"Paranormal Activity" question. WARNING: SPOILERS

[Doctor Pym]

OK, like the sign says, please don't read this if you haven't seen the movie and want to do so.

Like many who saw "Paranormal Activity," I was a little underwhelmed. Yes, it has some genuinely scary moments, and it's hard to forget entirely when you turn out the lights in your own bedroom the same night, but IMO, the uncredited director could have done a lot more to make it even creepier, without breaking the rules of the film (e.g., few if any special effects; very little blood (how refreshing!); and all footage believably shot by a video camera.)

Anyway, I was wondering if one of three or four scenes that really did seem (to me) to be frightening was intended to have the effect it did on my girlfriend and myself. Here's the spoiler... in the normally lit scene near the end where Katie is weeping uncontrollably on the floor, and Micah is holding her, with her feet in the air and light from another room shining behind them, one of her silhouetted feet looks strange... almost anatomically impossible (unless some of the toes are subtly tied together)... Given what happens to Katie by the film's end, and the shape of the footprints left in the powder earlier, this seemed like a nice, creepy touch. And Katie's foot is so close to the center of the frame, it seemed like the kind of thing that could hardly be an accident. But maybe it was, and we were just so starved for some really eerie content by that point, that we read too much director's intent into it. Anyone else notice something there?

There were two other moments that I'd have to give a thumb's-up to as genuinely (and obviously intentionally) scary, but the rest of the film had potential it didn't exploit.

Any other thoughts from people who've seen it?

[CocoPUFF]

i havent seen it yet, but i hear its very scary.. i have yet to see a movie that really 'bothers' me ( besides Elektra) and i'm hoping this does the trick!

[Darth Pain]

I heard this movie sucked. A friend of mine saw it and said it wasn't scary at all.
From the previews, I wasn't impressed. People screaming at a door opening up and slamming?? lmao
I'll save my $10.

[rilynil]

Dr. Pym, I didn't notice what you're asking about, other than noticing that her legs were crossed at her ankles when she was leaning against the wall. I'd have to see it again to know for sure.

I loved this movie. It's so great to watch a movie that intends to actually creep you out and unnerve you rather than give you an hour and a half of well-lit, CGI gore and call it a horror movie.

[HalJordanFan]

This movie sucks. Not stinks, but sucks. All the way through. It could've been done much better if the 2 stars had half a brain. The lead male needed to die from the get go.

I wish I was smart enough to save my $20.00! Oh well.

[boondocksaint]

i didnt enjoy the movie...

the chick was kinda sexy she had nice feet and boobs...lol that was the best part of the movie...the drag out of bed and down the hall scene was cool but overall was very boring and had 1 or 2 creepy scenes

[boondocksaint]

oh and i didnt notice the messed up foot part

[Doctor Pym]

In general, I've always thought that what you *don't* see (but know is there, close by) can be at least as scary as, or even more scary than, what you do... at least, for awhile.

And for awhile, IMO, "Paranormal Activity" uses this to very good advantage. For example, I loved what Micah realizes (and says out loud) when he's looking at the footprints. What we see when he plays back the recording of that encounter, later on, is pretty cool, too.

But there were still a lot more terrifying things they could have done, even sticking to the rule that they're never actually going to show us the you-know-what.

And here's something I've always wondered (though I'm not really complaining)... how can invisible things cast shadows?

[batman1180]

The shadow was intentional. Remember where she is talking to the "Doctor" guy who comes to help them and says that when her and her sister were younger they used to see like a shadow standing by the foot of their beds.

[AsOneDead]

It could have been a shadow person.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_people