Paranormal Activity

Movies rarely scare me. Most horror movies actually make me laugh. Not in a bad way, they are still fun and entertaining, but most of the time they aren’t scary. There have really only been two times that I’ve been genuinely scared during a movie and they weren’t even horror movies. The first time was during “The Silence of the Lambs,” and the second time was during “Zodiac.” The things that scare me are the things that could be real, some real threat that could actually happen to me. I never ever get scared by anything supernatural because I don’t believe in any of that stuff, so it’s automatically unthreatening and therefore not scary. But just because I don’t get scared doesn’t mean I don’t like horror movies, in fact I love them. So keep those things in mind as you consider my review for the new movie “Paranormal Activity.”

“Paranormal Activity” focuses on a couple who are being haunted by a demon. To get to the bottom of the situation they set up a camera to view their nightly disturbances, and the movie consists of this footage. I feel bad for what I’m about to do because I know how hard it is to make a movie, especially a good movie on a shoestring budget, and the fact that this movie got made at all is a triumph and say a lot about the hard work that went into it. That being said I’m going to trash this film now, so prepare yourself. I hated almost every minute of this movie. The only conceivable redeeming features of this film are that the acting wasn’t entirely terrible and some of the practical special effects were interesting. Other than that it was a pretty awful waste of ninety minutes. The first three quarters of the film was probably the most bored I have ever been at the movies. I was so bored it was frustrating. And the ending was so unsatisfying and predictable; what happens at the end should have happened within the first ten minutes and then the film should have ended right there. First off, you have to sit through a lot of dull exposition about these two characters and why they are video taping themselves only to be rewarded with the least terrifying hauntings I have ever seen. How is anyone supposed to be scared of ten minutes of people asleep in a bed followed by a door creaking? There is something to be said for building up tension but this film is one of the least effective at doing so. And it’s just round after round of the tedious garbage. First it shows them talking about nothing during the day, then going to sleep, and then something moves on its own in an attempt to scare the audience. I don’t like movies whose only goal is to startle you; it’s a totally empty experience.

People have been saying that this film is just a Blair Witch rip-off, but that’s being too nice. This film is like one of those YouTube videos that get passed around where there is an empty room and then all of a sudden a kid in a werewolf mask jumps out at the camera, only it lasts way too long. What I can say about the movie is this, I hated it but the people I saw it with liked it. One person was so scared they couldn’t calm down the entire car ride home. The other person wasn’t scared necessarily but he had a good time seeing the movie. So clearly there is an audience for this thing somehow and I congratulate the film makers on turning a few thousand dollar investment into millions. But this is not a film; this is a total waste of time and money.

It’s true what they say - “Paranormal Activity” is one of the most terrifying motion pictures in ages. It’s the realism that’s the most frightening aspect of the film that centers on a couple who use an ordinary video camera to capture unsettling and possibly supernatural events that take place while they’re asleep. It’s one of the few movies I’ve seen that manages to live up to the hype and as horrifying as it is, Oren Peli’s extremely low-budget, haunted feature is a masterful work of art.

The over-used comparison between Peli’s film and the 90’s horror flick “The Blair Witch Project” is true in some cases, though this film cost far less to develop at an unbelievable $11,000. Paramount Pictures made a risky move in stamping their name as the distributor, but it looks to be paying off tremendously. At first, “Paranormal Activity’s” release was vastly limited but has quickly expanded across the nation due to high demand from movie-goers. However, one case in which this and “The Blair Witch Project” are different is that the latter was all talk and no walk. Arguably the only reason for the success of the film was the seemingly endless word of mouth. In fact, the only truly memorable moments takes place in the final few minutes of the one hour and a half feature and needless to say, three moments of unexpected spooks doesn’t balance an overall disastrous product.

“Paranormal Activity”, on the other hand, starts with a bang and ends with a boom. How the characters react to the terrifying events is convincing and the story-line, which is seemingly improvised, is compelling to the film’s finish. Where genre flicks like “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “Hostel” drew viewers in by clearly stating on the cover that the movie is ‘based on a true story’, Peli’s product needs not to hassle with such desperate promotional tactics. The picture speaks for itself in that what the characters experience throughout the movie could and most likely have happened to at least one unfortunate individual somewhere in the world.

Long story short, “Paranormal Activity” is a small but enormously effective horror flick that any true genre fan needs to experience with their own two eyes. Don’t listen to what anybody says, including us regarding this picture. This haunted house flick will prove most horrifying in a dark theater packed with unexpected movie-goers just like yourself.