Paranormal Entity/8213 Gacy House

So today I watched a pair of "found footage" films that seem best reviewed together.  I have mixed feelings about these found footage movies.  In some situations they work to develop fear and a connection to the "filming character".  In other situations they seem to rely of jerky camera work and a lot of screaming and/or panting.  Sometimes the jerky camera work and panting works - see "Blair Witch Project" for an example (though still not my favorite of this genre - the film style actually makes me a bit motion sick).  Sometimes the jerky camera work and panting does not work - see "8213 Gacy House" as an example of what not to do.  So much time is spent running and scanning rooms and "seeing" ghosts that I simply couldn't ever find (honestly I ran the film back at least ten times to try to see the shadow/ghost image everyone freaked out about in the bedroom... I never did see it) that I never really established any relationship with the characters at all.

And characterization is what, in my opinion, makes these movies sink or swim.  The movie that all "found footage" films seem to be trying desperately to emulate is "Paranormal Activity".  The reason that movie worked for me was that I truly felt like I got to know the characters.  To this day I still can feel my annoyance (I didn't say you had to like them, you just had to KNOW them) at Micah when he decides it's a great idea to start whacking around with a ouija board.  Note to people who think they may live in a haunted house, or may be possessed by an angry demon (or hey, maybe the demon doesn't even have to be angry... it IS a demon afterall) - DON'T play with ouija boards.  Did "The Exorcist" not teach you anything??  Anyways, characterization is very important and that's where "Paranormal Entity" and "8213 Gacy House" veer off in very different directions.  In "Paranormal Entity"  (or "PE" for short) there were a total of three characters - Thomas (the lead guy who carried the camera for most of the camera scenes), Samantha (the victim) and Ellen (Thomas and Samantha's mother).  The characters were simple to keep track of and I actually liked them all.  Again, not a prerequisite for a movie, but in this case I found myself rooting for the ill-fated characters all the way through.  In "8213" there were a bunch of 20-30 somethings.  For awhilPe I wasn't sure who all the guys were but here's how I broke them down - there's Franklin - the older professor guy who seems to call the shots, Mike - the annoying main guy (I think) who keeps telling everyone to stay in the house even when it becomes pretty freaking obvious they should get the fuck out of there, Robbie - the guy who looks a lot like Mike but is doing Lena (one of the three blond chicks in the movie), Gary - the slightly geeky guy who is a prerequisite character in any haunted house type movie with more than five characters.  Now for the girls.  There are three blond girls - one with straight hair named Lena who screams a lot and fucks Robbie, a curly haired girl named Janina who is some type of psychic or something (it's never really explained what the hell she's doing except maybe pissing off spirits who would be better left alone -- see "ouija board" for more information) and another blond curly haired girl named Tessa who seems to be nothing more than a filler for another body.

The camera work is another major part of these types of films and, again, "PE" does a much better job with it.  It's easier to see what is going on, there are more still scenes and there is really only one cameraman.  In "8213" there are at least four cameramen/women and it's very hard to see much of anything.  It's not scary it's just spastic.

In the end, I really enjoyed "Paranormal Entity".  I found it to be enjoyable and while not jump out of your seat scary, it was still spooky and suspenseful.  I especially liked the scenes with the bells.  "8213 Gacy House" was anything but scary.  It was a chaotic mess of a movie and I seriously didn't understand or care what actually happened.  Here's to hoping there are more movies like "Paranormal Entity" and a lot fewer "8213 Gacy House" in the future.

Paranormal Entity

8213 Gacy House