All I Need!

  I wrote this review in 2007 for a small newspaper called The Prairie Independent . It’s still one of my favorite things I’ve written. It’s also a good example of mixing movie writing and memoir – my ideal mode.   When I was a kid, the next door neighbors were odd. They didn't leave the house much. He was a pianist, she a housewife. One night, I awoke at 3:00 a.m. and heard a faint popping sound. I went back to sleep. In the morning, my mother was distraught and police cars were everywhere. The housewife had shot the pianist dead during the night. It came out that he had been abusing his wife for years, gradually building over time, until she was finally pushed over the edge. But why did they continue to live in this situation? Why didn't she seek help or move out? They remained cut off from the world, until something really bad finally happened. In Paranormal Activity , a young woman, Katie, lives with her boyfriend Micah. After moving in together, she shared with hi...