All things perfect and poisonous

Paranormal Activity is one scary movie. So much so, that I needed to look it up on IMDB after just to convince myself that what I had seen was only a movie. I was much relieved to read that the director, Oren Peli, has another project underway, Area 51, and that the stars have future projects. The films abrupt ending, with no credits or soundtrack left me wondering, if not just a tad concerned about the fates of the stars. Meaning, Paranormal Activity might be a bit more effective than The Blair Witch Project, even without the collaborating websites and print ads to attempt to create a fictional mythology for the film.

Paranormal Activity opens with Micah (Micah Sloat) surprising his girlfriend Katie (Katie Featherston) with a new video camera. He intends to keep the camera running to see if they can get any of the creepy phenomena that have been occurring in the night on film. Nearly the entire film is from the perspective of this camera, that is either being held by Micah or o…

Color me amazed, but there is not one but TWO "chick flicks" in theaters that challenge female conventions of the genre, Jennifer's Body and Whip It. Now I'm not going to claim that either film is great cinema, but if I had a daughter, or if I even knew any teen-girls, I would want them to see these two movies.

While is isn't uncommon for horror movies to provide plenty of roles for women, it is rare to see one that actually understands the women portrayed. Screenwriter Diablo Cody and director Karyn Kusama understand girls and with Jennifer's Body, they have crafted a horror movie that does not hinge upon fear of female sexuality and power, but instead plays upon the actual horrors of being a teen-aged girl.

Jennifer (Megan Fox) and Needy (Amanda Seyfried) are BFFs and they even wear the lockets to prove it. But like so many high school friendships, the two girls are not equals. Needy is what her name implies. She's a bit nerdy, smart, and has a boyfri…