I have recently seen Paranormal Activity. I was skeptical when the film became a phenomenon and everyone that saw the movie said how scary it was, how they haven't been that scared by a movie, and so on. If this film was as scary as everyone said it was, then it wouldn't be scary only at midnight screenings with an audience that's agreed to be scared. A good scary movie is scary no matter when you see it, so I watched it in the middle of the day. There were some scary scenes, all of which involved the night vision bedroom camera, but as movie it's sub par. As far as I can tell Paranormal Activity is about a demon trying to get Katie to break up with her a-hole, tool of a boyfriend Micah (in which case, is it really a demon?). The main problem with this movie is that the scary and creepy scenes of, well, paranormal activity are buffered by day time footage of the couple arguing and Micah doing things he's been specifically told by his girlfriend not to do and making things worse. They bicker and fight; at one point they argue to the point that Katie runs upstairs, falls to the floor, and cries. Micah apologizes to her, while still filming the entire thing. There is no question about what is happening, Katie is being harassed by some supernatural force. There is tangible evidence of this, and her boyfriend seems to believe and accept this but just doesn't care. How serious can a demon that's been following your girlfriend since she was 8 be? There's a lot more I can say about the movie but most of it wouldn't be positive. I'd recommend this movie for the creepy night vision scenes but then you'd have sit through awful scenes of a couple on the verge of breaking up. As for if it's legitimately scary, I'll admit, yeah those bedroom scenes and the ending scared me, just like I'm always startled and scared by sudden loud noises, and screaming things popping up in front of me.
Of the reality horror movies I've seen Quarantine has been the one I enjoyed the most and was least frustrated with. A news crew accompanies a crew of firemen on a call to an apartment building and get quarantined inside with the tenants and people infected with a highly contagious rabies-like disease. The filming of everything happening in the building makes sense (that's what news crews do). It's a monster movie and you can tell where it's going, who's going to make it to the end, and how it's going to end, but I had good time watching it.
Out in theaters now for Halloween are Let Me In, which left most theaters in Austin rather quickly so I don't think I'll get the chance to see it; Wes Craven's My Soul to Take which is, thank God, an original work, but it's in 3D; and SAW 3D. It's supposed to be the last of the series, but I think we're all skeptical. Even if it is the last SAW movie, it won't be the last one like it since it seems the other trend in horror movies today is to be as gory and graphically violent as possible.
The last horror movie I really enjoyed in theaters was 1408, starring John Cusack. It's a pretty good adaptation of a Stephen King short story. The film naturally expands on the story but it doesn't feel stretched out and no scenes feel like just filler moments. There's a good mixture of surprise scares, effects scares, creepy image scares, and "is this all in my mind?" scares. It's essentially a one man show and Cusack gives good performance. I haven't seen 1408 in a while but I remember it not missing any notes it aimed for and being an effective horror movie. 
People always do a double take and ask "really?" when I say I've enjoyed the films of Rob Zombie. He draws a lot from horror films from the 1970's like Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left and Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The first part of his 2007 Halloween feels like it takes place in the 70's but we know it doesn't since when the film jumps to 15 years later it's in present time. While I can't say I like the ending, it goes down the well traveled killer chasing after the girl path, I do enjoy the rest of the film very much. The movie is structured like a novel (or a series of short films) since it's broken up into different chapters, each telling it's own story and having it's own lead characters. Michael Myers is the central character, the movie follows him more than any of the other previous films, and though he's given human motivations for his evil actions we're never asked to sympathize with Michael Myers. He kills every person he comes in contact with indiscriminately. Laurie and her friends in the present day segment titled "Trick or Treat" are very convincing as modern teenage girls. 
The movie goes on a bit too long at the end and I feel like Rob Zombie missed the perfect moment to end his movie on in favor of more scares. Zombie's Halloween II is severely lacking however. It tries to be it's own movie with a tone and style different from the first movie and I admire it for that but it misses the marks it sets to hit. After a while you get flat out tired of Michael Myers killing everyone he sees and the sequel is a lot more violent and gory than the first. There is, however, a lot of great imagery that is haunting and creepy and fitting of a movie titled Halloween. 
I think I'll spend this Halloween weekend with some classic and not-so-recent movies. I've really enjoyed the Hammer horror films that aired on TCM and Peter Cushing is now tied with Anthony Hopkins as my favorite Dr. Van Helsing. I've got the Hammer Frankenstein movie cycle queued up on the DVR and I'm excited to see how Peter Cushing is as Dr. Frankenstein. Whether you end up watching newer horror movies or classic ones, scary ones or silly ones, have a happy Halloween!
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