i have a problem with paranormal activity -SPOILERS!!!

[Danny]

So i just watched it and it wasnt too bad, kinda predictable and the type of film forced it to take the route it did to end it, but fun, i'll probably go with some friends if it gets a theatrical release over here, but one thing is bugging me:

THIS COST FIFTEEN FUCKING GRAND TO MAKE?!?

its set in an average house, has few effects, what on earth costed that much? now i LOVE breaking down effects in low budget flicks, and ill admit the woman being pulled out of the bed, then to the right and through a hallway was impressive, as was the Ouija board lighting aflame, neither of those i could rightly figure out. but aside from that i could do the minor effects in after effects or with string. theres no major cgi, no prosthetics or makeup needed outside the little youtube video of the past possesed woman, so what cost this much?
If anyone has seen deadlands you know for only about 10 or 15 g's more, gary'l have to provide the proper number, he gave us varied locals, a massive cast of extras, effects, lots of stuff. this was 4 actors, 5 extras for a few seconds, one house and a single dv camera.

maybe its just the no-budget filmmaker in me used to thinking "well if i use this i can do that for free" or "why get props when i can use my own stuff?", but seriously im perplexed, this was the rough version the director did and paramount wanted him to remake it, so its not advertising or getting it ready for film.
i mean seriously, i know where i could get people who would act for free, i have my own accessible homes and equipment, i honestly think i could have filmed this on £500 or less, but something close to £9000?!? where did all that money go? i mean i know im lucky enough to have been able to get a camera and editing suite during my schooling, but what on this movie could have warranted this production cost. feeding and transporting 9 people?, or royalties for the absence of music?

like i said, probably my mentality given to how i work, but this just seems like a money sink. no doubt he'll get it back but bloody hell fire.

[Mike70]

which version of the movie did you see? the theatrical ending or the original ending where

they go downstairs and after a few moments katie comes back up the stairs covered in blood, holding a knife. she sits at the foot of the bed rocking for like 18 or 20 hours until her friend comes looking for her. we hear her friend calling out their names, then screaming in terror when she finds micah's body. she runs out and like 10-15 mins later the police enter. you can hear them calling out from downstairs, finding the body, etc. they climb the stairs, still identifying themselves as the police and searching as they go. the two cops find katie at the foot of the bed still rocking back and forth, when they ID themselves to her, she stands up and starts rambling about micah. she rushes at the police and they are forced to shoot her. after her body falls and the cops call it in, they start hearing noises from another room, which they go to investigate...fade to credits.

[Danny]

thats the one i saw, though the other 2 seemed a bit better, this one felt like they HAD to do it to make it "found footage"

[clanglee]

The version I saw was the one given away in the credits. Katie gets out of bed and stares at Micha. Then goes downstairs and after a few moment starts screaming. Michah wakes up and rushes downstairs and then begins to scream himself. Then there is a long silence. . then we hear heavy slow footsteps coming up the stairs. Then a long long silence. . .then Micha's body flys from the darkness into the camera, knocking it over. Katie walks in with blood all over her. She gets down on all fours and crawls to Micha's body gives it a sniff and then jumps at the camera(quick cgi morph of her face) screen tells us that Micha's body was found, but Katie's whereabouts are still unknown.

I read about this one which seems nice:

Katie screams downstairs. . . Micha goes to help. . . dies. . . Katie comes back upstairs alone with a knife and cuts her own throat in front of the camera. That ending would have been nice because of the foreshadowing from before when Micha makes a throat slashing move with his knife when he suggests that they would "take care of the problem"

---------- Post added at 08:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:14 PM ----------

I liked the ending I saw tho'. It really showed how micha egged on the demon with his antics. Kind of showed him get his due, not that he really deserved it, but you know. . as far as the demon was concerned.

[mista_mo]

I saw the ending Mike saw (police one) and it was so ridiculously cliche, I early barfed. I want to see the one Clang saw, or the other ending, but the version I saw, ick, what a stupid way to end a decent movie.

Everything was fine until they used the Ouija Board- that just agitated the demon and made the haunting worse. Micah got what he deserved, as he should have heeded the psychics warnings. Even though he was just protecting his home and his girlfriend, it is Godamned silly to agitate an entity as powerful as a demon.

I enjoyed it otherwise, but it wasn't nearly as spooky as as I was lead to believe. Time to watch it again!

[Skippy911sc]

I didn't even know there were different endings...

I saw police one also. I did see a little bit of the other one on the commercial where his body flies through the air into the camera. I don't think it is a spoiler because, well its in the commercial. I was wondering why I did not see that part.

OK movie...nothing special...I think they put the cost of the camera in the total for the amount it took to make. :)

[MoonSylver]

So...with out spoilers, for those of you who have seen multiple versions/endings, which is better & why? Is there a substantial enough difference to hold out for one over the other?:shifty::confused:

[Purge]

*SPOILERS BELOW!*











Just got back from seeing it and it shook me pretty good, especially that ending. There aren't too many horror films that really "scare" me, per se, but this one and the similar Blair Witch did. I especially liked the scenes where Katie just stood staring at Micah for hours on end while he slept. Very clever. The producers did with one $15K film what other directors couldn't achieve with several big-budget clunkers.

[Danny]

see, i enjoyed it, but it failed to scare me at all, even once. I dont think it can be compared to blair for me, as i still find that scary. i think its like john carpenter said "never do a full reveal, the audience can make up something horrifying in there head, the best you can do is show them a muppet", in blair witch we see 3 kids in the woods and its chilling, in pa we see invisible talcum powder footprints made by something invisible, that in the next appearance leaves a shadow below a door frame. they didnt stick tot here own rules, they kept just adding in scary points from other films like poltergeist or signs and uses then just because without regard to the fact they break up the narrative.

[Tricky]

And then new zombie film "colin" reportedly cost £45 to make? makes you wonder why some many films need so much cash!

[Danny]

And then new zombie film "colin" reportedly cost £45 to make? makes you wonder why some many films need so much cash!

best guess is this guy was filming "old school" which means renting everything, the house, the camera, the furniture, which is stupid to people like me who where trained in uni in the new way which is "anybody and there aunt can get a decent camera, use what's at hand, know someone with a house?, use it" ect.

[JDFP]

I liked this movie for the most part. I actually really liked it for the fact that it wasn't another idiot horror film like "Saw" or "Hostel" with all gore and no substance. Blood and guts does not a good horror movie make. I'd give it 4 out of 5 stars. This could have been a great movie, but the actions that Micah take in this film are just not believable to me.

You think if someone realized they had something (ghost, demon) in their house their first thought wouldn't be: "Hey, what all can I do to really piss off this entity???".

My response to Micah for his actions in this movie is this official award:

http://drunkmotherfucker.com/funny/dumbass.gif

j.p.

[clanglee]

Moon, I prefer the theatrical ending. The original ending is just kinda bland and you are left feeling a bit meh.

[Philly_SWAT]

I had wondered the same thing. I immediately assumed after seeing it that the cost of the camera was included in the figure. I read somewhere that the girl got paid $500. Not too bad I guess. I had assumed everyone involved had worked for free. I was impressed with the movie for the record.

[Mr.G]

Not to split hairs but I read on msnbc.com that it cost 11K to make. Still not a lot but 4 grand is four grand. The wife and I saw it last night. Pretty good movie. Reading the alternative endings, I think I would prefer them over the theatrical. Just my two cents.

[bassman]

So I finally saw this flick last night. Blah.:dead: I'm so glad I borrowed it and didn't waste any money on it. The only kinda scary thing was when she was dragged out of the room by her ankle. Other that it was boring as hell.

Anyway, my question is this. How many total endings are there? On the disc I watched it had the "Body throw" ending(labeled as theatrical) and the "Throat" ending, but there was no mention of the "Police" ending?:confused:

[Danny]

So I finally saw this flick last night. Blah.:dead: I'm so glad I borrowed it and didn't waste any money on it. The only kinda scary thing was when she was dragged out of the room by her ankle. Other that it was boring as hell.

Anyway, my question is this. How many total endings are there? On the disc I watched it had the "Body throw" ending(labeled as theatrical) and the "Throat" ending, but there was no mention of the "Police" ending?:confused:

thats all 3 endings.

online i watched the screener with the police shooting her. this was proved unpopular as it implied it was all fake and test audiences hated it.

the second i saw in the theatres was mica being thrown at the camera then an even more irritating demon reveal.

the final throat cut was the original but apparently this was removed when it was being reviewed for distribution and spielburg watched it and recommended the demon ending instead, apparently.


honestly the bootleg with the police ending i saw was the preferred one for me, though the original throat cut ending didn't have its set up edited out, portions like mica playing with the knife and talking about the demon killing him are wasted time without the original ending.
The demon one i saw in the cinema was fucking bullshit cookie cutter crap, simple as.

[bassman]

online i watched the screener with the police shooting her. this was proved unpopular as it implied it was all fake and test audiences hated it.

I wonder why they left this off the dvd release? This sounds like it could have been better than the two endings included, but I'll take your word for it that it's not.



the second i saw in the theatres was mica being thrown at the camera then an even more irritating demon reveal.

Telll me about it. The body throwing thing was a nice touch as I didn't see it coming, but the demon face transformation was horrible...


the final throat cut was the original but apparently this was removed when it was being reviewed for distribution and spielburg watched it and recommended the demon ending instead, apparently.


Thus further giving credence to the theory that Spielberg could be slipping in his old age. :stunned: