Haven Season One

Finished up with Season One. Wasn't sure what to expect, and in the first few episodes I wasn't sold. But as the show carried on, and we got introduced to more of the cast and the events it managed to sell me.

How many of these supernatural, weirdness shows can we get invested into anyway?? They all seem to be variations of one another.. The X - Files, Supernatural, Fringe, Haven.. Same base idea with some twists to make it their own.

This show is supposed to be based on some of Kings work. But from what I was able to read from Wikipedia I don't see much but a thin thread of a connection really. But what makes this show different for me than the others of it's kind I guess would be the fact that it's grounded on one location.

Everything is happening in Haven. Whether it be the place or the residents. And the down home rural 'Murder She Wrote' feel of the show, or the casting. The show is apparently done near Halifax, Nova Scotia really seems to bring this out. Being about a place or fixed location makes it different. And seems to be setting a tone of mystery to the show. Let alone a 'creature' of the week routine that seems to be a staple of the genre. And something I was concerned about when I first started to watch the show. And they have done. But theirs is just weirder events, no vampires or werewolves here. And hopefully won't be coming up.

And with the finale, and premiere of season two really throwing the things on it's head about the lead character. I'm looking forward to the next episode to see if anything she thought she knew was true or not..

So getting back to all these shows that seem to be cousins with one another, it's doesn't seem so much about whether they all have similar ideas. But how they decide to execute these ideas. So I guess this may mean a vote of confidence for Hollywood not having any original ideas and just rehashing everything. As long as they rehash it well.. And that means good writers.

3 stars out of 5

Paranormal Activity 2

Seen this one on opening weekend. Wasn't quite sure what to expect from it. Being a sequel and as I have learned, a prequel I guess I did expect more of the same.

But what it seems I got, was exactly the same, just with different names and a new house. By the time the movie was over I was glad to be leaving the theatre.

The movie was pretty much the same as the first one. Although they did do an interesting job of tying them both together. And the other problem, is for some reason the lead actress looks very familiar but I can't seem to find out from where. I would have greatly preferred an entire cast of unknowns. Which, it mostly was to me but for her.

Seeing as this was a clone of the first movie, the plot was of no great surprise. And neither was any of the bumps or moving doors or anything of that nature. Sticking so close to the original pretty much destroyed any suspense or surprise that this movie may have contained. There wasn't even any mystery to be had. At least the first one had some mystery, and a general tone of horror, like a blanket settling over the people in the house. That something was very wrong.

It's never a good sign for a horror movie when the audience is laughing and snickering more than jumping or just silent. And the verdict was in before the movie was even half over.

Disappointing, but not totally bad.

3 stars out of 5 (Probably should wait for DVD)