****Paranormal Activity SPOILER THREAD****

evolution83 · 10-05-2009, 02:24 PM

****SPOILER ALERT!!!****

****DO NOT READ BEYOND THIS POINT IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN PARANORMAL ACTIVITY****

The purpose of this thread is to discuss Paranormal Activity in FULL DETAIL. There should be NO editing of text to make it "invisible" as this is a spoiler thread, and anyone could easily find a way to read what is hidden. Those of you who want to ruin the movie for yourself, that's your choice.

Feel free to post any questions, thoughts, feedback, etc about the movie.

Please keep ALL discussion related to PA in this thread.

I'll start off with my own question:

What significance do you think the burned photo of the little girl played in the movie?

cliffeman · 10-05-2009, 03:12 PM

Thriller shot for $15,000 getting national release

HOLLYWOOD — Steven Spielberg was certain his copy of "Paranormal Activity" was haunted. It was early 2008, and the director's DreamWorks studio was trying to decide whether it wanted to be a part of the micro-budgeted supernatural thriller. As the story goes, Spielberg had taken a "Paranormal Activity" DVD to his Pacific Palisades estate, and, not long after he watched it, the door to his empty bedroom inexplicably locked from the inside, forcing him to summon a locksmith.

While Spielberg didn't want the "Paranormal Activity" disc anywhere near his home, he very much shared his studio's enthusiasm for director Oren Peli's haunting story about the demonic invasion of a couple's suburban tract house.
Peli, an Israeli-born video-game designer, shot the $15,000 movie in a week in 2006 with a no-name cast, a crew of several San Diego friends and a hand-held video camera.

But, as Spielberg and the DreamWorks team believed, the movie was original and scary. The challenge was to fit this round peg into a DreamWorks square hole — a process delayed by the slow collapse of Paramount's acquisition of DreamWorks. For a time, it looked as if Spielberg was right: "Paranormal Activity" appeared cursed — to sit on a shelf.

But now, Paramount is finally opening the film in Tucson and 12 other college towns Friday, with a national rollout planned for October.

"Once every five years, a guy makes a movie for a nickel that can cross over to a broad audience," says "Paranormal Activity" producer Jason Blum. In late 2007, Blum's producing partner, Steven Schneider, came across "Paranormal Activity" and thought it deserved a theatrical release. Blum agreed, but no one stepped up to distribute it.

Ashley Brooks, a production executive at DreamWorks, was one of the only studio types who believed in "Paranormal Activity," and she continually pestered her boss, production chief Adam Goodman, to watch the movie. Goodman finally did, and so did Spielberg.
A deal was struck with DreamWorks, but not for a theatrical release. Instead, the studio planned to remake the film, with Peli directing the bigger-budgeted version.
Before the movie was finished, though, Goodman started talking about abandoning the remake and instead releasing Peli's original movie, perhaps a bit shorter and with a new, more surprising ending.

Not long thereafter, however, the rift between the heads of DreamWorks and Paramount (which bought DreamWorks in 2005) grew toxic, and the future of "Paranormal Activity" turned uncertain. Yet, even as it sat on Paramount's shelf, "Paranormal Activity" continued to generate interest. It was not until Goodman took Paramount's top production job in Juneof this year that "Paranormal Activity" found a place on the studio's fall schedule.

Its ultimate fate is up to audiences now.

Europa · 10-05-2009, 05:14 PM

Originally Posted by Youngbinks

I think that as long as we make sure the heading on the thread is something like:
****Paranormal Activity SPOILER THREAD**** then people would know to stay away. We could still put all of the potential spoilers in the white text to keep it even less revealing, so people would HAVE to actively try and see what we wrote. Just an idea.

**Spoiler Questions**
At what point do you think Katie became "possessed"? Do you think she was possessed after the whole, cross, thing? Because at that point they went upstairs and she refused to leave and she had that weird smirk.

I believe the demon was periodically possessing her throughout the movie. It first occurred when she got out of bed and stood at the bedside for a few hours and then went outside and sat on the chair. I think the demon only had partial control at that point. It then chose to leave willfully or her strength was great enough that she overcame it. She then returned to the bedroom startling Micah. She was unaware of the events that occurred while she was temporarily possessed.

Later, she became possessed for the final time while Micah was packing and she was sitting on the floor clenching the cross. She had a complete personality change and was distant yet adamant that they not go to the hotel so the demon could take full control of her that night. The reason I think it was partially possessing her early on was the drastic difference in her movements when fully possessed. The movements were non-human at the end when the complete possession occurred.

Londonrockz568 · 10-05-2009, 05:30 PM

Originally Posted by Youngbinks

I think that as long as we make sure the heading on the thread is something like:
****Paranormal Activity SPOILER THREAD**** then people would know to stay away. We could still put all of the potential spoilers in the white text to keep it even less revealing, so people would HAVE to actively try and see what we wrote. Just an idea.

**Spoiler Questions**
At what point do you think Katie became "possessed"? Do you think she was possessed after the whole, cross, thing? Because at that point they went upstairs and she refused to leave and she had that weird smirk.

Answer (please remember for the courtesy of others to make answers and questions white i know it says not to, but some people dont know about the movie and will come in here and read the content accidentally ruining it for themselves).
She was possessed from when she gets up out of the bed and watches over Micah for 3 hours. Then you understand she's possessed when Micah goes to find her outside sitting in the pool chair at night saying its cold and she doesnt want to go back in the house in a light almost aloof voice. She then watches over Micah again and then walks over to his side of the bed and stands there. It was from the point in the movie when she gets out of bed and stands up watching over Micah that the audience comes to understand she is being possessed throughout the majority of the night and once when it becomes 100% clear when the demon possessing her converses with Micah convincing him to stay in the house to which it then smiles at the camera.

evolution83 · 10-05-2009, 05:35 PM

London, I don't want things to have to be in black and white, but that's your choice if you choose to do so.

However, if anyone objects that it should be in black and white, let me know now and I will make sure to change the rules in this thread.

Londonrockz568 · 10-05-2009, 05:39 PM

Originally Posted by evolution83

London, I don't want things to have to be in black and white, but that's your choice if you choose to do so.

However, if anyone objects that it should be in black and white, let me know now and I will make sure to change the rules in this thread.

Sorry i just dont want them to ruin everything for themselves.

evolution83 · 10-05-2009, 05:41 PM

They could still highlight ya know...but I guess looking is easier.

It's anyone's choice.

Europa, thoughts?

Youngbinks · 10-05-2009, 06:12 PM

Both of your answers make sense Europe and London. It actually makes more sense at this point that she was semi-possessed at some point and then finally the demon was able to take control of her completely.

I was also wondering what the point of Katie going all the way downstairs at the end was. Sure, it creates suspense (which make EVERYONE in the theatre freak out) but I thought it was weird that she went down at all.

Europa · 10-05-2009, 06:20 PM

evo, I don't think they need to be whited out, there is fair warning that this thread is nothing but spoilers.

Youngbinks, I kind of wondered that myself. It's probably just a suspense tactic, but it could also be that the demon didn't want the actual killing on camera, it instead wanted the dead body to be thrown into the camera from the doorway shocking all that saw the footage. Kind of an in your face win thing.

markshark · 10-05-2009, 10:10 PM

im on here to spoil the movie for myself. i figure i will NEVER see this thing until it comes out on dvd since im in pittsburgh so instead ill just read about what happens since i cant wait any longer. anyways, what do you guys think is the scariest part of the movie? answer and ill just envision it.