Prepare to see what is allegedly the "actual footage" of the supernatural events leading up to the 2008 murder of Samantha Finley. Released against the wishes of the authorities, this D.V.D.... Read allPrepare to see what is allegedly the "actual footage" of the supernatural events leading up to the 2008 murder of Samantha Finley. Released against the wishes of the authorities, this D.V.D. proves that nothing human caused Samantha's death.Prepare to see what is allegedly the "actual footage" of the supernatural events leading up to the 2008 murder of Samantha Finley. Released against the wishes of the authorities, this D.V.D. proves that nothing human caused Samantha's death.
- Samantha Finley
- (uncredited)
- Ellen Finley
- (uncredited)
- Edgar Lauren
- (uncredited)
- Thomas Finley
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
The film begins when Thomas invests in a few small home camcorders to videotape the odd and supposedly paranormal events that have been plaguing the house ever since his mother's attempt at communicating with their recently deceased father. The entity has had a particular inclination for terrorizing his sister, Samantha, who bears an intolerable likeness to Katie Featherston in terms of hairstyle and large endowment (which also of course get more screen time in this film than P.A.).
Beyond that, the film is more or less a cookie cutter copy of the original's even most minute details: the night-time photography, the possession scenes, the cinematography, the "low rumbling" sound when the spirit is present, the title cards for the night scenes, the idea that leaving the house will do nothing as the entity will "follow" the cursed, attempts at contacting a demonologist, footprint markings, you name it.
With that said though, this film does have its gems. This film is definitely more visual and graphic in its depiction of the entities' activities, which is in a way good and also bad. It's nice to see that they didn't skimp on special effects as what you actually see on camera is more interesting and in a way, scarier (one night in particular). However, it's also a lot less subtle than "Paranormal Activity," as the long, patient scenes of waiting for something to happen are less common. A lot of the original film's subtlety is sacrificed for immediate scares and it works against it rather than for it.
The bigger issue with this film is that, while the acting is not nearly as bad as one might think given The Asylum is behind it, the characters are a lot less likable and developed than the original, if you can actually believe that to be possible. Beyond milking the loss of their dad and the direness of the situation for all its worth, the characters are completely one- dimensional and the beautiful and entertaining chemistry between Katie and Micah is nowhere to be found. The scenes add up more like a series of irrelevant moments and transitions are far less smooth. The ending in particular is fairly abrupt and leaves you with a sense of complete and total confusion.
Also, the camera-work and editing in "Paranormal Activity" was far more subtle in the ways that it made you feel like it was legitimately a 'found footage' film (while the sequel did indeed break that formula). Beyond the fact that the multiple cameras break the laws of the film not feeling "edited," there are multiple scenes where any audience member could discern that there is legitimately no reason for the camera to be running at that given time and that certain angles feel very forced or deliberately edited, which unfortunately takes you out of the moment and works against the "mockumentary" style.
Overall, it's not bad, but it's certainly not as good as the original. Good for fans of the genre and style but not much else.
Paranormal boring. Paranormal poor acting. Paranormal piece o crap. No one should have to suffer through this trash.
While I think good film reviews in general should not compare films directly to another one, in this case I think it's safe to say that that's a little unavoidable, so I will say that next to "Paranormal Activity" this film almost comes out superior, originality issues aside. While I found the first version of this story to be a solid, suspenseful build-up to a satisfying pay-off, I felt that the "rip-off" was in fact more suspenseful throughout. While there were few actual scares, several of the scenes were incredibly tense. It did a very good job of putting me on the edge of my seat and getting my heart rate up from anticipation. I normally don't expect to be able to say this about such an unoriginal film, but I genuinely felt nervous about what was going to appear on the screen next during 2 or 3 of the scenes, which I have to admit is horror the way it should be.
Unfortunately it didn't quite pay off as well as "Paranormal Activity." The ending seemed rushed and while it was a bit unsettling, it didn't leave me feeling as tense as some of the scenes earlier on, and most certainly didn't leave me feeling terrified. The acting in the film is nothing Oscar-worthy but I found it to be adequate and mostly believable. There are a few continuity goofs that some may notice. I personally didn't find them to be terribly distracting, though they do suggest a bit of laziness by the filmmakers.
While some may feel that the obvious lack of originality should make this film completely dismissable, I feel that some of the content of this movie is indeed impressive and is worth checking out. Therefore, on a scale of good film-making i'm going to give this a fairly lenient 6/10. However, on the overall enjoyment scale I would give it an 8/10, and had this film been completely original and perhaps had a more exciting ending I would have given it a solid 8.5 or 9 out of 10 overall.
So in closing, it loses significant respect for obvious reasons but gains a little back in certain ways and is worth watching.
This movie got bit more activity then ( Paranormal Activity) and It's did not take long for think start to happen however those scene did not have the same impact as Paranormal Activity as there was no hint of Back Story at all, It's did not make those scene lit.
The acting was descent in this movie and there some really interesting scenes, which could have been much better. This movie is was just way too similar then paranormal activity.
I think it was good movie 5 out of 10
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn order to maintain the fiction of it being an actual piece of videotape evidence, the film has no opening or closing credits. The only place where cast and crew can be found credited is on the DVD packaging, and on Internet sites such as IMDb.
- GoofsA paragraph at the end of the film begins "It is the opinion of those closely realted to the Finley family..." and so on. "Realted" is a misspelling. It should read "those closely related."
- Quotes
911 Operator: [voice] 9-1-1, what's your emergency?
Thomas Finley: [voice] Please... Send help, they killed her, they killed... my family is dead!
911 Operator: Can you tell me what's happening?
Thomas Finley: Please... Just send help... they killed my mom... they're dead! My sister's dead!
911 Operator: Possible 217, we need all available units.
Thomas Finley: MY SISTER'S DEAD, IT KILLED HER! IT KILLED HER, MY SISTER'S DEAD! -CRYING...
- Crazy creditsThe film has no opening or closing credits whatsoever.
- ConnectionsFeatured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Shameless Movie Rip-Offs (2015)