But if less is more, this is the movie for you. It taps into fears I think we all have, without using gore. Subtle, yet more than able to send many chills up ones spine. Couldn't sleep the night I saw it, and two months later STILL can't stick my foot out from under the covers.

Paranormal Activity by .. Jason C. Wilkerson (Green Bay, WI)
Low budget indie films have been a good way for amateur filmmakers to break out for a long time. Kevin Smith broke out with a black and white movie made for $67,000 called Clerks; El Mariachi, made for only $7,000, turned Robert Rodriguez into a big name rebel director in the 90's. Horror is a harder medium to make it in the low budget arena. A field dominated by gory and effects driven movies these days, horror saw a megahit in 1999's Blair Witch Project. Made for only $11,000, Blair Witch Project has often been duplicated, but the success was never repeated. Here we are, 10 years later, and a new phenomenon has come around with Paranormal Activity, a movie that doesn't try to be Blair Witch, but exceeds expectations. Made also for only $11,000, Paranormal Activity has made a huge splash in the mainstream breaking records in the process (in it's first weekend it broke $7 million in only 200 theaters), but is it really worth all the fuss?

After a series of "supernatural" events have happened in their house, Micah, decides to get a video camera to substantiate their claims of a haunting. Katie (who's engaged to be engaged to Micah) has had these supernatural events happen to her since she was 8, she wants them to stop, and while she's not entirely comfortable with Micah recording the events, she goes along with it. They meet with a psychic who feels they're dealing with a demon and suggests a demonologist to help them take care of their problem. Micah doesn't take it seriously, and believes they can get rid of their visitor without outside help. Despite Katie's warnings and worry, Micah keeps trying to provoke the entity. Tensions build, tempers flare, and the paranormal activity gets more intense till it finally reaches the breaking point.

Originally bought by Paramount with the intention of owning the rights to remake the movie with a better budget and bigger names, Paranormal Activity fares better without the higher production values of a big budget film. Shot with one handheld camera and without a score, the movie feels completely real. The use of unknown actors also gives the film a more authentic feel, and it helps that they don't really feel like they're acting as well. As each day unfolds, we find ourselves prisoners in the house, which adds to the claustrophobic feel of the movie. We learn every nook and cranny of the house, so we notice the moving shadows, and the changes that occur all the more later on in the film.

All in all, Paranormal Activity is a very well done horror film, stripping away many of the conventions we see in horror film, relying on real scares rather than gore or music cues to instill a sense of tension and fear in the audience. I highly recommend seeing this in theaters if you have the opportunity, the atmosphere of seeing this with others really helps with adding fear to the proceedings as large groups intensify the feeling among those in the group. For those of you planning on taking the children, there is foul language, but on top of that the film does start off slowly and the more nuanced scenes may be lost on a younger audience. Definitely give this film as a chance as it is worth the hype, even if only for the last scene of the movie!

5/5

Scary as hell! by .. MovieGal22 (California, USA)
"Paranormal Activity" stands out as one of the scariest movies in the modern era of horror films. Working from the premise that there are no fresh ideas or approaches, merely new combinations of old ideas and approaches, PA combines the principal elements of such supernatural horrors as "Poltergeist" and "The Ring" with the faux documentary approach of the awful "Blair Witch Project". The story about a young woman repeatedly plagued by an unseen force might have been mundane if shot as a straight-forward horror story, but the eye of the camera, which serves essentially as a third character throughout, brings a verisimilitude to the proceedings that most genre offerings sorely lack. We hardly notice as the wide angle lens capturing the young couple asleep (our most vulnerable state) slowly becomes the eye of the demon itself.

Nonetheless, it is the fundamental strength of craft here that makes the film work. Note the sound design and how the filmmakers utilize basic elements like drones and room tone to create a palate of dread - or the shot composition. The director adroitly stages the shot of the bedroom and opened door, expertly placing the door, hallway and staircase (each location being one that we might anticipate movement of some sort) on the upper left, creating maximum tension and drawing our interest. Putting the clock on the lower right makes it difficult to determine where our line of site should focus.

The film is not without its flaws. The blasé attitude of the boyfriend is completely unrealistic, as is the notion that the "paranormal activity", most notably the Ouija board scene, wouldn't send the couple screaming to the nearest church. But the fact that these incongruities fail to undercut the film speaks to the overall strength of the piece.

Lastly, PA should serve as a source of inspiration to all prospective filmmakers, for a number of reasons. First, the alternate cuts of the film - particularly a version of the ending available online - demonstrate that PA benefited from a good amount of post-production tweaking. The alternate ending is every bit as cheesy and abrupt as the theatrical ending is chilling. The vast improvement of the final cut demonstrates how liquid cinema may be - how a capable filmmaker still undergoes trial and error before nailing it. Further, young directors struggling to accumulate a budget might take note that the film cost next to nothing (11k-15k) and was shot entirely on one location with a pro-sumer camcorder. It serves as proof that a strong concept super-cedes robust production resources anytime.

Understand how to view the film first then be prepare to be scared by .. stolenskys (PA)
After see this film i could easily say without a doubt
i was never more scared by a movie in my life.

I think mixed opinion is made on this movie
however i am writing to clarify a few misconceptions so many people made that possibly made them think the film was terrible

1. This was NOT A HORROR FILM
it was never categorized as one and did not need special effects or gore, the film was if you need to categorize it
more so a mockumentary of sorts
as the characters are regular people just like you or i
they werent going to save the world or battle some undead zombie
because it was supposed to feel like they were regular people
and i very much doubt in alot of your own lives you battle zombies and save the world each day.

2.They intentionaly didnt have a script
this is something i see alot of people complainig about how there wasnt a seemingly made script, and the director said so himself he didnt want one
reasons being
that, for 1, while this film was originaly made just for a low budget film festival, the success of it plotted it to be taken to big time theaters, hence the kids had no idea this would be seen worlwide and become what is it today
also, not having a script works better at believing the characters are more realistic and seemingly are just a couple who moved into a new home, just like many of us are and do these days.

they were made to resemble people just like us
not super heroes
the entire point and concept of the film was to make you believe you werent watching a film, but more so a recording a couple made of events in their home, that they had no intention of showing the whole world to.
or just like if you or your own friends went ghost hunting and filmed your experiences.


3.Childhood fears
a huge misconception in this film is that this is supposed to be some over the top special effects monster that walks into the house and jsut causes hell. No that was never the case, in fact the director
if you look on wikipedia has said that he wanted to make a film
about the childhood fears all of us have had about
the dark
creaking sounds in the night you hear when it is really late and everyone else is asleep

and all the images our imaginations ran with as a child of what is hiding in our closet, under our bed or in the dark in general

4. what happens when you are asleep
fact is NOBODY KNOWS despite what you say
no one really does know
this film is taking the camera and making you see everything that could happen when you are asleep and esentialy making you believe that all the stuff you feared as a kid in the dark
is indeed very REAL

5.Its all in what you believe spiritualy
many people on here are saying the characters are stupid
and didnt get help if all that stuff was happening
well fact is the psychic said so himself that no matter where the girl goes it will follow her. This film can be put in the category of similar films like the exorcist or the exorcism of emily rose
as it is dealing with spiritual forces we can not see
can not fight with our fists and most of all cant just not believe they are there, i think until either creationism or evolution is finaly considered to be the one true theory, then the world will never trully know of what lies beyond this world, i believe there are spirits in the world, some good some bad, we cant choose which ones pick us much like the fate of the girl katie in the film.

so basicaly if you are an athiest who doesnt believe in any afterlife or spiritual forms then you probably will find this movie a bore.

6. Let down your guard of " i know how this is done" and view the film with the openness and wonder you had as a child

Yes obvioulsy this was just a film and mika and katie are on ET cover now, but thats beside the point the point of this entire film
is to let down your guard of how you think you know everything
and get a glimpse at the possiblity that everything you ever feared about being alone in the dark and monsters under your bed
COULD BE TRUE.

please if you see this film with an open mind i promise you will be scared out of your mind

Great Movie by .. Nicholas A. Gina ()
Paranormal Activity is a movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat. If you keep an open mind about this movie it will really scare you to the point where you think there are demons and spirits all around you.