Back to the Basics: What makes the Paranormal Activity Movies Scary.

And awesome. LOL. It was a choice between scary or awesome, and I decided that scary was more important in the title. LOL

Anyways.
So, Paranormal Activity was a breakout sensation when it hit theaters in October of 2009. I still remember watching the TRAILER for the first time. I was sitting in the office and when the bed sheet...what is it with these people and bed sheets? (more on that later.) flipped up I genuinely gasped and felt a chill.

I knew right then that I had to see it. I went by myself the first time I saw it and when I drove home I couldn't stop thinking about the ending, the middle, and everything in between. And I will say this, it was the first horror movie I had ever watched that kept me up at night. I think it was three. I couldn't stop picturing Katie just standing there over my bed. Thank goodness Sailor was there. Otherwise I would have gotten 0 sleep. LOL
So it was easy to say that I was super excited to hear about the SECOND movie. I watched the trailer over and over, mainly because there was supposed to be Easter Eggs hidden within it and such. I will warn you, that the second trailer, should you watch it is slightly spoiler-y.

When I saw the second movie, it was a late showing, and I came home to an empty apartment. I didn't go to sleep right away, but that was because I was thinking about it. As far as scary goes, I thought that I had gotten used to the tricks the writers had employed for these types of movies. Because sleep was easy, and I wasn't excited. BUT I thought that it was still a better movie. And that was because I felt it added to the mythology of the first and built a deeper story line, making the first one better. So I was still very happy, and when I heard about the third one, still excited for it.

So I saw Paranormal Activity 3 on Halloween at 10.15 PM. A nice late showing on Halloween night, perfect right?
I didn't know what to expect with this movie. I felt for sure that it was not going to be as freaky, or intense. I had seen the first two a couple of times and felt like I had this in the bag. This was also the first time I went with someone else to see it.
My sister had seen it before me and said it was very scary. So I took that into account, but also know that anything scares her. LOL
And boy, this was the best movie yet. Each movie seems to have a different camera gag, the first was all hand held, kind of a first person experience. The second one had surveillance cameras, more of an omniscient look. We can see everything. The third one, has an oscillating fan. And that was the scariest thing about the movie. I won't go into much detail, but a gag with the classic ghost in a bed sheet won't seem to innocent anymore. PA3 is by far the best movie. I don't know if it was their "huge" 5 million dollar budget, or if they just have this thing down. But I hear there's a 4th one on the way, I'm in!

So why are these movies so scary? When we live in an age of digital effect laden movies and torture porn like Saw and Hostel?
It's really because of the steady and fast rule of KIS. Keep It Simple. And that's just what these writers did.
There is no score in the PA movies. It's silent the whole time. And the most of the freak outs, especially in the third movie, are fake outs. Which heightens the wondering of, if THIS time, it's real. And that builds up the tension faster than the Psycho theme. It's also the first person way of telling the story, it makes you feel like you're in the house with them and experiencing the happenings as well.

It also helps, that so far, every audience I've sat with, has been really great. We all sat there laughing nervously, during the fake outs, talked to the screen. Cried, "OH sh!t!" At the end, and let whoever was whimpering in the back, just whimper. Times like that, can make any movie five times better.

There is one thing about the movies I wished they'd stop doing. And that is putting footage in the trailer, that's not in the movies. But really, that's just griping.

Very little blood. Zero gore, and just a few swear words, because really, I'd be talking the same way in these situations. These movies are almost of the PG-13 level. But give the scares of a well deserved R.
For the adrenaline junky, the ghost story fanatic, and for a yelling-at-the-screen good time. Watch the Paranormal Activity movies. Because I know you'll regret it at night. And here, that's a good thing.