Paranormal Activity and Why I Don't Bother with the Horror Genre

So Andrea wanted to do something Halloweenish for Halloween and what's more Halloweenish than watching a scary movie on Halloween night? For the most part I don't really watch Halloween movies. Don't get me wrong, I love gore, but I find it silly to watch something that does nothing but startle you. There's a difference between fear and being startled. I'm sure that there are pretty cool horror movies that focus on story and gore, and not just doing the monster closet thing, but I just don't bother searching through all the crap.

Anyway, watching Paranormal Activity had to be one of the funnest movie experiences I've had this year. Not the funnest, but I really enjoyed myself. The whole premise of the movie is that some smart ass thought it would be awesome to document via video camera the demon spirit that has been haunting his current girlfriend since she was a kid. Every night he sets up a camera in their bedroom before they go to sleep, and while they sleep all this funny ass shit happens. Lights turn on and off, doors open and close. It gets progressively worse, and I don't want to spoil too much but I really just started laughing my ass off as the movie got closer to the end. Maybe I'll talk more about my favorite part in the next podcast, but I won't spoil it here. The male protagonist continues to taunt this demon by demanding it show itself, by buying a Ouija board to try to communicate with it, and in the end he learns his lesson. Don't fuck with demons.

The whole idea that people in the theater around me, including Andrea, was buying into this shit was ridiculous. It was hard not to get invested I guess because the two main characters were so likable. The man was funny, charming, and a lovable idiot. The woman was a cute girl next door with a craft table who liked to read. Very approachable characters. Sure some of the stuff that happened was extremely freaky, but I could not ignore the sounds of fright coming from the audience, especially one woman in particular. Thank GAWD that woman was there that night to keep me entertained. She kept saying, "Oh hell no!" "If I was that bitch, I'd get the fuck outta that house!" "If that motha fuckin' demon walks in the bedroom one more time I swear I will leave." Thank you vociferous woman for making that movie entertaining. I was worried to because the movie starts off really slow and lately I've had a tendency to fall asleep during movies in the theater(except for Zombieland because that movie fucking ruled). I also entertained myself by taking pleasure in the fact that Andrea was terrified and I refused to let her use my hand so that she could cover her eyes. I told her, "Why did you spend 12 bucks(12 BUCKS) on a movie if you're just gonna sit here and not watch it?" "Fuck that," I said.