The smash-hit haunted- suburban-house thriller Paranormal Activity may not be a sequel to The Blair Witch Project (that movie already came out, and was best Read the full post.
Oct 26
2009
11:57 PM ET
'Paranormal Activity' vs. 'Blair Witch': In the end, which one is better?
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Paranormal activity sucked! It wasnt even scary!
i agree, everyone was saying it was so scary!! i just couldnt wait for it to get over!!!
I think Paranormal Activity is better, and I don’t think Blair Witch is subtler. I don’t think anything in BWP created half the atmosphere of foreboding that the time-elapsed time-code images in PA created. You just knew when the time code switched from fast forward to real time that something creepy was coming. And even when it was just a door closing and opening, it had a chilling effect. My primary memory from BWP is cameras shaking and kids screaming. Ultimately, even though Blair Witch was MUCH more cleverly executed, it worked like a slasher film: I was supposed to be scared because the characters were scared; I scream because they scream. Paranormal Activity, for me, generated a genuine air of spookiness that didn’t rely on identifying with the characters.
In terms of marketing, BW wins. It had an extensive website with a backstory going back 200+ years. The old mythology taps into our fascination with ghost stories and adds to the creep factor.
True, BW had more lore behind it – and amazingly convinced people that it was real. PA’s marketing was better though, imo. And will have a more lasting effect on the industry.
Paranormal Activity was sooo boring until the end. Blair Witch was scary most of the way through. I didn’t like PA at all.. don’t know what the big freakin deal is actually… Waste of time.
I would definitely go with BW. PA is a quality cult movie, but nothing extraordinary in the way BW was. Like all great movies BW gets better each time you watch it. How many times will you watch PA without fast forwarding to the end?
terrifying! The Entity (1981) is a much scarier demon visiting you in the middle of the night sort of film than PA ever is!
BW is the daddy of originality! It’s a complete head-messer of a film. I still get the wobbles thinking of the end scene and that guy standing in the corner of the house
Blair Witch all the way!!!
The Blair Witch Project is the scariest. Paranormal Activity is creepy and spooky at best. But I still favor The Blair Witch Project.
The Blair Witch Project definitely scared me way more than Paranormal Activity, but I found the ‘cast’ of Paranormal Activity way more likeable. Blair Witch left me itching for Heather to die :/
PA gets my vote. It took Blair Witch’s premise and ran miles far with it. Pure genius!
I loved both movies. Blair Witch was better and scarier, but Paranormal Activity still scared the crap out of me. It took forever to fall asleep when I saw it.
Speaking of that, I really need to watch BW again.
POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERTS: Blair Witch by far was the scarier movie, (to me anyway as I grew up in the hills where stories like that still exists and I literally stayed up with my back to the wall, lights on all doors to rooms closets open til the sun came up). What helped BW was that it’s campaign made it seem like those events actually happened. I still remember seeing the movie poster for the first time and it said something like “3 students disappeared while filming a documentary about a witch some years later their footage was found” so it felt like you were watching something you shouldn’t be watching. With Paranormal Activity you knew up front it was a movie trying to be a documentary and I soo wanted to be scared and looked forward to the movie but I found the “acting” was very horror movie cliche’ the psychic that comes over and can’t help but knows someone that can but lo and behold that guy is out of the country! And the psychic was not a very good actor and another thing that bothered me is they lived in a house with electricity yet everytime something would happen downstairs they would never turn the lights on. Don’t get me wrong some of the scenes were very creepy, i.e. the foot steps, pulling her off the bed but in the end I wasn’t as traumatized as with Blair Witch.
Paranormal Activity might as well be a documentary. Many people in the world, myself included, deal with demons as an actual reality.
A constant waking nightmare that you have to deal with entirely alone. As it’s impossible to speak to anyone about it, because of stigma and the majority opinion.
I think the scariest thing about Paranormal Activity is that it’s
essentially a true story for many.
Not having seen PA, I still assume it to be the better film. BW was one of the most overrated pieces of amateur college film I’ve ever sat through, twice, because after waiting over a year from the first time I saw it, I hoped the distance might let me see something there I’d missed the first time… nope. BW could easily be cut down to a 20 minute short that would be creepier and far more effective. Way, way, way too much setup and time wasting to get to the only genuinely creep in the whole film: the last 60 seconds. PA may be more of the same, but I have to believe people aren’t stupid enough to fall for an even worse hyped piece of film, right? Right?
I think both movies are better on a smaller screen; Paranormal Activity gave me the worst motion sickness of my life. The only time I could look at the screen was when the camera was level (usually, during the bedroom scenes). Thankfully, these are the only scenes worth watching, as the entire rest of the movie is comprised of the actor’s whiny bickering.
Blair Witch is WAY better than Paranormal Activity!! The ending of blair witch really creeped me out when he was standing in the corner at the end, and not only that the voices, laughter, etc…Parnanoram gets two thumbs down for me! This movie was sooooo stupid!! So Im supposed to get scared of the door moving and some stumping?? are you serious? That movie was a waste of money. If you havent seen it yet DONT, I’ve seen waaaaay better movies than that. I was literally in the movies theater amped to leave b/c it was just that dumb! I cant believe the hype and publicity this stupid movie got. I can see why Hollywood did not fund this movie, it was not worth it. I mean seriously that demon/spirit whatever it was effects was soooo horrible i didnt know if it was a spirit on the door or a blur in the screen. That movie was stupid very very boring.
Blair Witch Project is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. I don’t watch horror movies because I am really jumpy. Anything can scare me and Blair Witch did nothing. It is an awful movie. Anything has to be better than it.