Category Archives: Paranormal Activity
Bed and Breakfast with a Side Serving of Ghosts
My ghost hunting friends and I recently headed out for another investigative jaunt with the South Jersey Ghost Research Team. The site chosen this time was the Salem Creekside Inn in Bensalem, Pennsylvania. Armed with out protective amulets (mine was rosary beads around my neck) we arrived at the Inn to meet with the lead investigators, Dave Juliano and Marti Haines and several other ghost hunters. Last month, at an investigation of the G.A.R. Museum, we had an encounter with spirit who informed us via recorder that he was, in fact, a demon. Unnerving, to say the least, this pesky demon caused us to lose one of our members, and me to sleep with my bible for several days. Like I said before, this is not an activity to take lightly. Since the Salem Creekside Inn was much older than the museum, we had no idea what spirits would be encountered…but encounter we did. Join me on the haunt, after the jump.
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Saturday At The Movies: A Ghost Hunter’s Spoiler Filled Review of Mama
The other day, my friend and I went to a matinee showing of Mama. We were the only two in that theatre and hopefully no one heard our screams. Mama has enough surprises and twists to land on my “keeper” list. This Spanish-Canadian horror film was directed by Andres Muschietti and is based on his Spanish language short film from 2008. Produced by J. Miles Dale, Barbara Muschietti and Guillermo Del Toro, this dark tale starts with the financial crash of 2008 and a crazed father (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) abducting his baby girls after killing his business partners and then his wife. Where is good old dad taking Victoria (Megan Charpentier) and Lilly (Isabelle Nelisse)? All we know is that his hold on sanity is long gone, and the girls are at his mercy. After crashing his car, dad finds an abandoned cabin. The children are hungry, afraid, and Victoria is blind without her glasses. Daddy dearest decides to end his life, but first he must kill the girls. Why do people want company when they kill themselves? Dad points his gun at Victoria, but something interferes. Meet me after the jump.
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Tales of Ghosts, Gettysburg and Lincoln
I’ve been to Gettysburg several times now. I love American history, especially anything that concerns the Revolutionary War or the Civil War, wars that cover the birth and near death of our Country. Not a topic to take lightly, especially when standing on a battlefield. I went to Gettysburg with my friends for the first time, two years ago. We went mainly to do some ghost hunting, but the history of that place has a way of drawing you down a rabbit hole to the past. The first night there, my two ghost hunting friends and I wanted to get a feel for the place and learn about documented hauntings so we went on two ghost hunting tours, wanting to save the battlefield for the next day. Ghosts have a frustrating habit of not appearing on demand, but people pay for these tours thinking there is a written guarantee that a ghost will jump out and scream, BOO! They don’t, and believe me, you don’t want them to. More on ghosts after the jump.
A Ghostly Adventure at the G.A.R
Our ghost hunting team had the opportunity to join the staff of the Ghost Hunter Store of Mt. Holly, N.J. and the South Jersey Ghost Research team to investigate the Grand Army of the Republic Museum and Library, in Philadelphia. Our team had all the equipment needed, including flashlights, cameras, divining rods, night vision equipment, voice recorder and most importantly, rosary beads.
When we entered the museum, we not only stepped back into time, but also the bloodiest war ever fought on American soil. Our first stop was “Old
Baldy” the beloved war horse of General George G. Meade. In the next room was “The Old Army Mule and a presence that three of us felt right off. No…not the staff, but a spirit. Who was this ghostly resident? Find out after the jump.
Saturday at the Movies: Paranormal Activity 4
Paranormal Activity 4 was released this weekend just in time for the Halloween horror cash grab, and although it was exciting to be part of the ‘fan voted’ advance screening in Toronto, the movie doesn’t really make my cut. In the same spirit as the Oren Peli created Paranormal Activity, this movie relies on a variety of filmed footage to reveal the plight of a family being haunted by evil spirits.
If you’re a fan of the first 3 movies, this continues the story of Katie, Hunter and the bizarre coven. Minimal spoilers – the movie doesn’t rely very heavily on the original storyline.
I didn’t find this to be a scary or compelling horror movie, but Paranormal Activity 4 does have its moments for those seeking a fun “jump out of your seat” date night. Check out the trailer and more after the jump.
Trailer Time: Paranormal Activity 4
The Paranormal Activity franchise rolls on this October with the release of Paranormal Activity 4, which looks as though it’s aiming to try to tie everything together. This new trailer definitely has some creepiness to it, but I have to say I’m nowhere near sold on this new girl who seems to be the focus of the film. That being said, I’ll still be there opening night to hopefully have the crap scared out of me. Check out the trailer below and let us know if you’ll be seeing Paranormal Activity 4!
Saturday at the Movies: Chernobyl Diaries
Chernobyl Diaries is the latest “found footage” style horror flick to hit the big screen. Released this week to theatres, it stars a cast not worth mentioning led by director Bradley Parker in a significantly forgettable debut. The only notable name in the movie is Oren Peli, the screenwriter behind the Paranormal Activity Movies – and from watching the flick, it’s painfully clear that this movie was sold based on Peli’s previous efforts.
Chernobyl Diaries tells the predictable story of a group of young American tourists who, desperate for adventure, place their trust in a foreign adventure tour guide who offers to take them to Pripyat. Pripyat gained notoriety when it was flagged as a ‘safe’ zone near the Chernobyl reactor; tourists began to come in just to see the town’s state of abandonment, since being evacuated suddenly during the disaster.
The allure of seeing this authentically creepy historical artifact sucked me in to this movie just as the hapless victims are sucked in to the contrived plot. I’ll keep the spoilers to a minimum but really, I think you already know exactly how Chernobyl Diaries plays out.
Second Time Scary: Andy Burns On Paranormal Activity 2
For a guy that likes horror films, I surely am a wussy fraidy cat. I admit it. I keep my hands over my eyes when I’m watching certain films, even if I’ve voluntarily sat down to experience them. That’s just the way I roll, I suppose.
And that’s just the way I saw while I was watching Paranormal Activity 2 the other night with my pal, Denny B. You may recall last year’s interesting experience with the first film; the short version – I walked out of the film slamming the performances and the repetition, but was then unable to sleep that night when I got home. With those memories still vivid, I didn’t think I would be so keen on seeing the sequel leading up to opening night, but timing is everything and it turned out I was able to get away for a night at the movies with a buddy. I’m glad I did.
Paranormal Activity 2 is not only one of the best horror films I’ve seen in some time, it’s the rarest of all sequels – one that actually improves upon the first. In this particularly case, I don’t think there’s any question that PA2 is the vastly superior film. Without giving you too many spoilers, I’ll say that we’re in very familiar territory with this entry into what appears to be an ongoing franchise. A house, a demon, and various cameras capturing intimate moments in a haunted house. This time out it’s a family that’s being terrorized – widowed Dad, new Mom Krisi, newborn son and Dad’s daughter from his previous marriage (along with a dog for good measure and the required growling). While the character count is higher, there are significant connections to the first film, with Krisi actually the sister of Katie, who we last saw all demon face after killing her boyfriend Micah. Both of those characters return in PA2 but I’m not going to be the one to tell you how. Just know that you’ll be satisfied with the explanation.
Paranormal Activity 2 follows many of the same stylistic tropes of the first film, almost to the letter – the bumps in the night and the obvious found footage technique. But with stronger performances from every cast member (including those returning) and a story that actually builds a mythos and offers up plausible reasons for the hauntings, PA2 managed to engage me in ways that the first never even came close to.
Oh, and it’s pretty darn scary too. I had a few eyes virtually closed moments, especially in the penultimate scenes. Wussy fraidy cat, right over here. And keep in mind, all the terror came without mass amounts of bloodletting or decapitations. One’s imagination can be pretty scary when given free reign.
One final observation. If you’re like me, the notion of talking during a film apart from an occasional whisper is throughly ridiculous and rude. However, during the screening of PA2 that I attended, there was an abundance of chatter occurring. This didn’t bother me, though. I think it’s because most of seemed to be a direct result of the general unease and fear that Paranormal Activity 2 was able to generate amongst everybody watching. The nervous laughter, the shrieks, screams and “whoahs” that popped up every few minutes – in my mind it was the sign of an audience that needed to constantly remind themselves that it’s only a movie.
It is only a movie, isn’t it?
