Halloween Options Part 2

For this post, I am only goning to talk about 2 films, but they are both reviled as being "awful films" but my first experience with each of them are truly memorable.

Blair Witch Project- I dont remember the exact circumstances, but my friend Eric and I, who were both married, had a bachelor weekend. I think my wife was on a trip with her sisters and his wife was at a Girls Camp or something. Anyway, it was the weekend that The Blair Witch Project was going to come out. For the initial roll out, it was only playing at one theater in our area, The Tower. We decided to catch the first showing at Midnight, so we went early to get tickets.
It was sold out.
But, the ticket seller asked, would we like to get tickets for the 2 am showing they were going to have since it ws selling so well.
We thought , sure, so we bought the tickets.
I will be honest, I dont remember what we did that evening. I dont remember if we each went home and took a nap, knowing that we would be up very late, or if we hung out and ate and chatted and watched something else on video. I dont know.
I just know that when we showed up at the Tower at about 1 am, there was already a line for the 2am showing. Most of the audience was dressed in black and most of them were females. Redheaded females (or maroon as Eric remembers it. Probably, truth be told, mostly fake redheads which leads to the maroon color.) . I still to this day do not understand why all the black clad red headed female witches showed up to the showing that night, but there they were.
The Tower was undergoing some renovation and there were folding chairs along with the regular chairs. I think we got a folding chair, but I may be mistaken on that memory. All that I know is that when the lights went down, the audience was with the film. Maybe it was the sleep dep, maybe it was the weird feeling of the redhead witch vibe, all I know is that I was on the ride with the film and the last shot is still more bone chilling than anything in any of the Friday the 13th films.
We got out of the film about 3:45 am. Since neither of us could sleep, we both went straight to work. Since we were both pretty much the only ones there at that early hour in our own respective workplaces, we both jumped at every light flicker, slight sound or anything. On my end, it was a very bad day to be making room on the New Release Wall at Blockbuster at 4 am.
While the sequel was nowhere near as good, it is a very interesting time capsule. The star is Jeffrey Donovan, who would later go on to be the star of the TV show 'Burn Notice'.


Paranormal Activity- This came out in October 2009. I kept wanting to see it but never got around to it. I bought a used dvd copy and carried it with me a lot along with my computer so that, if I ever got to it, I could watch it. I started it 4 or 5 times, but seriously only got in 3 or so minutes each time because I kept getting interruped.
When my dad got sick in Spring 2010. It was one of the films that I had with me along with my computer. I had, maybe 10 films with me. My dad died June 12, 2010. After he died, I had insomnia and could not sleep. At all. I have always been a night owl and generally, if I dont have to be up early the next day, I stay up until at least 1 every morning, maybe 2.
So, I was in Southern Utah, Hurricane, to be with my mom after my dad died. My wife was with me for a lot of it, but bounced back and forth to take care of various things in Salt Lake and to give my mom and I some space to take care of the paperwork involving the death of a father and a husband.
Because of my night owl-ness, I would not realize that it was going to be an insomnia night until 3 or so in the morning. With my wife not there to gauge me on this particular night, I knew that there was no way I was going to sleep until at least 6 am or so. So, I went to my stack of movies to watch.
The only one I had not seen was Paranormal Activity.
There is a reason that the small town is called Hurricane. There is a very heavy wind that rips through the town most nights and it was roaring that night.
I plugged in my laptop, laid down in bed and placed the computer on my chest.I put headphones in, and settled in to watch the film.

Watching Paranormal Activity for the first time about a week after your father dies, with actual wind howling outside, at 3 am on a laptop computer screen inches from your face with headphones pumping the sounds directly into your brain is the best (worst? creepiest?) way to watch this film. It freaked me out and had me looking over my shoulder the next 24 hours.