Many current horror movies have profited successfully at the ever fickle box office. The trick, however, is how to present a horror movie that captures the audience and truly frightens them.  As a result, many horror movies have adopted the documentary style film to really rake in the audiences and consequently, rake in the money. Two of the latest documentary style horror movies that are in theaters are “The Fourth Kind” and “Paranormal Activity”.

These two latest movies have had basically the same reaction from the audience as “The Exorcist” did in the 70’s. The Exorcist was a big hit because the filmmakers presented it in a way that was revolutionary and new to audience members in that era. The new concepts and revolutionary plotlines entranced audiences nationwide. Over the years, horror movie audiences have gotten harder to scare, resulting in a box office crisis. However, horror moviemakers decided to turn up the scariness factor and reclaim their genre’s standing at the theater.

The movie “Paranormal Activity” is the story of a young couple who are supposedly haunted. They soon realize that the girlfriend, Katie Featherston, is indeed haunted by an evil entity that is hell bent on killing them both. The movie is made to look like it was shot from a video camera that through most of the movie is set on a tripod in the master bedroom, where most of the midnight encounters take place. The theory behind the success of documentary style horror movies has been proved true:  “Paranormal Activity” is the top grossing independent film to date. Freshman Emily Galloway said, “I totally recommend “Paranormal Activity”, but bring a pillow, because you’re going to need to hide behind it, I had nightmares for three days straight!”

“The Fourth Kind”, however, does not focus on evil spirits and haunted houses, but has more of a sci-fi feel to it. Dr. Abigail Tyler, played by Milla Jovovich, interviews various people in modern-day Alaska. Alien abduction researchers say there are four kinds of encounters in the field of extra terrestrial research, which is an underlying theme in the movie. UFO sighting is an encounter of the first kind; collected evidence is an encounter of the second kind, contact made between humans and aliens it is an encounter of the third kind, and an alien abduction is an encounter of the fourth kind, like the title of the movie. The movie is more of a documentary than horror flick, but the fright it instills in its audience is reminiscent of a classic alien invasion horror movie.

Both movies challenge the average person’s views of paranormal activity and alien abduction theories. Is it because of the documentary style of filmmaking? Is it because the movies claim to be true stories or inspired by them? Is it even just the hype that has been generated by the public? The only thing that is certain is that these two movies and their documentary style of filmmaking have captivated audiences nationwide and have struck box office gold.