MOVIE REVIEW: Paranormal Activity

After everyone telling me "Oh my God, you have to see Paranormal Activity! It's the scariest movie I've ever seen!", I set my expectations high and got ready to be scared tonight. But guess what? I never got the least bit scared. I did get pretty bored though.

When Katie and Micah experience supernatural happenings in their home, they decide to film everything.

And some of the events they film are creepy, but those things are few and far between. Weird things happen at night, and then the scenes filmed in the day just show them reacting to what happened the night before. It's incredibly slow, due to the fact that it barely has a plot.

The aspect of Paranormal Activity which grated on my nerves was its repetitiveness. Go to bed. Sheets move. Wake up. Freak out. Repeat. It was just the same thing over and over again, with an occasional change to the creepy thing happening at night, to mix it up a bit.

But the subject matter is scary. Having a presence in your home - that you can't see - terrorize you, is scary. And a few of the scenes creeped me out, but not enough for me to say that the movie scared me.

Don't fall for the hype surrounding Paranormal Activity. If you do, you'll probably end up disappointed like me. If you go into it thinking that it's not that great, you might end up enjoying it more than I did. But I seem to be part of the minority thinking that it's overrated. It's not bad, but it's boring at times, and not scary enough.

Rating: 3/5

MOVIE REVIEW: Zombie Girl

So, a 12-year-old girl made a zombie movie. I can't believe it. When I was 12, I was chasing boys and having slumber parties, and here this girl is making a movie. And Zombie Girl is a documentary about her making the film.

The documentary follows Emily Hagins over the two years it took - with the help of her mother - to make her full-length zombie film, Pathogen, which she wrote and directed. Zombie Girl shows more than just a zombie flick being made. It's also a mother-daughter story, showing how making Pathogen bonds Emily and her mother.

While I would have thought a documentary about the making of any zombie film would be interesting, this one was really fascinating because Emily is 12. She does practically everything by herself; she wrote the script, directed it, filmed it and edited it, with a little help from her mom. And she does all this while trying to balance school, homework and friends.

I loved the interviews with all the actors in the film and Emily herself. Some made me laugh (like the boy saying he liked his character because he's a dick) and some things they said I totally agreed with (like slow zombies vs. running zombies). Overall, most of the interviews are interesting, but there are a lot from filmmakers talking about making movies, which are a bit dull.

From the clips of Pathogen featured in Zombie Girl, it looks pretty spectacular. And you can buy a copy of the DVD on Emily's website for only $8! Check out the trailer and see for yourself:



Emily has already made her second film, The Retelling, which is a ghost story.

Rating: 4/5

SNL DIGITAL SHORT: Firelight

Last night on SNL, they had a hilarious Digital Short that was a spoof of Twilight: New Moon. It has Frankenstein instead of vampires! Here it is:

MOVIE REVIEW: My Name Is Bruce

Bruce Campbell plays a douchier version of himself in My Name Is Bruce, a film which he also directed.

When a teen obsessed with Bruce Campbell accidentally unleashes Guan-Di, the Chinese protector of the dead, upon his small community, Goldlick, he decides the only person who can stop it is Bruce Campbell. So he kidnaps Bruce and brings him to Goldlick to save the town. But Bruce isn't the hero he plays in his movies.... Ted Raimi plays a few different roles; one as Bruce's agent, one as the population sign maker and another as an asian stereotype.

You know you're in for a good time when within the first 10 minutes a boy gets his hand chopped off while groping a girl's boob and the hand stays there. This film was hilarious, with lots of references to Bruce Campbell's work. I loved the cheesy B-movie plot and there were enough kills to satisfy any horror fan.

People who aren't fans of Bruce Campbell probably won't find My Name Is Bruce funny because most of the jokes are references to Bruce's other films. But what horror fan isn't a fan of Bruce Campbell?

Rating: 4/5

MOVIE REVIEW: Drag Me to Hell

This week I'm going to review some movies I FINALLY just got around to seeing. First up, Drag Me to Hell. I was worried that I would be disappointed, but Sam Raimi never disappoints (yes, I did like Spiderman 3).

When Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) denies an old gypsy a third extension on her mortgage payment, resulting in her eviction, the gypsy puts a curse on her. It also features Justin Long as Christine's boyfriend.

Drag Me to Hell was a lot of fun. It was creepy and made me jump, but had a sense of humour at the same time, like Evil Dead 2. And it was so fast-paced. There was always something creepy onscreen, so I wasn't bored for a second.

I loved the characters, especially Christine. She had such an interesting back-story as a former chubby country girl. I liked how her character evolves from a sweet, quiet girl to an ass-kicking woman who will do anything to get rid of the curse by the end of the film. And I love Justin Long in anything he does.

There's a lot of gore in this film - well I wouldn't say gore exactly, creepy things that make you squirm. Like nosebleeds and cake eyeballs.

Drag Me to Hell was an amazing film, definitely the best film I've seen in awhile. I can't believe it took me so long to see it.

Rating: 5/5

An Evening With Stephen King (and David Cronenberg)!

Stephen King is coming to Toronto! He's going to be promoting his new book, Under the Dome and having an on-stage conversation with David Cronenberg, hosted by George Stroumboulopoulos (The Hour).

Unfortunately, when you arrive at the event , you draw a coloured chip and 250 people will get one with the colour that wins the chance to buy a signed copy of the book. If I go, I really hope that I win.

Tickets are $28 and $33. The event is on November 19 at 8:00 P.M at The Canon Theatre, located at 244 Victoria St., Toronto.

It's NaNoWriMo!

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. The idea is to write a 50,000 page novel by midnight of November 30. The point is to write something without agonizing about the quality and instead focus on the quantity. I have tried for a few years now but can't seem to get used to the idea of choosing quantity over quality. If you're interested and want to sign up or read more about it, check out the NaNoWriMo website.