So my friend, a grown woman and a hardened horror film goer, a connoisseur of gore, a genuine terror and torment addict, goes to see this movie and comes out so “thrilled” that for two nights afterwards she can’t sleep without the light on.
On the other hand, my teenage daughter goes with a gang of her friends, and I pick them up afterwards in the car expecting them all to be near catatonic with fear only to find them outbidding each other on who was the least scared by the thing.
I’m sure the truth lies somewhere in the middle, and has quite a lot with one’s willingness to indulge the movie makers.
Apart from the usual stuff about it being made for a couple of quid and generating millions, and just how inspirational that is, the one thing I read about the movie that interested me most was a comment in one of the national papers:
“It’s a movie made for a generation who won’t believe anything till they’ve seen it on film”.
Interesting. And scary if that really is the way we are going.
(Sadly, I’ll never know for sure, because I HATE those kind of films, so I won’t see it until 2020 when any chance of it having a real horror effect on my far-too-delicate psyche has long since evaporated…)
If you’re braver than me you can check out the movie yourself from Amazon with this affiliate link:
How To Write A Screenplay
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I found the film thoroughly effective and enjoyable in the theater, everyone freaked out at the right moments and the girl next to me, whom I didn’t even know, kept grabbing my arm and whining about how scary it was. Then watched it the next day with several friends at someone’s house who had a copy. Didn’t work at all. They all left saying it was stupid. My belief is that you have to be completely immersed in this particular film for the spare moments of realistic terror to work. If anyone’s talking, cracking jokes, has a short attention span and starts to fiddle with their phone, then the movie loses it’s entire grip on the viewer. I think that analysis may only apply to this one film. I’ve never had such an experience that was so different from theater to home viewing.
I really appreciate your efforts and I would like to visit your blog more often. I’m an Indian screenwriter. I’ve added your blog to my blogroll; I’d appreciate if you provide me the backlink.
Writing is my hobby and i have just found you blog. Really informative. Thank you.
I saw Paranormal at home in a room full of teens. I laughed through the entire movie. However, that did not affect the terrified ppl in the room. I laughed even harder. But my questions of “Why is she standing over his bed?” And “Oh, Ohs” scared them even more. Some ppl scary easily and others don’t. That’s my conclusion. And they call ME paranoid? LOL