Quote: Original post by AndreTheGiant
I didnt think it looked too good, glad to hear I was right.
There are a couple of weekly shows on regular TV that look as good or better than this movie.
I knew it was going to be a crappy movie, because of the way it was advertised. They said its only coming to select theatres and they begged people to demand that it come to a theatre near them. Of course people are curious/stupid so people demanded it and went to see it. Now the movie is a success and they dont feel shame for putting out a shitty movie because theyre rich now...
People really will go see ANYTHING that you put on the big screen.

Well, I heard it was like Blair Witch Project, which I liked, and that is why I went to go see it. I know those kinds of movies are not everyone's cup of tea, but I used to do a lot of filming on camcorders and Sony cams over the years, so it really makes these movies connect with me a lot of the time. However, my problem with this movie was just how boring and lackluster it was. Some of the "cam movies" I have seen and liked are:

- Rec
- Cloverfield
- Quarantine
- George Romero's Diary of the Dead
- Blair Witch Project

They are not always low-budget movies made for a couple grand. Cloverfield and Quarantine were both regular-budget Hollywood films.

I just did not like the pacing of the film and a lot of the writing decisions. I can't blame them for trying a viral campaign, and apparently it has worked.

Been addicted to Heroes of Newerth lately...

Quote: Original post by jackolantern1
- Cloverfield

So close to awesome, but it's a bit too much of a straight Godzilla remake from a first-person perspective. And the reveal happens way too early; there's no interesting scary buildup. I'm also still annoyed that they didn't just go directly into the Columbus Circle subway station and run like hell up the 1 tunnel 'til they made it to the Bronx. Their escape route took them straight across midtown, where Godzilla had been going smashy-smashy for most of the movie. Stupid.


Also, for ridiculously-low-budget awesomeness:
- Primer

Time-traveling engineers. It's an extremely complicated film if you want to understand every last detail, but it's completely enjoyable and thematically understandable if you just sit down and watch it.

Quote: No offense, but there are people who watch horror movies, and people who watch Indie Movies, and the two seldom have a big overlap.

Really? Do most people divide themselves into little groups like that? The hardcore film fans, maybe, but a lot of people will enjoy whatever. I'm capable of simultaneously loving The Descent and Juno :-)

Quote: It was similar to about a week ago, and indie theatre around me showed the original Friday the 13th, and me, being a horror fan, decided to go see it. I figured most people there would have seen it, but apparently not, and there were lots of screams from the audience throughout the movie.

Maybe because it was released before most of them were born? It's not exactly a film most people really should go seek out and watch, like The Godfather or Dr. Strangelove.

Quote: Original post by drakostar
Also, for ridiculously-low-budget awesomeness:
- Primer

You really have to watch that movie at least twice though to appreciate it, mainly because the first time it won't make any sense whatsoever until the very end. Probably has some of the most realistic acting I've seen in a movie though.

Quote:

Quote: No offense, but there are people who watch horror movies, and people who watch Indie Movies, and the two seldom have a big overlap.

Really? Do most people divide themselves into little groups like that? The hardcore film fans, maybe, but a lot of people will enjoy whatever. I'm capable of simultaneously loving The Descent and Juno :-)

The type of people willing to shell out out $15 in an Art theatre do. They have the weekly newsletter and seldom go to any mainstream movie.

[Edited by - Nytegard on October 26, 2009 8:56:27 AM]

Quote: Original post by jackolantern1
- Cloverfield
So close to awesome

Are you kidding me? That movie was like someone took Godzilla , Alien trilogy , Blair witch project ripped out all the good parts and spat out that abomination.

Quote: Original post by Tha_HoodRat

Quote: Original post by jackolantern1
- Cloverfield
So close to awesome

Are you kidding me? That movie was like someone took Godzilla , Alien trilogy , Blair witch project ripped out all the good parts and spat out that abomination.

I liked it. Some people do say it was too much like Godzilla, but it is just a sub-genre known as "big monster". The genre does not get much play in the U.S., but it is semi-popular in some other places. It is also a relatively obscure sub-genre these days, with one of the last close-to-mainstream offerings being "The Host", which was either Japanese or Korean (I can't remember, but I think Korean) and a great movie. So there are many other movies in this style (although none that I know of from a cam perspective), but we just don't hear about them. Cloverfield was also received quite well, with a 7.5 rating on IMDB from almost 125k rates, and a 77% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Much higher than almost every other horror film released that year.

I thought it was ok. Told like a classic ghost story. Anytime I hear anyone go "OMG THE SCARIEST MOVIE EVARR!!!!!1" I tend to believe the opposite. Actually that's true for most things, I hope I'm not really that smug.

I'm a fan of the movies like Blair Witch and this, though. The acting is mostly improvised, and just seems more.. natural. I find scary movies to be worth watching when I can put my shoes into those of the characters. These ones strike me as 'realistic' enough for that.

The best tiny budge tmovie I've ever seen is Primer, as previously mentioned. Quarantine actually was really good, which shocked me -- but it's damn good, if you're into scary stuff, I recommend renting it.

Quote: Original post by Pete Michaud
The best tiny budge tmovie I've ever seen is Primer, as previously mentioned. Quarantine actually was really good, which shocked me -- but it's damn good, if you're into scary stuff, I recommend renting it.

Quarantine is quite good, and one of the most tense movies I have ever seen. If you like heavy tension you can cut with a knife in your horror movies, check out Quarantine and Rec (the same movie, just remade as Quarantine). However, Quarantine was not a low-budget movie. I think would be considered mid-budget, or about average for a theatrical horror movie these days.

I pegged it as a Blair Witch ripoff from moment I saw the first commercial for it. From what I understand, Spielberg went back and re-shot the very last scene. Here's my source: The terrifying success of "Paranormal Activity"

Quote:
...
But the comparisons don't end there. Like "Blair Witch," "Paranormal Activity" owes much of its life to the Web.

The lore goes that after languishing for two years, the movie was picked up by Paramount with the intention of turning it into a lavish remake. (Neill Blomkamp's "District 9" had a similar origin, beginning its life as an indie short.)

But then the film, in all its rough-around-the-edges glory, started winning fans in high places. And when Steven Spielberg himself, who made his first splash with the low-budget horror movie "Duel," intervened, the remake was scrapped. Eventually the only thing changed was a new version of the ending, though even that retains most of Peli's original vision of the characters' fates.

"When we first tested it, people dug the ending, but they were expecting something bigger," Peli explains. "The ending was suggested by Spielberg. I've always kept in touch with Micah and Katie, so we just brought them back and shot it."

Once the movie was completed, Paramount did something unusual. With no fancy CGI or "Access Hollywood"-ready big names to help promote it, it let the audience do the work. Peli says, "The Paramount people were very smart. They knew not to market this in a traditional way. And the fans really embraced it."

First, the movie rolled out at carefully targeted college screenings, which only made people in places the movie wasn't being shown -- places like New York -- eager to get in on the action. Paramount then aggressively stoked the buzz on Facebook and pushed to make the movie a hot Twitter trend. Most ingeniously of all, the studio created a "demand it" campaign on Eventful.com, promising to give the movie a wide release if it got a million demands. Last Friday, as if on cue, it reached its goal, and the movie opens wide Friday.

Whether the demand campaign was a clever ruse to build anticipation or a legitimate zeitgeist or a little of both doesn't really matter. Like "Paranormal Activity" itself, the campaign feels authentic. Audiences like an underdog. We like to feel connection. And it takes about 10 minutes on Facebook to figure out we really love voting for stuff.
...

It was astroturfed from the start.