Though the movie had a lot of hype to live up to, I felt that it did a very decent job of visual storytelling. I personally do not believe in ghosts, demons or anything of the sort, but I could easily see why this movie is scaring the pants off of America right now. I’ve heard comparisons to Hitchcock (which might be a little bit of a stretch) and the original viral low-budget horror phenomenon, the Blair Witch Project. However, this movie doesn’t go forth without it’s share of flaws and plot holes. Don’t get me wrong…I’m not trying to sit here and put this movie on blast. For the low budget that they had, they did an AMAZING job with this movie. With limited resources, they were able to generate more intrigue and scares than most major horror releases I’ve seen in the past 10 years. If anything, I’m doing this to generate discussion. Feel free to argue, agree and list your own qualms.

Here’s a list of 10 things that I couldn’t quite get past (SPOILERS ahead):

10. - I missed out on the scariest part.

The ending that moviegoers are seeing (and innocent bystanders are overhearing in watercooler conversations) was not the movie’s original ending. As a matter of fact, the movie was originally released in 2006. Since it has been picked up and distributed, several new endings have been attached.

In the ending that I saw, on the fateful night, Katie comes back upstairs after the implied scuffle involving Micah. She is holding a knife and her tanktop is covered in blood. She takes a seat on the floor by the bed and begins to rock back and forth, the knife still in hand. Hours pass and the alarm goes off again at 6:15. Katie is in the same position, still rocking. Later that afternoon, the phone rings and someone leaves a message…all the while, Katie is still rocking. Around 10PM that night, Katie’s friend Amber stops by and discovers Micah’s body. Shortly thereafter, the police search the house. Once they see Micah’s body, they announce that they’re drawing their guns and encourage the cooperation of anyone left in the house. Once they ascend the stairs, they find Katie (still rocking). Their flashlights snap Katie out of her trance and she immediately jumps up and asks where Micah is. Unfortunately, she is unknowingly still holding the knife. After a few unheeded warnings, the police shoot her down, report their actions and continue searching the house. The picture fades to black. A picture of Micah and Katie comes up and a title dedicates the film to their memory.

I haven’t seen Micah go flying at the camera or the smile the crazy possessed-Katie gives at the end of the movie! Now I have to wait until the movie comes out on DVD! I know that everyone’s seen it already and this isn’t the type of movie that I could get Cait to go see with me. But, it is my own fault.

Also, rumor has it that Steven Spielberg suggested the new ending. Awesome. Now stop putting Shia LeBeouf in all your movies and give me some horror!

9. The freaks come out at night.

If I were Katie, I would sleep or work during the day (or go to class, which she never seemed to do) and just stay out at night. If strange things happen at night in the house, don’t be in the house at night. Granted, the demon might find some way to intervene in other aspects of her life, but it would also be a lot harder for the demon to single her out and pick off everyone around her.

8. Could I have some privacy, please?

Considering that the two of them lived in that huge house by themselves…what was the use of having a bedroom door anyway? As soon as the demon started messing with the door, I would have taken it off the hinges. No more slamming or banging.

7. Oops. Wrong door.

In the version that I saw, on the fateful night, the light comes on in the back bedroom before it comes on in the closet with the passage to the attic. Really? Even after you demonstrated how the demon comes from the attic? That doesn’t make sense to me.

6. 20 days later…

It took the demon 20 days to actually lay a hand on Katie. Besides full-on possessing her, the only thing the demon actually does is whisper to her and slam doors up to that point.

5. “I think that I left the iron on.”

On the psychic’s second visit, he takes a step inside the door, says the demon’s presence is “overwhelming,” explains that the demon doesn’t want him there and then leaves. He doesn’t say, “let me speak to you outside” or “let’s discuss this at my office.” He just says “I will help you, but I have to leave.” Lame.

4. The whole movie has an 86 minute runtime.

That’s short. That’s like kids movie short. But I’m sure that the movie studio and the theaters love it because that means they can fit in more showings. More showings means more money. And for a film with this low of a budget…everybody involved is winning. Except the moviegoer. If you paid $9 to see it, that’s pretty much 10 cents per minute just to see it in the theater.

3. Nowadays, a soft “R” is the same as a hard “PG-13.”

I can’t remember the last horror movie that I saw that was rated R only for language. Granted, there were some elements in the original version that I saw (a disturbing internet video of a previously demon-possessed victim in the midst of an exorcism gone wrong) that would validate an “R” rating, but from what I understand, that scene isn’t quite the same in the theatrical version. Also, there are only a few f-bomb-filled tirades that give the movie its “R” rating. Those could have easily been edited to make the movie PG-13 and allow more audiences to bring money in to see it. However, a certain stigma attached to PG-13-rated horror movies has developed over the years and I think the studio may have just been trying to avoid that.

2. If it’s going to be documentary-style, don’t close the fourth wall.

This movie suffered from the same ailment that The Office, Parks and Recreation, Borat and even District 9 did. Lots of documentary or mockumentary-style entertainment try to patch up the fourth wall at times to make storytelling more seamless. However, I find it really distracting. If it’s supposed to be single-camera shots with minimal edits…try to be consistent. I can recall the exact scene where District 9 stopped being documentary-style and sealed the fourth wall, only to reopen it a few more times before the movie ended. There was a scene like this in the beginning of Paranormal Activity where Micah sets up the camera in the kitchen. Suddenly, there’s a shot of Micah’s point of view, looking where the camera was…and it’s gone. You might be thinking “Duh. It’s because he picked the camera up and moved it.” BUT…the continuous sound source of Katie talking is uninterrupted. If it’s supposed to be raw stock footage, why does it seem like someone has edited it? Granted…it undoubtedly has. Otherwise, we’d be watching 21 nights worth of 8-hour sleep sessions.

The only documentary-style movie that I can think of that never sealed up that fourth wall is Cloverfield. As a matter of fact, they even alluded to it when you could see the recording of the monster’s attack was taping over the couple’s visit to Coney Island. And that’s why J.J. Abrams is amazing.

1. Paranormal Activity made it to wide release because YOU demanded it…right?

Movies that are slated to run in a limited release end up running wide release due to the distributor’s decision. If they don’t want their movie in certain cities or markets, they won’t put it there. Period. But, look at Napoleon Dynamite. It came out in limited release, made a ton of money, people wouldn’t shut up about it and then it went wide…making even more money. Paranormal Activity did the same. However…they cooked up a viral ad campaign to make you think that you could affect the studio’s decision to release it wide or not. They were going to do it anyway. When you were rallying all your friends to demand that Paranormal Activity come to your city, you were really rallying your friends to create buzz to see this movie. And as soon as it got released wide, people acted upon the instinct that they generated within themselves. Why else would they advertise that you “demand” it? You think they care? They only care about box office numbers. Way before our entire economy was in a recession, box office numbers have been decreasing year-to-year. It was a ploy from the studio to get you to spend money on a movie that it probably didn’t cost a whole lot to distribute. But…that’s business, I guess. Thank you for stimulating the economy.

There are some people in this world that are like cancer. They consume and kill your spirit. There’s nothing more that I’d like to do than to bomb that cancer with chemotherapeutic rays until it doesn’t exist anymore.