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Halloween 2016 - Outro

Published: Oct 31, 2016

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comic nightmare_night_2016 security_cameras halloween pov unicorn digital_art comic_strip comiccomics mlpoc earth_pony nightmare_night ask_movie_slate movie_review movie_slate found_footage cotton_bucket ask_pony_blog paranormal_activity

Description

Ask Movie Slate - Halloween 2016 - Paranormal Activity (all of them).

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This one was a real tooth ache of an update to work on. Not only did I have a limited amount of time to work on it, but I also decided to make it animated (which you can check on Movie Slate's blog). It was easy and fine the first three pictures, but towards the end things got glitchy, overloaded, and needlessly complicated. This was a consequence of me going too over-ambitious with it. Originally none of the pictures for Halloween were going to be animated, but then I had the brilliant fucking idea of adding the blinking red spot to indicate the camera was recording. Needless to say, I feel a bit like an idiot, as I don't know if it was really worth it. I shall let you guys decide. I'm glad I managed to finish these right on time, in fact with some spare time to work on other pictures and projects. Next year I'm doing these Halloween pictures in July.

I know I'm really late to the Paranormal Activity party, so you can take my opinions on the movies as those of a guy who wasn't as invested in the series as everyone else. It's kind of loopy to consider that the combined budgets for all these six movies barely reach $20 million, yet their box office combined is well over $800 million. It's kind of insane how many people have been seeing these movies over the years, despite all of them having very much the same premise (though you can see the box office of each movie dwindle and getting smaller after every sequel). So below these lines you can find my short reviews of each of these movies, as well as a rating for each one of them.

- Paranormal Activity: The one that started it all. I wasn't as blown away by it as everyone else was, but it helps that the characters of Micah and Katie are actually quite likable and their performances still come across as very natural and unscripted. It has a slow boil, but like all good slow boils it eases you into a sense of safety before putting the lid on you. Still a pretty good horror movie, and a successful experiment. I rate it:

- Paranormal Activity 2: This one did bring the security cameras gimmick to the mix, allowing the audience to see more than just one angle of the house other than the bedroom. They do give a proper explanation as to why they decide to install those cameras (some thieves break in or maybe it was Katie or whatever) but it feels a bit forced and the gimmick overstays its welcome. It made for a more energetic set up, however. Also some people find the family annoying. I had no problem with them, except for the father. He's one of the most dense motherfuckers in this franchise. I rate it:

- Paranormal Activity 3: My personal favorite of the whole series. This one is a prequel and takes place all the way back in 1988, showing Katie's family. This one introduced the concept of the rotating camera, which gives for a good couple of nerve-wracking moments. It's used really cleverly as it relies on revealing the scare slowly instead of throwing it at you. Also I think this has the best acting of the whole series, especially when it comes to the kids. They act and behave like real children instead of puppets sanctioned by the studio. I rate it:

- Paranormal Activity 4: This one pissed me off quite a bit, because I made the mistake of thinking "why does every room in the house has a laptop with an HD camera?" That's when things fell apart for me. The second movie pushed it a bit too much with the security cameras, but this one brought the concept into the realm of science fiction. It wasn't as scary as the other ones, and if the second film had one annoying character this movie is just plagued of them. Especially the kids. I don't know what happened that, from this movie onward, the child acting became just utter shit. The only cool thing this movie has is the use of the Kinect that makes invisible figures visible. But besides that it's just a complete waste. I rate it:

- Paranormal Activity, The Marked Ones: This movie is just stupid. Do you want to know how stupid it is? It ends with the main characters teaming up with some gangsters in their neighborhood and them going armed with shotguns and shooting witches down. That is until the guy holding the camera walks through a portal that takes him to the end of the first movie. This is the point where the Paranormal Activity series was dropping its "found footage" premise, but since it doesn't go all the way through I can't find myself enjoying it completely. It's a middle of the road mess. I rate it:

- Paranormal Activity, The Ghost Dimension: Now this is going all the way bonkers. The one and only (for now) Paranormal Activity movie to be shot in 3D. The premise is actually both fun and nuts at the same time. It takes place in the house that was built over the old house from the third movie, and the characters have a camera that allows them to see the activity. This makes for a lot of entertaining uses of CGI and 3D effects that keep the movie really snappy and enjoyable. It's not scary but it goes by really quick and it's a lot of fun. It sucks though that it has the worst acting of the whole series, with special mention to the children. Thankfully that one gimmick with the camera makes this one feel better than the previous two. I rate it:

And now I shall leave you with a couple of topics I encourage you to discuss in the comments of this comic. What do you guys think of the Paranormal Activity movies? Do you think they drove the concept of found footage movies into the ground and that's why people currently sneer at them?

I hope you guys enjoy the picture!

Please, let me know what you think of it in the comments. I appreciate and every single one I receive.

Thank you!

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Comments35

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ardashir

Sep 1, 2017

I thought the series was good to okay until they brought out the evil 'demonically-possessed witches and their world-conquering conspiracy'. IMHO horror works best on the small scale, when it's a single person, or a family, maybe a small community, confronting the horror. Even when it's some world-smashing catastrophe that's the 'monster', it feels more effective when we focus on a very small group of people trying to survive.