320: Paranormal Activity (2007)

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Motherfuckers got the feet of a cock, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 0:11

Greetings and salutations, and welcome to Hacker Slash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. We could get extra curriculum with this. If this is your first time listening, welcome to the party. We are a horror movie review podcast dedicated to telling you whether a movie is a hack.

SPEAKER_00 0:26

A total joke? A waste of time?

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Or a slash. Totally killer, pun intended. We believe horror is for everyone, and as such, we're rating these movies with a perspective we've gained from our varying walks of life and the flavors of fear we fancy most. My name is Chris, I'm your friendly neighborhood slash enthusiast. This week I'm joined by the classic horror connoisseur Sean.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Do you know any tricks to make something happen?

SPEAKER_01 0:48

And the paranormal paramour, Binx, Papa Pill My Ass. This week we're looking back on an independent found footage haunting that became the most profitable film of all time compared to its original budget. This week's film follows a young couple living in a suburban home attempting to investigate the strange experiences one of them has had since childhood. As they use a video camera to document what bumps in the night, they soon discover there's something far more sinister afoot. Something rooted in the deepest corners of the paranormal. The film was made on a budget of $15,000, and while it generated a groundbreaking return on investment, its profit margin cemented itself as the first major box office hit for Blumhouse Productions. Following its box office success, it spawned a franchise of six sequels, a digital comic, and video games, which led to the franchise grossing more than 30 times its overall budget. This week we're talking about paranormal activity. Who's seen this one before?

SPEAKER_02 1:41

So I obviously have seen this one. I'm a sucker for paranormal films. I'm the paranormal paramour for a reason. I've seen it a few times, and I so much so remember the trailer specifically being the scariest, creepiest thing, because it was just the reactions of people having seen this in theaters. So I saw it in theaters. What a time.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

Oh yeah. I definitely have seen this one before. It does feel like it's been a long time, but I'm pretty excited to revisit this film. This was, in my opinion, a very impactful film. I wouldn't say I'm like the biggest fan of this entire franchise, but I do think that this is one of those that really stands out or really paved the way for this type of genre in horror. But I didn't realize to what you just said, Chris, that it was Blumhouse's big break, if you will. That's pretty crazy. I did not know that.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Absolutely. It really planted the seed for a lot of great horror to come. And let me tell you, I've seen this one before. This was actually the first movie we covered in the very first episode of Hacker Slash. It was episode zero. And I absolutely loved it when it came out. And I love the lore that it carried on in the subsequent two movies. But I need to be honest with you all, this movie is actually part of the reason why I decided I wanted to go to film school.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

Is it really?

SPEAKER_01 2:59

It really is. So picture this. I was in high school. I knew that I wanted to get into filmmaking, but I always thought that okay, you need like a serious career. So I was thinking about what other things I could do. What really stood out to me was my love of Halloween inspired me to want to make independent horror film. But then this and Cloverfield came out really close together. And so all of a sudden it's found footage horror. It's phenomenal in terms of profitability, but it also just showed, okay, low budget, easy to get a hold of technology. It's more accessible now. So it's not just like a pipe dream of just being in Hollywood. So this movie and Cloverfield are the very reasons why I finally decided, okay, no, I'm going to film school, I'm not doing anything else. And then I did something else.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

Classic.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

I did something else to get to go to film school. But yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

There you go. It's not the size of the camera, it's how you use it, right? That's what this film kind of really gave to you.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

Oh yeah. Mm-hmm. Phenomenal.

SPEAKER_00 3:57

I gotta tell you all because I don't know about you, but all those strange camera angles, the found footage of it all, it was really bringing me back to skinema rink in a really good way. I know obviously this was first, but re-watching this and revisiting this movie, it brought me right back to that kind of visual. I don't know about you all, but that's what I got initially out of this film when I was watching it, especially at the beginning.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

I feel like the skin emark is there and present in the blue of it all, but the quality far surpasses skin emergence for me. So I just can't be like they're not on the same plane. There's not enough corners in this movie for skin emarink.

SPEAKER_00 4:34

I'm not trying to go back and forth on it. I'm just as long as we can acknowledge that the kind of style is there, and obviously this would have influenced Skin'em Rink, not the other way around. I'm just saying, since we just watched that before we revisited this one, that that's kind of the vibe that I got. It brought me back to watching Skin'em Rink. And it's a quality that I enjoyed.

SPEAKER_02 4:55

There's definitely similarities. There's certain aspects production-wise, or at least sound design-wise, that had me thinking the same exact thing. And the whole time I was like, you know, if paranormal activity has this effect on me and has me feeling this way, I can see what the hype was about in terms of skin emergency and what it was doing to you. Because to some, they could not be phased by it. I'm talking about paranormal activity specifically, but then skin emergency does something to them. And for me, it was the opposite. Skin emergency did nothing for me, but paranormal activity definitely had me feeling some type of way. And I want to take it also to a predecessor to this one, which is Blair Witch Project.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

Heck yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:30

I feel like people are affected by Blair Witch Project for sure, and maybe not paranormal activity. So when I was watching this, I was feeling like for me, Blair Witch Project is the found footage film of the 1900s. It's that one, right? Everyone knows it. It solidified its place in that century. And I this might be an extremely scorching hot take, but I feel like paranormal activity is that for this century. For this century, everyone knows paranormal activity and considers it to be that Blair Witch Project of this century, that kind of impact in film where everyone for a good while there thought that this film was real, that it was something that actually happened. It was marketed that way.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

Very similar.

SPEAKER_02 6:14

Very, very similar, right?

SPEAKER_01 6:15

Yeah. I would dare to say that it's not a scorching hot take at all. I think the what's uncommon about this movie is that it can be so heavily influenced by Blair Witch, but still be so successful without feeling like a ripoff. Because it obviously does something very, very different. You know, we have the marketing that goes behind it. I think the marketing probably didn't go as hard as Blair Witch did because they went to some extremes when releasing that movie. But this one, I remember feeling so engrossed in it. And I am not a big ghosty person. I'm not really into the supernatural and the paranormal stuff. But I remember enjoying this movie specifically because it drops you into this framework where you know stuff has already been happening. And the motivation of having the camera is quite clear, and it seems sensible in a way. And that's a mechanic that I think a lot of found footage horror movies struggle with. What's the reasoning for the camera? We've seen some really good ones. We've seen Cloverfield, we've seen Wreck, we've seen this, but there are others, and I'm thinking of some of the like the more B tier movies, where it doesn't make sense that they're recording the whole time. So I feel like this one does it in a very successful way. And I was surprised actually when looking at the entire experience of this movie, that I've still felt so invested and still a little startled, even though I've seen it a thousand times. Me too.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

I felt the same way. And you bring up such a good point about the way that it's filmed too, in terms of it being found footage and having to toy this line between why would they be recording this, and then also understanding that if they didn't record this, then we would have no fit like we would have no movie, we would have no film. So they kind of have to really toy this line very finely to make sure that it makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

You gotta have some filler in there.

SPEAKER_02 8:04

You gotta have some filler, guys. If not, there would be no film. But I feel like you can feel that energy in a lot of other found footage films. This one, you can kind of sense it every now and then. It's not as bad as others.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

So getting that heads up, I guess. Here's the thing where this movie does it successfully, it diminishes in that quality the further you go on in the franchise.

SPEAKER_00 8:27

Ooh, okay. Yeah, for sure. I'm with you there. And I think one thing that this film did really well, as did other found footage style horror films, and not all of them, right? But when we are talking about lumping this together with something like the Blair Witch Project or Skin Em Rink or things like that, I think that it does a really good job building a lot of tension with practically nothing happening. You know it's this found footage, you know something's happening, but you're looking for it, and because you're looking for it, the tension starts to build, and you try to start seeing things that half the time you're not even supposed to be seeing, and all these different things. There were moments where I genuinely get chills while watching this film, and I don't know if it's just the creepiness of it all mixed with that like menacing low frequency noise that you get. But when you watch this in the dark late at night, and you're by yourself on the couch, right? It's a different vibe. But I will say that this film, you know, on a lighter note, also kind of felt like we were watching the found footage of a dude struggling or failing to make a sex tape with his girlfriend. I'm just gonna throw it out there.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

Yeah, Zach and Muri make a porno except they don't.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

Except it never happens.

SPEAKER_02 9:40

Sean, you are right on the money. This was also giving this man really wants to make a soft porn or like maybe a hardcore porn. I don't know what the words are, but the point is, yeah, he's trying to do it on a dime and he's not doing well. And he's got the heavy duty camera for it, too. That man bought equipment, okay?

SPEAKER_00 9:57

Dude, this is what I'm saying. It's okay he bought equipment. There's a reason why this guy is so gung ho about documenting this whole thing. It's because he sees this as his easy shoe-in into making this home video with his girlfriend for fun, and it just didn't work out the way he thought it was. So it's the whole fuck around and find out, you know?

SPEAKER_01 10:19

What a savage. You know, it's the cornhob.com, really.

SPEAKER_00 10:23

Ooh, it is.

SPEAKER_02 10:24

It has to be. Since we're talking about him, I gotta say, the disappointment of this film truly is him. This character is insufferable. I'm gonna give everybody the warning right now. He's insufferable about a good 97% of the time. And a part of it, it's like a surprise and something that I appreciate about the film, but also its downfall, smidge, is like the pro to all of this. And the cool thing is that they use this style called retro scripting. I didn't realize this until I looked into it more, where you're essentially just given the idea of the film, but you've you're given creative liberty to just improvise. So that provides like just a lot of free-flowing conversation. It's more authentic. So that's really cool. The downfall, though, is Katie, the other main character, I think she does a great job of improvising, acting in general, just using that to their best ability. But the men here are not great. The others are just not good at improv at all. They couldn't even get creative with their dialogue.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:23

And as a result, I feel like it makes Mika just, oh man, it's a tough one.

SPEAKER_01 11:28

So it's interesting to me because I agree with you, but I'm like the opposite side of the same coin because I actually think the dialogue is good because it makes me so annoyed by him. He's a fucking goofball, and I can't stand him. And honestly, the biggest surprise for me is how much of a disappointment he is, and how I'm honestly disappointed in myself for not hating him when this movie first came out. Because I was always eh about him. Like obviously, you know he's just a dweeb, and there's nothing likable about him in the very beginning. But watching this now, I cannot believe what an absolute putz he is. And honestly, who the fuck sets an alarm for 6 14 in the morning?

SPEAKER_00 12:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:10

What the fuck is 614 in the morning?

SPEAKER_00 12:13

That's a weird time.

SPEAKER_01 12:14

Why is your alarm going off at that? You know what I mean? That is one of many bitch moves in this film, but absolute disappointment being so I agree with you. But I think the performances in the chemistry actually felt really good to me.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

Ooh, okay. So I think I'm in the middle between the two of you because I definitely agree with the at least one of my disappointments being the direction that they chose to go with some of these characters. And I know we're talking about this and we'll dive more into it in the spoiler zone, but yeah, I think I'm right in between what you both are saying. So we'll unpack that later. I I do think the most surprising thing in this film is just, you know, how much you get with so little. That's the biggest thing with this film. I think, you know, we talk about less is more all the time on this podcast, but honestly, this is one of the best examples you can get right here when you really break it down. This film worked with what, it was like $15,000 or some shit like that, and really did something that kept you interested and engaged in what was happening. And the pacing, I feel like it doesn't really let you get too bored, right? There's moments of nothing happening. We talk about maybe some dialogue where you may not really enjoy or it's off-putting, but you never feel super bored watching this movie, which I always thought was really interesting and surprising. But to put it into perspective, comparing it to the Blair Witch project, it did similar things with a budget of sixty thousand dollars. So paranormal activity was just as if not more effective with less, which I think is crazy.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

It absolutely is crazy, and that is the beauty of independent horror filmmaking. There's a lot that happens when you just put a group of people with a lot of passion in a house that someone already owns and just commits to a tight shooting schedule. This is the kind of shit that I find super inspirational. The less is more is exactly why I think this movie still hits with being frightening in some respects, even today. Sean, you mentioned earlier there are still moments where you get chills. There are still moments in this movie where I get startled now. There's at least two to three iconic scenes that I can think of that absolutely still hit today because it doesn't try too hard, because it doesn't go too far to show you things.

SPEAKER_00 14:30

Yeah. It's interesting because I agree with you. There are some iconic moments, there are some things that still hit. Even watching this back, I was really a little bit surprised that some of this stuff did stand up the way after all these years. But I think, you know, at the same time, I understand that this movie, you can talk about how it may not be scary because there are a lot of people out there that just don't buy into the paranormal stuff. And I'm not saying it's true or it's not, because we don't have a ton of concrete evidence, and it might not be true, but that glimmer of a chance is just enough for I think this movie to be able to exploit, and it makes you believe just a little bit. And the way the film slowly builds that tension, you're tense because you know that something is coming. You know something is coming, something bad, but you just can't pinpoint when or where, what it's gonna look like, if you're gonna see it, but you know it's there, the impending doom of it all. And I think that's where the fright factor comes in for this film, and that's what makes it scary. That's what gives you those chills or those goosebumps. That's what Skinamarink did with less visually, and that had the same budget as this, right? That literally had the almost the exact same budget to the dollar as this movie. You gotta start seeing the similarities. It's wild.

SPEAKER_02 15:49

I feel like the issue with some of these paranormal movies and stuff is that they kind of go a little too over the top, and therefore skeptics grab that and they take it and they run with it. You know, they're like, oh, this is so dramatic, this would never happen. So it's gotta be the small things that really make that lasting impression. What helps here in terms of it being scary, especially when it had originally came out. So, you know, if you're going into this as a fresh watch, it might affect you a little bit differently because perhaps at this point you're more aware of the fact that this didn't happen. But at the time, it was marketed as if it did seriously happen. There was nothing that gave the impression to some extent, unless you were like really diving deep somehow, that it was just a film. And everything about it makes it seem like if it was a real project. So that going into this film already makes you feel like, oh shit, this actually happened. To the point where there's no opening credits in the movie. There's no opening credits and there's no end and there's no end credits. Neither of them. There's no production logo, nothing. You're going right into this movie. So it's great because it already sets that, oh shit, maybe did this. And then you factor in all the other stuff, which is the silence, the faint sounds, the darkness.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Yeah, that's true. The trailers, I remember the trailers for this film. It was just like it was more like a found footage, but it was more found footage of the audience watching the footage in the theater and reacting and seeing the emotions of the audience. So the marketing was pretty genius. The difference between this and the Blair Witch project is the Blair Witch project was coming out when the internet was still kind of new ish and there wasn't like everything wasn't completely exploited, everything wasn't just you couldn't just find the answers to everything, right? It was still this kind of mystery about it. And so the marketing that the Blair Witch did came at a really perfect time for that movie to come out, and the way that this came out, they had to kind of play it off a little bit differently. And so a lot of what you just said, mixed with showing you, you know, the the reactions of people in the audience really hyping it to be one of the scariest things that you've ever seen and encouraging you not even to see it alone, right? I remember them saying, Don't watch this movie alone. That was the hype. And while this isn't the first found footage horror film, it did something fresh, and I think something that I think worked in its favor. When we get this haunted house concept mixed with this found footage, this home video feel, it feels like something we've never really seen before. And so I think it was pretty original in the way that it approached this sub-genre that I think kind of lost its way over the years.

SPEAKER_02 18:32

I completely agree. I completely agree because to me, hearing your take on that, I was thinking to myself, it's because they brought it home. You know what I mean? Blair Witch Project is out in the forest. It's a project with classmates, like Yeah, they brought it to your bedroom. Right. It's not as relatable as in this case, it's literally bringing it to your bedroom. It's bringing it into your home. It's a couple. This could be any of us that just sets up cameras in our house and let's see what we catch on film, you know? So I feel like that just casts a wider net for you to go into this viewing and feel like, oh shit, this could have been me or this could be happening to me. That's what makes this original and stand out for this particular century. Whereas Blair Witch Project, some would say, or rather, the youth, they like to use this phrase, which is like, Blair Witch Project could walk so that paranormal activity could run type thing. I think that's what it is. And then maybe paranormal activity could walk so that Skinner Marine could run, but that's how I see the originality factor for this film.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

Yeah, it's giving, if you could think about the timeline of like evolution and like Homo sapiens and men learning how to walk. That's what it feels like. If you draw a line back from the original horror films all the way to Skinnerink today, you'd have this and Blair Witch somewhere in the middle. I couldn't possibly say it better than what you both have said, but I will say this. This ending, I always forget which version I'm watching because I've seen both so many different times. But either way, it still fucking hits.

SPEAKER_02 19:58

It sure does. I will always remember this ending. It's iconic. I still brace myself every time. I'll actually describe it to you. As it was approaching, my friend and I, we just started to grab a pillow and we put it in front of our faces, and we're like, we can't do it, we can't do it, we can't do it. And I'm like staring at the bottom of my TV. I'm not looking at the TV, I'm staring right where the frame of the TV starts, and it still gets me. I know. I know exactly at this point when the beat, you know, the pacing of it, I know when it's gonna happen, and yet it still gets me. It is worth all $200,000 that they spent to go back and make that particular ending. Think about how wild that is, and I would say it's worth it.

SPEAKER_00 20:36

Yeah, I think the ending is impactful, right? I think it's something you remember. I think it's effective in the reaction that it gets out of you each time that you watch it. I don't remember there being an alternate version, and maybe I've seen the alternate version, but I'm only going off of revisiting this and watching it now. But I do think, you know, as a result, like not just the reaction that it does, because that I'm 100% on board with, but what I'm 50-50 on is just the end result because it feels a little strange to me.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

That's fair. There actually was an original ending that was conceived where we would have gotten things, I think, a little more grim and way more definitive. And I'm actually glad that we didn't get that because of the way that it sets up the rest of the franchise. But we'll talk about all that in the spoilers when I'm I can't wait to get into it. But before we start rating this movie, Sean, how would you describe the gore score?

SPEAKER_00 21:32

Well, if we're talking about gore, then we're watching the wrong movie because there is no real gore in this film. You may see a little bit of blood through the lens of a shitty home camera system, but that's about it. So it's gotta be a low gore score. I don't know. Can we give it like a NA for not applicable?

SPEAKER_01 21:49

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 21:49

And what about the animal report? On the other side of things, though, this film passes with flying colors because even a little spider was saved and brought outside.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

Well, let's go ahead and get into our ratings. Paranormal Activity in 2007. Was it a hack or a slash?

SPEAKER_00 22:04

Okay, so this is a film that I get doesn't work for everybody. Whenever I discuss this movie, it's pretty split. You either love it or you hate it. I think the way this film was able to build such tension and unease with so little was truly fascinating. This film is not without its flaws, though. The acting is not super great in this film, and I get that it wasn't the easiest task, and it's potentially, I don't know, unorthodox, I suppose. But I do feel as though this film instilled life back into the found footage genre of horror. We had the Blair Witch project that really set the bar. This movie carried that torch and instilled new life so other films could follow. We talk about walk before run and all of that. And look, I'm not gonna go any further because I want to really dive in into the spoiler section, but this one is an absolute slash for me. Now, I can't say that for all the films in this franchise, and I gotta admit that I don't like a vast majority of found footage horror films, but this one did a great job, and I think it deserves a slash.

SPEAKER_02 23:09

Absolutely. This film always gives me the creeps mixed in with the laughs and the oh hell no. And it doesn't take up a lot of time to watch. And so even on this rewatch, my friend and I were reminiscing on being in high school at that time and the impact that the franchise had in general on us. Honestly, it's just an iconic horror franchise. And whether you consider it as a whole, great or not, you can at least say that it's made an immense impact in history, especially for found footage for sure. We talked about how it's the most profitable film ever made with a $15,000 budget. I mean, that says great success. Does it mean that it's great though? Not always people are gonna hate on it, but to me, this is for sure a slash.

SPEAKER_01 23:49

I loved this movie when it came out for its simplicity, and it literally inspired me. And there are a couple elements that don't age as well for me, and we'll get into all those in a bit, but this still stands the test of time. It's found footage done right. We have practical in-camera effects, we have tight shooting schedule, we have micro budget filmmaking and the tenacity to just get it done. And when this came out, and I mentioned this earlier, this was around the time that we had Wreck. We had Diarrhea of the Dead, we had Cloverfield. The spooks still spook for me in this one, where they don't always hit in those other ones. Even though I've seen it a hundred times and I don't tend to be really invested in paranormal movies, this concept is still so interesting to me. And it's actually, I don't know if this is gonna be surprising to anybody, but the first three films in this franchise are among my favorite paranormal movies. This absolutely is still a solid slash for me. And with that, paranormal activity from 2007 has earned a universal slash. Now you can find this movie streaming online. Check the link in our show notes to see where you can find it right now. Then join us in the second half so we can finally dive into those spoilers. We'll see you in a bit.

SPEAKER_00 25:07

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SPEAKER_01 26:55

Welcome back, folks. You're now entering the spoiler zone for paranormal activity, which has earned a universal slash. Now we have a lot to unpack here, but before we get into the specifics of our ratings, let's visit that kill.

SPEAKER_00 27:06

I was gonna say there's not much of a body count in this one. We only get that one kill with Mika. But I do want to ask, with that kill, if you can go back to when you first experienced this film, were you expecting that?

SPEAKER_02 27:19

Him dying specifically? No. I I don't think I expected him to die completely, but I figured that something was gonna go wrong to him at the very least towards the end because she was acting so strange.

SPEAKER_01 27:31

This movie is 86 minutes long, and I did not expect him to die in that moment.

SPEAKER_00 27:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:37

But I did expect they would both die.

SPEAKER_00 27:39

Okay. I don't know why, for some reason, I didn't expect any of that to happen. I really expected this film to give you a whole lot of what ifs, like maybe end on this really unclear note, something creepy. You even think about the Blair Witch project, and I know we're probably gonna compare these a lot, but like that movie doesn't really show people dying. People are like disappearing, and you're just not finding these people, and then at the end you get the person standing in the corner kind of thing, but you're just like, what the fuck is happening? And then all of a sudden it feels like you got attacked, but you don't really see. And so I was almost expecting something along those lines, like a strange turn of events, a really climactic ending, but not really giving you the goods. And so I think what was really impactful was me thinking that and getting something completely different, but also just the way that it built that moment. Because man, there's a lot. There's a lot there.

SPEAKER_01 28:43

There really is, which actually begs the question for me. Which ending do you all prefer? The main ending where she has a demon face and she attacks the camera, or the alternate ending where she slits her own throat. Kind of like Mika's foreshadowing at the beginning of the movie.

SPEAKER_00 28:59

Okay, I remember now.

SPEAKER_02 29:01

I think this one, the one that we all know, because think about it. Without this ending, then the rest of this franchise would make such very little sense. It well, it wouldn't exist to begin with. 100%. They had to leave it open-ended to some extent. And I think if she had just ended up killing herself, it would have been for the gore factor cool. But bigger picture, I feel like I would have been a little disappointed because it's like, oh, okay, so she killed herself. What makes it scary and long lasting, especially for the fact that it's marketed as a real story, is that she's alive and they don't know where she is.

SPEAKER_00 29:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:39

That's what makes it good.

SPEAKER_00 29:41

That was pretty good. And I kind of remember the throat slitting, but remind me, is it just she just slits her throat, or does Mika also die, then she slits her throat?

SPEAKER_01 29:52

Same ending, except that she comes in and slits her throat.

SPEAKER_00 29:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 29:56

Which I like both endings. Here's where I get a little picky about some things. Obviously, being you're absolutely right. For the rest of the franchise to have continuity, you have to have the ending that we get theatrically, which is just the demon possession face, and then boom, yeah, attacks the camera. I get it. I'm not mad at that ending. Mika went, that's all I really cared about. We're fine, we're good. However, I think I prefer if this were to be a complete standalone movie, I would almost prefer the look of what happens to her when she slits her own throat than the effect of the demon face. Yeah. And that's just like a small little something. Because the demon face, even though we got that on the website from that woman Diana, it's just that one extra thing that I'm like, okay, now you're finally showing me, and I don't really care for it.

SPEAKER_02 30:45

So let's also, while we're talking about endings, let's also talk about what was the original ending, which was gonna be a whole kit and caboodle, like the friend showing up, and then it was the cops. I don't know what order it is, but it's like something about the cops showing up, but then she kills those cops, and then the friend shows up and discovers this whole shit show, and it's like several layers to things, which I'm so glad we didn't get as well, because then it's fluff, it's not necessary.

SPEAKER_00 31:15

Yeah. It wouldn't have been as impactful if all of that shit went down.

SPEAKER_02 31:19

Right.

SPEAKER_00 31:19

It wouldn't have been. So I'm glad they went with one of the other two. But okay, there may not be much more to talk about with kills, but I do think it would be interesting to see what your favorite spooky paranormal event was in this film, because there were some effective ones.

SPEAKER_01 31:35

Listen, I just want to jump right in there. I have one, two, three, four different nights written out. My absolute favorite though is night 17, and that's where the demon is trying to make his shoes a little less squeaky, and he steps in some powder. Because the powdery footsteps are my absolute favorite part of the entire movie. There's the scariness of when he says, There's footsteps in, but there's no footsteps out. And then it's also, I mentioned it earlier, some Jurassic Park looking footsteps.

SPEAKER_00 32:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:05

It looks prehistoric, it looks older than time itself.

SPEAKER_00 32:09

Motherfucker's got the feet of a cock, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 32:13

Yeah. Yeah, you're absolutely right. Those are not regular footprints, my guy.

SPEAKER_00 32:18

They sure aren't. But it was a good one for sure. Because everyone was waiting to see if the footprints were gonna hit, and they did. But I can tell you one thing, no one was ready for what those footprints were.

SPEAKER_01 32:31

Nope. Absolutely not. I really, really, really loved that moment because it's actually only the second good idea that Mika has the entire movie. First was the camera, second was the powder, and then that's it. He ran out of goodwill. It is it doesn't actually progress anything. All they do is know that yes, there is something coming into the room, which she already knew. But man, just being able to see that, because at first you don't really see a lot of it. You don't really get the vibe of it until they actually show you on the camera, the light comes on, and then when he lightens the footage later, uh, it's just so good. Iconic.

SPEAKER_02 33:08

But let's dive a little bit deeper just for a quick second, in terms of looking at it from a logical perspective, okay? And that is this entity, this thing, would have to have physical mass to be able to create those footsteps, but it's invisible and isn't physical mass because then they would have ran into it because it was still standing there. There were no footsteps out, there were also no footsteps moving around to get out of the way. It was right in front of the bed and he walks right in the same direction that those footsteps are in. So if it was a physical entity with an actual invisible man type thing, he would have run into it, and he didn't. So that's what makes it even crazier. But if it levitated, even when you look at it from a scientific perspective, you know, it would need to be a physical mast for it to create those steps, and yet there's nothing there. You would have run into it.

SPEAKER_01 34:00

Until you said, Wow, that makes it even crazier. I was about to say, Okay, Mac, don't ruin this for me. No, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 34:05

Don't bring your science here.

SPEAKER_01 34:07

With your science and your bullshit.

SPEAKER_00 34:09

Let me have this. Well, your fancy logic.

SPEAKER_02 34:12

I'm saying that Mac Wright or anybody would typically be like, There has to be somebody here because it's creating those steps. Something physical would need to touch, but you know what? It's being refuted because if that was the case, they would run into him and it they didn't.

SPEAKER_00 34:26

The thing levitated, it was just watching from the top of the room.

SPEAKER_02 34:30

Levitated and then just dipped its toe down every so often to just make those steps.

SPEAKER_00 34:35

It's clearly the entity of a rooster, and this fucker flew up, you know? Oh, cockle doodle-doo. Cockle fucking doodle-doo. This thing was watching from the rooftops at that point, laughing its ass off, dude.

SPEAKER_02 34:48

I love it. But in the same vein of the footsteps, my favorite one is the sound of the heavy footsteps that just get louder, louder, and louder, and all of a sudden it takes a beat and that door slams shut. That was a lot because at that point my heart's pounding as the steps are getting louder and louder because that shit is coming up those stairs. But you know what? Now that I'm saying that out loud, I want to sidebar real fast and say, who the fuck sleeps with that door ajar? Okay, that door was open. I get it, it's for the movie, so that we can see the bullshit. Yeah. Don't come for me.

SPEAKER_01 35:22

I'm just saying, in general, don't do that shit. Listen, absolutely, don't fucking sleep with your door open. I don't care how safe I feel, door is always staying shut. I know that logically they wanted to keep the door open because the whole point was to capture whatever was happening elsewhere inside the house. I understand that. But also, let me tell you, I said bitch move number one was setting fucking Mika's alarm for 6 14 a.m. Bitch move number two, Mika, is continuing to sleep on your side of the bed when this demon is walking into your bedroom.

SPEAKER_00 35:52

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 35:53

When your girl sleeps on the closest side of the fucking door, you're a pussy.

SPEAKER_02 35:57

My friend, she said the same exact thing. She was like, There's no way on this fucking planet that I would be sleeping on that side of the bed, especially if I was the one having those issues. Also, second thing, very quickly, this might even get into production a little bit, but do they not have comforters? These people are just out here with a sheet.

SPEAKER_00 36:16

It might be hot summertime.

SPEAKER_02 36:18

It's cold because when she goes outside, she needs a blanket.

SPEAKER_00 36:21

Oh, true, true.

SPEAKER_01 36:23

Yeah, okay, but I sleep with a sheet, so fucking come for me. Whatever. What is going on? However, the real fucking crime in that bed was the way they clearly have a loveless relationship because they sleep apart. No fucking canoodling, no canoodling whatsoever, and he fucking sleeps with his back to her. Sir.

SPEAKER_00 36:42

Yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 36:43

Yeah, they're not fucking at all. We know that they're not fucking because at that point we would have also gotten the porno that he wanted.

SPEAKER_00 36:48

You know, these are great moments, but the sleepwalking, at least the first sleepwalking moment, I think was one of the more chilling ones. Just because you're just trying to figure out what's gonna happen, and she wakes up and just well, not wakes up, I don't know, but it's just the whole rocking back and forth right there at the edge of the bed for what, an hour and a half? Two fucking hours?

SPEAKER_01 37:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:10

He's sleeping the whole time. That's one of the things that gets you. That's the whole too close to home. Like, this is your bedroom. This is like your safe space, right? Like it's where you go to sleep. You're vulnerable, and you don't know what happens when you sleep. You're asleep. So the shit that's happening here is a little bit frightening. And the whole going to find her outside was also a little bit frightening. You know what I mean? We weren't knowing what was gonna happen at that point, and ultimately nothing crazy happened, but it was still kind of unnerving.

SPEAKER_01 37:42

Yeah. What else was unnerving was two nights before that on night thirteen, when we have the screeching, we have the slam, and then the chandelier is swinging. So there's physical proof that some shit was going down. But I love that it's so fucking loud that both of them are then jumping in bed screaming. And this motherfucker still has the nerve to be incredulous and not want to call a demonologist. We're gonna talk about his bravado and his whole, I'm gonna solve the problem. It's my house, my girlfriend. Go fuck yourself, Mika, you deserve to die. But aside from those two nights, can we also talk about her being dragged from the bed and calling to Mika as it's dragging her through the fucking hallway?

SPEAKER_02 38:23

Ooh. That I just want to say that rooster has some strength. Okay? Yeah. Has some serious strength because full on drag that bitch and dragged her almost up the attic or wherever the hell he was going, but he had to put Mika had to get up off his lazy ass and put in some work.

SPEAKER_00 38:41

Look, there's some great moments for sure in this film, and I think it speaks to what they were able to do with the cinematography because I think the cinematography was one of the best parts of this film. I think the way that they were able to capture some of these moments and the little bits that they do give you, and the way that the still shots of what when nothing's happening almost has you drooling for something, like you're looking for something. And sometimes you get it, and sometimes you don't. And when you do get it for the majority of the film, it's not much, but it's just the way that it was filmed. It's some of the weird angles, it's the way that, you know, for example, when they're going up to look in the crawl space in the attic type thing. It's not even an attic, it's a crawl space or whatever, right? When you're going up there, it's just the way that you're going up there with a camera, and then you're coming down, you're going up and you're coming down, and it's just the way that they made that work was really masterful, and it could have been really hard to follow. It could have made you dizzy, it could have been too shaky, too unstable. But the work that they did with that camera made this film successful.

SPEAKER_01 39:47

Yeah, it really takes it to a very intimate level. And we've talked a lot about those spooky moments and how they all really work, but it works well because of how meticulous they were in the decisions they made for how to frame those shots. And it seems like this is a run and gun kind of production. This is found footage. How hard could it really be? But even then, everything needs a purpose. Everything has a purpose, everything has a motivation. So for the static shots we get, for the choices that they made for exactly how much of the room that we're gonna see, I just absolutely loved it.

SPEAKER_02 40:21

Overall, the production of this film is fantastic and pretty memorable. Two things for me that stand out is the coloring. So whenever I see like that royal blue, that rich royal blue lighting or coloring, especially in darkness, it reminds me of paranormal activity. I feel like I can look at that specific, you know, the blue. It's even in the movie poster. I look at that and the contrast with the darkness and like the black, and it's like, oh, that's paranormal activity. It could be any other freaking film. But I always think of that one. It's F Twilight where real horror and toned all the way the fuck down and super dark.

SPEAKER_01 40:56

This is what I was gonna say. If Catherine Hardwick made a horror movie, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 41:00

No, no, no, a hundred percent. And the other one that I wanted to point out was just the sound design in particular, because that humming is just it. And I think you mentioned it earlier, Sean. Like that's the main skinamarink connection for me.

SPEAKER_00 41:13

It's menacing.

SPEAKER_02 41:14

When I heard that humming, I was like, oh, this is what got everybody. I get it now.

SPEAKER_00 41:19

You know that it's about to go down.

SPEAKER_02 41:21

Yep. I gotta mention aside, not necessarily a favorite production element, because those two definitely are, but one thing that I noticed super quickly was there's a moment there where they're in the hallway. I think it's after her friend comes to visit, and there's some water bottles on the ledge, and they blur out the labels of the water bottles because they don't want any problems and production placement issues or product placement issues, I should say. I thought that was pretty funny. I was like, it's found footage until oh, you gotta get the brand out. Not that found. Not that found. I'm not getting sued by Zephyr Hills.

SPEAKER_00 41:55

It's true. Gotta be careful.

SPEAKER_02 41:57

It's a quick second, and I felt like Sean when I found it. I was like, ooh, I'm gonna beat Sean. Zephyr Hills is petty enough to sue. I bet they are. And I know it wasn't a Dasani because you know that blue water bottle from anywhere, you know? So even blurring the logo would have done them no favors. But it was a standard one, so it could have been whatever from California, I guess, but it was like a Zephyr Hills type.

SPEAKER_00 42:16

As long as it wasn't arrowhead, because that shit tastes like dirt. Maybe it was then.

SPEAKER_01 42:21

Listen, obviously, there's so much that's executed really well in this movie, but I think it all culminates very nicely in what is my favorite scene, which is the Ouija board fire. We have this motherfucker having the nerve to think you can actually get away with. I promised I wouldn't buy a Ouija board. I borrowed one. He wants to let her know that they have 10 minutes where they can channel or summon this entity. This motherfucker, man. It was peak performance and anger from her, which I really loved seeing that passion. I loved seeing him be a complete idiot. But when they leave and we get that Ouija board just sitting there, all of a sudden the wind gets a little crazy inside, the curtains and the shades and the blinds start billowing, and then we get this thing moving on its own and spelling shit before catching fire. So spooky.

SPEAKER_00 43:09

It is spooky for sure. And I agree with the draft of it all in the house and things moving, the Ouija board even moving. But don't you think the fire was a little over the top?

SPEAKER_01 43:20

I don't even care if it was, man. I was right there with it.

SPEAKER_00 43:24

You were there, along for the ride.

SPEAKER_01 43:25

Because it looked good for being found footage. It did.

SPEAKER_00 43:29

Sure, sure, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 43:30

That could have easily looked so bad. But the fact that it was executed so well in camera, I'm like, fuck yeah, all right. This demon wants to set a little fire. Which I feel like is very dangerous in California. But that's just an aside.

SPEAKER_00 43:42

Super dangerous, but thank God they had that ultra protective laminate coating on that Ouija board that protected it from such fire.

SPEAKER_01 43:50

Can't keep the ghost ass, but we can keep the stains out.

SPEAKER_02 43:53

That's what I was saying. I was like, that board was hella laminated for obvious reasons. Also, so that you could legibly see. Some of the carvings that were on it. So I get it. That's one of those moments where it's like, let's just suspend our disbelief to Justice Midge. Okay, let's understand that we need to actually be able to see this shit on a camera. So there's that part. But I do appreciate that scene. And I think that's where I'm talking about the fine line between something that would be obviously recorded or something that is supposed to be found footage and paranormal, but not being so dramatic, like a lot of the found footage films that we get now in this paranormal realm. So that's a good one. Mine, we've already brought up, which is her standing by the bed. That scene is known by many people, very famous. But we all know, I think we've shared this in the past. I don't fuck with sleepwalking, I don't fuck with sleep talking, none of that noise. And quite frankly, that scene right there just tells me that could happen all the time. Demon possession or not. Someone really could just be sleepwalking and they just so happen to be standing in the room, just thinking about it right now and saying it out loud is fucking me up and creeping me out. Nope, can't do it. Yeah, this is why Binks refuses to be in a room with me. Don't be ridiculous.

SPEAKER_01 45:03

You're not sleepwalking in the daytime.

SPEAKER_00 45:06

But at nighttime.

SPEAKER_01 45:08

I don't mean ever in a room, but you have said that you're not gonna share a room with me. Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 45:13

Yeah, love you, but no. Just all of that aside, I just want to say that if the worst thing that Katie did, aside from killing her boyfriend, was standing by his bedside, I'm okay with it because Miko truly and honestly was so insufferable. I want to say to start, in his introduction, I realized, wow, when I first saw this film, I had no idea what the fuck a day trader was. And now that I do, the personality, the stereotype, it fits incredibly well.

SPEAKER_00 45:40

Yeah, there isn't a lot of great day trader types out there. And you know what? Listen, I don't know them all. And if you're a cool one, shout out to you. But the day traders that I've known, not that cool.

SPEAKER_02 45:51

Correct. We just gotta say it. All right, and if you're of the few, shout out to you. However, the stereotype was stereotyping hard, and I now understand it as a grown adult. And there are some heinous quotes that he had that I really need to just I need to highlight them. Please. He says, I'm not putting up with a legion of Jesus freaks. Which, like Okay, that was actually pretty great. That one, it's great, but it's also in the context of him just being such a toxic machismo motherfucker. Yeah. That it's like shit has been hitting the fan. And you just need to call up one guy, okay? Just one guy. And you just refuse to because you don't want to put up with a legion of Jesus freaks. It's a funny line from anybody else, but coming from him, I just wanted to hit him in the face.

SPEAKER_01 46:34

No, you're absolutely right. You're absolutely right. The poo particle is all over the place, right? The shit has spread. It is absolutely spread. And I think it's less about him genuinely not wanting to be around a Legion of Jesus freaks, so much as it's, oh, he isn't over his head, and maybe the real fear he has is someone coming in and actually doing something that he can't control.

SPEAKER_02 46:55

Yeah, because his fragile manhood is just, God forbid, it be, you know, tarnished a little bit and challenged. So and then he's got another one. This one is my particular favorite. You're too cute to be talking. Oh no. When he says that to her, I looked at my friend and I was like, no, he didn't. Did he just did that happen? Did he just say that? Because I don't remember that. I think I purposely have removed that savagery from my brain. But this time it stuck, and I was like, oh no, this man is the worst.

SPEAKER_01 47:26

The one that I wrote down where I was like, fuck this man 17 ways from Sunday by literally murdering him. I didn't bring this thing into the house. You did.

SPEAKER_00 47:36

That was uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:38

What the fuck, Mika? The gaslighting the blame. Yes, this thing has been haunting her since she was eight, but she's obviously been doing just fine. You're the one fucking antagonizing this thing and using the goddamn Ouija board.

SPEAKER_00 47:49

That was a low blow. It was a low blow for sure.

SPEAKER_02 47:53

Super low blow. And because again, from the jump, this guy says, Don't use those cameras, stop antagonizing it. This is way before Ouija boards are even being considered. From the jump, that guy, that professor or whatever, says don't use those cameras, you're going to upset it. And instead, this motherfucker is out here making sure all the cameras are working and making sure that they record them having cereal. Okay, every bit is gonna get captured because as we all know, he's trying to film a porno. Must be. They don't want to say it, but that's what's really happening, okay? We get the undertones. It's just the worst. The worst.

SPEAKER_01 48:26

He is a literal piece of shit, and she deserves so much better. She would still be around if not for Mika.

SPEAKER_00 48:34

You think so?

SPEAKER_01 48:35

Absolutely, man, because this thing was following her around, but it was kind of like at bay. He invited this thing in. This thing was outside peering in the window, and then he's like, fuck it, yeah, take her.

SPEAKER_00 48:46

Everything escalated after all this time because of Mika's documentation and catching this thing snooping around the house.

SPEAKER_02 48:56

Yes and no. So the documenting of it that's brought up because super small things have been happening to her lately. So it was happening to her, but yes, because it escalated from something very small to full-on biting her and then taking over her body and crazy shit.

SPEAKER_01 49:16

And let's not forget that if it's not for Mika, she would have called the demonologist and she would have been I.

SPEAKER_00 49:21

Right. That is true.

SPEAKER_01 49:23

That's the biggest part.

SPEAKER_00 49:24

Correct. We don't know if this demonologist would have done shit, though. We don't know. We can hope.

SPEAKER_01 49:31

You gotta trust the psychic who says he'll solve your problem. You gotta at least try.

SPEAKER_00 49:35

Yeah, you gotta try what you can for sure. I'm all for it. I'm saying call the demonologist 100%. We just don't know if that was the answer. But you know, here's the thing. I'm not disagreeing that Mika was a piece of shit and that he did some dumb shit and he is to blame for some of this. All I'm saying in general is if you put yourself in a situation in reality, like right now, if some shit like this was happening and you don't have any proof, you haven't seen anything at this point, right? How would you actually react? Would you honestly, can you honestly say a hundred percent that you're gonna be just right away, okay, this is happening. Okay, let's what do you want to do? Let's do this. Would you do that, or would you have some skepticism? Honestly, as a human, would you have some skepticism of okay, let's be logical about this for a second and try to come up with what could be happening before jumping to the paranormal. That's all I'm saying.

SPEAKER_02 50:33

I'm extremely biased, so obviously my answer is yes, I would believe instantly. But I recognize my biases, and I'll remove myself from this question and this hypothetical thing because we know my answer was always gonna be yes from the jump.

SPEAKER_01 50:46

All right, let me follow this hypothetical. The time for skepticism came before the camera. Again, this movie starts and they have been experiencing this for a little while now.

SPEAKER_00 50:56

This is true.

SPEAKER_01 50:56

So that's okay to be skeptical and to try to point these things out, etc. But once you get to the point where you're documenting it and you have some proof of some weird shit happening, and you don't have a rational explanation for anything else, and you have all this spooky shit that your girlfriend is saying has been happening to her and that she has seen, that her sister has seen since she was eight years old. That's enough to be like, listen, even if I don't believe in this shit, what brings you comfort?

SPEAKER_00 51:20

Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 51:21

What steps do we take that would make you feel safer in this situation? And if it's calling a fucking demonologist, I mean, unless this motherfucker's trying to rob me blind, I think let's do it.

SPEAKER_00 51:30

For sure. I think that there could have been things that were done a lot better. And I'm just thinking specifically, not even in this exact moment, but we talk about this all the time of like how the partner reacts and should they have done this and should they have done that? And I feel like it's a lot easier to say what they should have done from the couch. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 51:54

Armchair quarterback.

SPEAKER_00 51:55

Yeah, when you're in the moment, though, I try to sometimes think if that literally just happened to me, what would my first reaction be? And I think a lot of times it's not gonna be a hundred percent like all in on whatever my partner is saying. I may have to fucking evaluate this shit for myself and really soak it in for a moment. That's all I'm saying. I'm down to call a demonologist. Let's do it. But at first, when you drop something heavy on me, like I got something following me since I was a kid and some weird shit happens, at first I'm gonna be like, what the fuck are you talking about? Let's figure this shit out really quick. And then I might be sold after some events start happening. But here's the thing the quotes were going off of Mika and all the things that he says, and he's really douchey, right? We get it. He makes some really poor choices. And I think the fact that the actors weren't really given actual scripts in this movie, that they kind of just basically ad-libbed most of this film with some kind of I don't know how much direction they got of what to say or how to act or what the whole situation was, I don't know exactly. But I think that them being able to kind of go and ad-lib this and do their own thing is interesting. One, it does speak to possibly how Mika is as a real person, because maybe this is a little bit of his douchey self coming through. So sorry if that's not true, but that's kind of what I'm getting out of it. But also, on one side, speaking of the movie and the decision to make that a thing, we're not gonna have this script. Here's whatever. I think that it made it feel more real in a way, and this is going back to what the two of you were going back and forth about in the beginning of this episode, and I think that on the other side, I think some of the dialogue just felt a little awkward and out of place. So I think it was kind of hit or miss, like especially Mika, the goofy humor of this dude was really hit or miss. Like sometimes he said some funny shit, and sometimes he was just kind of a douche.

SPEAKER_01 53:47

Yeah, but it still felt like him. You know what I mean? For sure, yeah. He was funny, or yeah, he was a douche, but it still felt like who that character was supposed to be, so it didn't bother me in any way.

SPEAKER_00 53:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 53:58

It just made me happy when he was dead.

SPEAKER_00 54:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. But there were things that were done really, really well. Things that you can really relate to. Okay, so Kate, right? Or Katie, we have the reactions that she has sometimes, and I think it was really well done. There's moments where it's in the middle of the night and they hear some really faint noises, some thudding, thumping, whatever, and they're trying to listen. They're in the bed and they're trying to listen to what's happening in the middle of the night, and she's like, shh, shh, shh, right? Everyone's been there in that moment, whether you were an adult or a kid and you were spooked out, or whatever, you're trying to hear something, and it was pitch black in the middle of a room, it's dark, it's late at night, or whatever you hear something that spooked you, and you go like shh really quick, to just be like, I'm trying to hear, I'm trying to listen, right? That kind of thing. And I feel like it's really relatable in those moments, which I think maybe some of that do your own thing really came through and worked.

SPEAKER_02 54:51

Okay, so we know Mika's horrendous. That's established, but I want to talk about Katie a little bit more, specifically how she looks like Katy Perry. Is that just me?

SPEAKER_00 54:59

Oh, a little bit. I could see it.

SPEAKER_02 55:00

Yeah, like the common woman's Katy Perry, for sure. The common woman's Katy Perry, for sure. I wonder if it was Katy Perry, would she have sang her way out of that situation? You know, would she have been like some people sing when they're nervous? Like a paper bag in the wind, just wanting to start again?

SPEAKER_01 55:16

Yeah, waiting to start again, yeah, pretty much. You're gonna hear me roar.

SPEAKER_02 55:20

Right, right. That's what she would be singing to this demon.

SPEAKER_01 55:23

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 55:24

I don't know. I'm just saying. You're hot and you're cold. Okay, wait, the lyrics are really connecting.

SPEAKER_01 55:29

In and you're out, you're up and you're down, you're wrong when it's right. It's black and it's white.

SPEAKER_02 55:35

We're on to something there. Yeah. Paranormal activity the musical. There you go. No. There you go. No. That's the eighth installment or whatever number we're at at this point. I can't. Yeah, I just wanted to highlight that because I was like, man, she looks a lot like her. And just the overall, I mentioned it earlier. I think she did such a good job acting-wise. Like when she's screaming, those guttural screams at the very end, sheesh, she's got some pipes on her. She can freaking yell like hell. So that was really good. And then one part that I thought was just the perfect amount of creepy, not too forceful, and even just the effects or the editing of it was that added layer of her voice at the end when she's already been possessed, and that smile that she has when she's all of a sudden decided, like, I don't want to go, and everything will be okay. Or it says something like that. You remember?

SPEAKER_00 56:19

Like Oh no, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:20

It's just like a quick second where the her voice is layered, so you definitely hear that that's not her normal voice, and she just smiles. Ooh.

SPEAKER_01 56:28

Yeah. It's giving Amityville horror when the dad suddenly doesn't want to leave. Right.

SPEAKER_00 56:33

That's the other thing. Okay. If we're going through all this and there's some shit going down and we're trying to leave, and in that moment, you're saying no, let's stay. Okay, can we just agree that fuck you? I'm out. For sure. You're not want to come, cool. It's time that we have we now have to for sure cut ties. If it wasn't, okay, I could see not everyone wants to say, I'm done from the get-go. I get it. As soon as it happens, okay, let's see what we can do to help out here. You love this person, but no fucking way we go through all this, and then at the end of it, you're saying no, I'm staying. Okay, that's your fucking choice. My choice is to fucking leave. See you later.

SPEAKER_01 57:13

All I'm saying is, my ancestors didn't fight so hard for gay marriage just for me to leave that shit right where it was.

SPEAKER_02 57:19

Oh my lord. Let me take off my violin real quick. All right.

SPEAKER_01 57:24

No, no, no, I'm actually completely kidding. If you fucking tell me that you don't want to leave after I know your ass has been wanting to leave, no fucking way. Here's where we're gonna solve this problem. We're gonna solve this problem before we get to this problem, and that's gonna be in a prenup. We want prenup or a power of attorney. I don't give a fuck about money or whatever fucking material possessions. The only thing I want in my prenup is saying I'm gonna be able to extract both of us out of a haunted house. That's it.

SPEAKER_00 57:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 57:52

That's what I want. I want full permission and authority to just get you out of a fucking haunted house if I think your ass is possessed.

SPEAKER_00 57:58

That's fair.

SPEAKER_02 57:59

But hold on, because it's not so much the house that's possessed, it's her that's possessed, and they've established that already. But more importantly, here's the conditions, the very important variable that we have to consider. And it's that at this point, you would be able to discern that this person is probably possessed because they went from all of a sudden being desperate to leave to not wanting to go. Common sense would tell you they're possessed. So if I were to forcibly take them out of this situation, I'm going to die because they're gonna go from zero to five thousand. So this is where the other common sense part comes in. You leave them behind. So I just feel like what I'm gathering here is we're all earth signs, so we're all very practical people. But the Virgos are really just the real, they don't give a single fuck ones of the earth signs. So we're loyal, but loyal to ourselves too, okay? Like we we gots to go.

SPEAKER_00 58:50

No worries. Oh yeah, you wanna stay? No problem. No problem. Get you some ice cream, I'll be right back.

SPEAKER_01 58:57

Yep. Okay, but on a serious note, the year is 2006-ish, maybe in film 2005, I guess released in 2007. Folks, the housing market crisis is right around the corner. So honestly, can you blame Katie for not wanting to leave that house? The worst part of this movie, and this is gonna be a really weirdly specific thing, for as much as I enjoyed their performances as actors, I still didn't feel like they lived in that house. At no point. It's like they look too young to have a house that big, as it's just a couple who's dating. You know what I mean? It's too suburban for where I felt like they were in their lives. I remember it standing out to me in a really weird way when I first saw the movie, and it has just never clicked for me fully. And that's a very oddly specific thing. It's probably not even super fair. Like I know a lot of people who live in the suburbs. Eh, it is what it is, but that is honestly the worst part for me because everything in this movie feels like a prop to their characters versus them living in that house despite their photos on the walls.

SPEAKER_00 59:58

Yeah. The thing is, I don't know if the house threw me off as much. I feel like I don't know if did they say if it was Mika's house or her house? I don't know if they said one way or another. I feel like they kind of hinted at it being Mika's house, and she moved into his house. They obviously touched on they're not married, they're just dating at the time, but they've been together for a while.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:20

She's an English major, he's a day trader.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:23

Yeah, I think for me it was just an interesting choice in backstory for the characters, to where I just feel like it was a little bit strange and awkward. I don't know, I didn't feel the connection between them. It almost felt like they were just plopped in there, like two people on the real world just meeting each other at the condo, the flat that they're staying at for the first time, and they're just the cameras are on and they're like, all right, it's go time. That's kind of what it felt like, which I don't know, that's what ties into what I think is one of the worst parts, and we've already talked about it, is it's a toss-up on if the going rogue on the acting was beneficial or not. There were moments that were beneficial, but then there were moments that just felt like there wasn't the right chemistry. And so it didn't obviously didn't ruin the movie because the movie's still a slash, and I think it's still worth a watch, but I do think that it could have been maybe handled a little bit better.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:18

The issue also is when you have a character that is so extremely unlikable, you are really gambling with your audience on whether they're gonna care if he dies or not. So to me, it's like this guy is so insufferable that I sure hope that she kills him. I sure hope that something kills him, and I hope it happens fast. And so then why do I really care? Why do I care to watch this guy the whole time and his douchebaggery? Luckily, I think Katie helps mitigate that a bit and like level that out for sure, because not that we're getting so much exposition, but she's really good at acting. I think in general, she just portrays a lot of fear, so that's what keeps you invested is what's gonna happen to her. I don't care what happens to him, but I want to see what happens to her, but you're gambling with that. I think I would have liked to have seen a bit more of yes, I get you have to have someone be the skeptic a bit, right? And it's usually the guy because we get that trope, but maybe not so much, maybe a little bit more compassion for her, maybe a little bit more of this romance and this wanting to make sure that she's okay versus you just wanting to make it seem like you're the macho man. That's where I would have liked to have leaned a bit more on he really loves her and wants to make sure that she's okay, and not this I don't want to call a demonologist because I can handle this shit. Ugh. Yucks.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:37

It's very 2000s, man, is what it is. And listen, this movie is an easy rewatch for me, but Mika does get worse every single time I see it. So I do fear it's rewatchability the older and crankier I get.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:50

I could see it. I don't know. I put a lot of distance between watches of this movie. It had probably been a good decade since I've seen this paranormal activity. And I think it was really beneficial for the effectiveness of watching it again. Now, if this is something, and maybe I know Binks, you've watched it a lot more, but I think maybe if I watched it as frequently, it may not hit the same. So I think this film definitely has rewatch value. I don't think that it's one that you want to watch that frequently. I think it's something that you want to allow to have this kind of healthy space between watches to keep some of that effectiveness alive, if you will.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:31

Yeah, because meanwhile, I just watched this this past October and I watched it again now. So there's that. I will agree that you want to have some space in between because you don't want it to be too much of a I know exactly minute per minute when things are gonna happen, like myself. Maybe it's just a special case for me because one, paranormal stuff is my shit and I love it. But two, it's my shit because I've definitely to some degree believe this to be real. So it's always gonna get me, it's always gonna spook me out to some extent, especially things that might be happening in my home when I'm not looking. For all I know, things outside this room right now are being thrown around and tossed up, which that's lovely. But I feel like even with that being the case, I'm gonna wait a bit to rewatch this. I don't think I'll watch it this spooky season, but I definitely have it as a staple that I'd like to rewatch every so often during October. So I'll give it a break this year. I've seen it this year for 2024, 2025. We'll see what's up.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:26

We'll see indeed, but for now, there you have it, folks. Paranormal activity has earned a universal slash. We certainly had a robust discussion here, but it doesn't end here by any means.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:36

We want to know what you think. Would you have cameras in your home to record the paranormal? Let us know. You can join in on the conversation by hanging out with us for free in our Discord. Click the link in our show notes to sign up.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:46

If you've enjoyed monitoring the activity of the paranormal with us, consider picking up a Ouija board and become one of our patrons. Visit patreon.com slash hackerslash to enjoy more of the show with early access, extended episodes, bonus content, and live shows.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:02

We'll see you next time, folks. And remember, dealing with demons is not my area.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:06

So I figure I'm gonna go out and get a Ouija board.