Scary movies are in season, and one of the products of this year’s Halloween season is the movie “Paranormal Activity.”
The film may not present the murdering slasher America has come to expect from horror films, but it finds the means to deliver the shivers to audiences just as well.
Combining the documentary through-the-lens style and agonizing suspense, “Paranormal Activity” is a contribution to the horror genre that really gets you into the holiday spirit.
Directed by Oren Peli, “Paranormal Activity” uses the mockumentary approach so the entire movie feels like real footage or video documentation.
“Paranormal Activity” distinguishes itself with static, set camera angles that create horrifying suspense.
The film begins without a title or credits. It merely has a notice from the producers thanking the families responsible for “providing the footage.” The film focuses on the couple Katie (Katie Featherston) and Micah (Micah Sloat) and the strange occurrences that happen inside their house.
Katie is convinced that since she was a child, she has been followed by a strange and haunting presence, but Micah is skeptical and gets a video camera to try and document the invisible intruder as they sleep.
After a while, there are enough strange occurrences and video footage to convince Micah there is a problem. Instead of hiring a doctor like Katie begged, Micah decides to take the matter into his own hands.
Micah’s arrogance in taunting the apparition and constantly documenting every step causes the couple to get into spats of fighting. Things only get worse for the couple when Micah brings a Ouija board into the home against Katie’s wishes.
While I sympathize with Katie and her horrifying situation, I find Micah to be an arrogant, egotistical jerk who put his lover’s life in danger just to prove he is in control of a situation he does not fully understand.
Despite the crazy events happening, he always seemed to make Katie’s fears humorous. Micah’s character is pretty irritating, but that kept me pulled into the movie.
Unlike most horror films, where the movie immediately throws the audience into scary or grotesque images popping out of nowhere or demented killers running amok, “Paranormal Activity” uses subtlety to ease the audience into a good scare.
The movie is about an hour and 36 minutes long, and at least half an hour of the film is spent getting to know the lovers and their house.
Peli’s direction causes a kind of anxiety that the first part of the movie almost made me forget it was a horror film. I was rudely awakened from that illusion and was ripped right back into reality every time the lovers went to bed. The film is not based on a true story, but the way the movie felt real added a pleasing touch.
One downside to “Paranormal Activity” is how the movie is pretty slow to get into the action. Like the movie “Jaws,” the feeling of suspense and anxiety are emitted when watching the film because of how little you actually see the antagonist.
That normally is not a bad thing, and it definitely sets it apart from movies like “The Blair Witch Project”, but when you wait over half an hour in an hour and a half long film to see any action, it gets to be a little too much.
One of the reasons the movie has become so popular is how they released it to the masses. Paramount Pictures originally placed the fate of the movie and where it is played solely in the fans’ hands. In order to watch the movie, fans had to go to the “Paranormal Activity” Web site and demand that the movie be available to theaters in their area.
According to the film’s Web site, more than 1,000,000 people from around the country demanded the film play in their city. In response, Paramount Pictures agreed to release the movie nationwide on Oct. 16.
“Paranormal Activity” is a decent movie for being both a low budget movie and a mockumentary.
In all honesty, the film did not live up to the hype it was getting, but it still can leave you looking over your shoulder at night. I give “Paranormal Activity” 2 ghosts out-of 4.
‘Paranormal Activity’ haunts movie theaters
Published: Monday, November 2, 2009
Updated: Monday, November 2, 2009
3 comments
Kathy
Paranormal Activity is in my top 3 scariest movies of all times. I also found Michah's character to be extremely annoying at times. I found it a little hard to believe with all the crazy stuff going on...that the characters weren't taking things a little more seriously. I would have been freaking out...but it is a movie afterall, and they were building a plot. I would definatley recommend this movie to scary movie buffs. I'd give it 3.5 ghosts out of 4.
Kathy
Paranormal Activity is in my top 3 scariest movies of all times. I also found Michah's character to be extremely annoying at times. I found it a little hard to believe with all the crazy stuff going on...that the characters weren't taking things a little more seriously. I would have been freaking out...but it is a movie afterall, and they were building a plot. I would definatley recommend this movie to scary movie buffs. I'd give it 3.5 ghosts out of 4.
Courtney
It's awkward how you used the term "lovers." You should have just referred to them as "couple" or "young couple." And you spent too much time attacking Micah's character. He's the reason there is a movie. If the "demon" hadn't gotten so upset, the movie would have been an hour and a half with no action. And the first half hour having no action definitely made it more terrifying when things did happen. It was brilliant how things progressively got worse as the couple became more and more stressed out.
