[REVIEW] Paranormal Activity

There’s no doubt we’re in the middle of a media storm for Paranormal Activity, the mockumentary-style horror film being touted as “the scariest movie ever”. While the buzz and hype is as palpable and deserved as the film is fun and effective, don’t let the hyperbole set your expectations too high. It isn’t the scariest movie ever made. It is, however, pretty darn frightening and a unique entry into the horror genre of the last few years.

The concept is simple and intriguing: a young couple, with a history of experiencing paranormal activity, set-up a hand-held video camera in their house in an attempt to capture these bizarre events. We, the audience, are shown exactly that – these recordings. Like any haunting, these “events” mostly occur in the middle of the night, and start out small with weird noises, and ending with… well… you should see for yourself.

Almost all of the film is just the two main characters, Micah (Sloat) and Katie (Featherston), who to their credit, have pretty great chemistry with each other. Their natural, fantastic performances, which weren’t explicitly scripted, lend to the film’s believability and upping the realism and scare factor. For the most part, the film uses everyday people and everyday environments in an attempt to drive it home that this could happen to you. I wouldn’t call the home-video angle a gimmick just yet, Paranormal Activity has given more credibility to the technique that The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield used before it.

The film is drawing a ton of comparison to The Blair Witch Project, the hand-held-styled micro-budget horror film from 1999 which followed three documentary filmmakers into the woods of Burkittsville, Maryland in search of the legendary witch… which they find. Not to discredit Paranormal Activity or slight the film’s effectiveness, but the comparison is totally reasonable; the film has the same feel and the theatrical experience is very similar to that of the Blair Witch. Where Paranormal Activity is different though, and ultimately better, is the film’s pacing. The “payoffs”, the scares in Paranormal Activity are far more abundant and far more jarring than the few money-shots in The Blair Witch. Paranormal Activity spans 22 nights, while The Blair Witch takes place over a few days. Both films create a monster out the night, with the scares happening after the sun goes down, and Paranormal Activity plays this hand quite well; every time the “Night #__” title card comes on the screen you can feel the tension in the theater and hear the grins tightening in the seats beside you. The film is very successful in manipulating our minds by giving us little teases here and there, slowly turning up the heat for the big finale. The last few nights in the movie are incredibly scary, the ending is sure to be talked about for a while.

Almost as interesting as the film itself, is the journey Paranormal Activity took to get to theaters. Written, directed, produced and edited by Oren Peli, the film was made with a budget of $15,000 and shot over 7 days in 2007. The film was screened at a couple of festivals in early 2008 before it caught several eyes at Miramax and was passed on to Steven Spielberg who brought the film to Paramount/Dreamworks. The film bounced around some more, hitting a few festivals and screening in a dozen U.S. cities. With the hype surrounding the film going viral, users online were able to “demand” a screening in their town; the demands quickly surpassed one million and Paramount has finally released the film nation-wide, just in time for Halloween. Dare I say it folks, we have our Saw killer right here.

Whether it was made for $15,000 or $15 million is irrelevant, Paranormal Activity is a great little film sure to separate the horror weaklings from the seasoned terror veterans. If you’re a fan of horror at all, or just love the seasonal scares that come with October, be sure to catch a screening of the flick.

Rating – 4 out of 5