'Paranormal' ending? I hated it
Don't worry if you haven't seen the horror hit "Paranormal Activity." I will not reveal the ending here.
However, I will say that I hated the last 15 seconds, because the cheesy jolt ending was completely out of sync with the well-mounted. "Blair Witch"-like realism of the movie up to that moment.
The 2007 movie, which cost a mere $11,000, had an original ending involving cops and a shooting. (You can see it by Googling "Paranormal Activity endings" and selecting any of the Web items.) I didn't particularly like that one.
But I did think a third ending would have been the best. In it, demonically possessed Katie (Katie Featherston) kills her boyfriend Micah (Micah Sloat) off-screen, then walks into the bedroom, looks at the camera, then calmly cuts her throat.
Gruesome and chilling? Exactly.
But distribution honchos wanted the current ending, because it gives audiences a cheap thrill, which translates (they think) into a bigger box office take.
The switcheroo ending reminds me of a similar situation with 1987's "Fatal Attraction," in which obsessive, psycho lover Glenn Close commits suicide to the music of "Madame Butterfly," and leaves behind incriminating evidence guaranteed to implicate her married lover Michael Douglas in her death.
His life will be ruined. What a perfect, creepy act of ultimate revenge.
But focus groups didn't like the ending. It was too boring.
So, a new ending was shot in which Douglas drowns Close in the bathtub. When she magically comes back to life, Douglas' wife Anne Archer pumps her full of bullets that splatter blood all over a stark white bathroom wall.
Focus groups loved it.
So, what could have been a smart and eerie little thriller was reduced to a sensationalistic sellout, one step up from a brainless "Friday the 13th" slasher fest.
And it made a lot of money.
Reel Life review: 'Boondock Saints II'
Troy Duffy's long-awaited sequel, "Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day," concocts the same insane blend of gun fetish, inverted religious invocations, bloody killings, giddy stunts, cool sunglasses and ridiculous tattoos as his comical cult action thriller "Boondock Saints" did back in 1999.
Hard-core fans of the original will be in boondock heaven. Everyone else might think of a hotter location.
The execution of a Boston priest brings back the fraternal twin vigilante killers Connor and Murphy MacManus (original stars Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus), who've been on the lam for eight years in Ireland with their gun-toting Poppa (Billy Connolly).
The local mob (look for a crazed, overacting Judd Nelson) trembles with the thought the Boondock Saints have returned to Beantown to start knocking off its members, again.
Taking over for Willem Dafoe's investigator, FBI Agent Eunice Bloom (a Southern-drawlin' "Dexter" star Julie Benz) struts into town with stiletto heels and powers of deduction that a "CSI" cast would envy. She has a not-so-hidden agenda in a convoluted plot that has the twins searching for a mysterious mob kingpin called "The Roman" (played by a secret guest star).
There's never a dull moment in "Boondock Saints II," and no doubt Duffy's mix of testosterone, guns and action will find its intended audience.
In this film, attitude trumps acting and character succumbs to violent actions. The only performer who comes off with any depth or personality is Connolly, the poor man's Sean Connery.
Duffy, a Boston bartender when he penned the original script to "Saints," slaps together an amusing crime tale dripping with empty, stylistic excesses that are at best a rewarmed hash of John Woo and Quentin Tarantino.
The best Duffy movie for my money is "Overnight," a 2003 doc about how Duffy once had the movie world at his knees, then blew it in a spectacular "Top of the world, Ma!" explosion of ego and paranoia.
"Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day" opens today at area theaters. Rated R for violence, nudity, language. 117 minutes.
Off to see the Wizard
If you've never seen "The Wizard of Oz" on the big screen, now's your chance. To celebrate the film's 70th anniversary, "Oz" returns to local theaters for one night only, 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Tickets cost $10. For theaters, check the Daily Herald movie ads or log on to FathomEvents.com. Or you can follow the yellow you-know-what.
8-hour zombie attack!
The Horror Society presents the Zombie Outbreak Film Festival, 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Saturday at the Portage Theater, 4050 Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. Tickets cost $12. Go do horrorsociety.com/festivals. These underground offerings aren't for kids or adults with heart conditions. "Chemical 12-D," shot in Gurnee, comes from three DePaul University filmmakers: Mac Eldridge and Dave Wagenaar of Gurnee, and Rob Davis (son of Daily Herald Editor Jim Davis) of Naperville.