PARANORMAL ACTIVITY (2007)

This one centres in on couple Katie and Micha who have been experiencing 'something not quite right' with the house they are in... is it haunted? Posessed? The couple aren't overly worried at this point, as Katie has has experienced some level of supernatural activity much of her life from childhood onwards... and really, it's just the odd 'clunky' noise and things moving in the night...  The couple decide to investigate what is going in in their house, Micha decides to start recording the goings on in the house via and old video camera and bit by bit stuff starts getting weirder.

Micha who is new to the whole paranormal thing thinks its all fun and games, but Katie starts to think maybe they are pushing whatever is in their house too far especially when Micha starts messing with an ouija board.

This is a rather well layed out movie shot in the 'found footage' style of film that had become a bit of a thing at the time. While there's no level of gore or horror in  this film, it is a well made and captivating and riveting watch the whole time. If you've ever experienced things going bump in the night at your place this will hit you a psychological level. Nothing in this film comes across to me as contrived or cheesy. Katie is super-cute too which makes the viewing rather easy on the eyes as well....

EDIT: This movie really impressed me! As a side note, I decided to do some research on the film and it turns out (well, according to wikipedia) that this was the most profitable film ever made when based on a costs v return ratio as the film would have cost virtually nothing to make yet made a huge impact at the box office. It proves to me that one person can do a lot with a shoe-string budget and only 7 days to work with, my hat comes off to you Mr. Peli... you have created a masterpeice!

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TRICK OR TREAT (1986)

More 80's Cheesiness here, with Trick or Treat. For those old enough to remember, Heavy Metal was a dirty word in the 1980's with Tipper Gore (wife of future politician Al Gore) leading a movement called the PMRC (Parents Music Resource Centre) which condemned rock n roll and heavy metal as tools of the devil and even tried to get many heavy metal bands banned or censored, claiming some bands had backmasked messages in their songs which would subliminally influence the youth of America.

This movie is based loosely on that controversy in a tongue in cheek fashion using the idea that heavy metal can summon the dead. It follows the trials and tribulations of Eddie, a young metal fan who is getting mercilessly bullied at school. His Idol, and heavy metal legend Sammi Curr (who co-incidently went to the same high school many years earlier) dies and Eddie manages to summon his spirit when inadvertantly playing Sammi's last unreleased recording backwards. The returned Sammi Curr then wreaks his revenge on unsuspecting victims and of course it's then up to Eddie to try and stop his Idol Sammi.

This movie is quite watchable if you like 80's Shlock, and 80's heavy metal (which I do),  but I'm not sure how others would take it. Honestly, there are a couple of cool little cameos including Gene Simmons (KISS) and of course Ozzy Osbourne perfectly cast as a concerned preacher looking out for the youth of the day, but  if you don't like 80's heavy metal this will probably bore the shit out of you. The 80's was a special time full of awesome denim and big hair that now looks so cringe worthy its almost worth watching the film for the fashion horrors alone ... which many of us lived!

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