Saturday Matinee #13

Audiobook Reviews from Audiobook-Heaven
Presents Saturday Matinee

-----Movie Review #1-----

Title: Paranormal Activity
Starring: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat
Narrator: Roland Biend
Running time: 86 minutes
Released in: 2009
Genre: horror
Filed in: Movie reviews

Young couple Katie and Micah have just moved into their new home in suburban San Diego, and they are not alone. There is a presence in this house; one that Katie has felt in her life since early childhood. Wanting only to be rid of the ghostly visitor, Katie and Micah hire a psychic who comes to their house and quickly proclaims that this is no mere haunting, but a demonic presence. The psychic refers them to a demonologist and warns them not to taunt or try to communicate with the demon. Micah, not really believing in such things, sets up a camera in the house to try to catch the demon in the act. Night by night, the disturbances escalate to a dangerous level, and still Micah will not heed the psychic’s warning.
Paranormal Activity is an amateur film done in the style of The Blair Witch Project. No fancy sets, no music, and no all-star cast, the film was produced with a budget of $15,000. At the box office, it grossed more than $193 million. Only in America.
Following the premise of the film, all of the shooting was done with a home video camera, and is presented in documentary style. The lack of special effects and background music makes the story seem more realistic and it is very creepy. It’s even creepier because at the beginning there is a message proclaiming, “Paramount Pictures would like to thank the families of Micah Sloat and Katie Featherston, and the San Diego Police”, and you spend the entire film wondering what’s going to happen to them.
I liked Paranormal Activity a lot. Don’t be put off because I mentioned The Blair Witch Project, this was way better.

-----Movie Review #2-----

Title: Paranormal Activity 2
Starring: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat
Narrator: Sam clark
Running time: 91 minutes
Released in: 2010
Genre: horror
Filed in: Movie reviews

Paranormal Activity 2 is a prequel to the first film, and fills in a space of several weeks before the events of that film.
Unexplainable phenomena begin to occur at the home of Kristi and Dan, and seems to be centered on their infant son, Hunter. Kristi is the sister of Katie from the first film, and in one scene they discuss the ghostly events they both witnessed as children. After some internet research, it is discovered that if a human strikes a deal with a demon, the price is often the first-born son. Kristi and Katie discuss the possibility of their grandmother striking such a deal, and they then realize that Hunter is the first male born into the family for several generations.
Blah, blah, blah. This movie wasn’t as good as the first. This was one of those cases where the story was good and they should have left it alone. Using some of the vast fortune they earned on the first film, they spent $3 million on this prequel. That did provide for some better special effects, but the story just wasn’t there. The film grossed $176 million, so I guess I’m in the minority here.

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Movie reviews by Steven Brandt.
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