Paranormal Activity
Movie Review
Paranormal Activity
by Eric D. Snider
Grade: B+
Released: September 25, 2009
Directed by:
Cast:
From the dark underground of film festivals like Screamfest and Slamdance comes "Paranormal Activity," a low-budget horror flick that uses its do-it-yourself aesthetic to great advantage in scaring the pee out of viewers. Rather than building elaborate (and expensive) sets or relying on horrifying (and expensive) special effects, first-time filmmaker Oren Peli simply shot the whole thing in his own house, an ordinary, un-scary three-bedroom home that could easily be my house, or your house, or anyone's house. Ergo, the terrifying things that happen here could also happen ... well ... you see where I'm going with this. Good luck sleeping tonight!
Like "The Blair Witch Project" or "Cloverfield," "Paranormal Activity" purports to be documentary footage shot by its subjects, in this case a young couple named Micah Sloat and Katie Featherston, played by actors of the same names. The "engaged to be engaged" pair has been experiencing unusual sights and sounds at night, and Micah has bought a video camera to try to capture whatever it is on tape. (Those who were made queasy by the other films I mentioned will be glad to know that Micah has a steady hand when he carries the camera, and he sets it on a tripod or other stationary object much of the time.)
Katie takes the whole thing more seriously than her boyfriend does, having been plagued by these phenomena off and on since she was 8 years old. Micah's approach is more practical: We're going to film everything, we're going to analyze the recordings, and we're going to put a stop to this. Before too long, he's scared enough to stop cracking jokes about Ouija boards and psychics.
And that's the premise -- simple and elegant and ripe with possibilities, which Peli explores to a highly satisfying and bone-chilling degree. Everything in the film was shot by the characters, which means you'll need to get over the impulse to wonder why they keep filming even when things turn scary. And Peli lets the suspense build slowly and gradually to its terrifying crescendo, so impatient types beware.
The crucial scenes are the ones at night, with the couple asleep in bed, a small light left on in the corner so the camera can capture whatever happens. Upstage is the bedroom door, left open to permit us a view of the dark hallway beyond it. The camera is motionless, of course, so there's nothing directing our attention to any particular part of the screen. If something alarming occurs, it could come from anywhere within the frame, and at any moment. The tension is often unbearable, and it's not much of a relief when the anticipation is over and the real fright kicks in.
The daytime scenes, which help regulate the pace of the film so it's not constantly operating at maximum capacity (this is good for your heart, too), are by necessity less compelling than the nighttime ones, and there comes a point where you might wish we could omit them and just stick to the good stuff. The film needs them, though, and the two actors -- this is essentially a two-person story -- have a natural chemistry and rapport that bolsters the film's believability. That's crucial, too, of course. What happens to them could happen to you. I sure hope it doesn't, though, for your sake.
Grade: B+
Rated R, a fair amount of harsh profanity, general scariness
1 hr., 26 min.
Copyright © Eric D. Snider.
This work may not be transmitted via the Internet, nor reproduced in any other way, without written consent from Eric D. Snider.
This item has 19 comments
October 13, 2009 at 2:43 pm
This movie sounds very scary. If I liked to be scared out of my wits, I would definitely watch it after reading this review. It's just that I don't.
October 14, 2009 at 10:06 am
richard dutcher has a new one called "evil angel" that was at screamfest. i know cuz we are facebook friends.
October 17, 2009 at 4:58 am
the worst movie that you can ever watch.. it is a total waste of time and money
they should give people money to watch it
October 19, 2009 at 10:29 am
This movie was ok,the begining was kina boring, but towards the end it gets creepier and creepier.
October 21, 2009 at 9:19 pm
This movie sucks. It isn't scary and is quite boring. Seeing it was a colossal waste of time and money. Eric, if this movie scared you, you are a bigger sissy than I thought.
October 22, 2009 at 12:32 am
pretty creepy, it progresses from the beginninng. last twenty minutes or so was very intense, gets your heart pumping, especially last scene. the ending is open ended and what really scared me was after i got home to my dark house, in my dark room, with everyone else asleep but me.
October 24, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Personally, I just got finished watching it with a few friends of mine that had seen it the day before. I knew what was coming, yet I did not until I experienced it for myself. Things like this do happen, maybe not as intense as getting drug out of a bed and possessed, but small things. Footsteps, running water, keys lying where you had not left them. I loved the way it was filmed and heard that the sound effects were actually recorded in the director's house. The shadows, however, were not. I was pleased with this movie. I will be seeing it again.
October 26, 2009 at 4:31 am
I liked this movie. Even the daytime scenes were kind of funny. I actually thought there was a decent amount of humor throughout to go along with the tension and fright. Someone who came out of my theater asked me if it was real? Even though I thought he was an idiot, the movie had a very real feel to it that can fool some small minded people...lol.
October 30, 2009 at 12:44 pm
I'm with Dave. I wish I could watch scary movies, because so many of them sound excellent. This one especially. But I just can't handle them. I think I would have a nervous breakdown after watching something like this.
November 2, 2009 at 11:50 am
Seriously people???? This movie was so dumb. I have never seen a movie so dumb!!! I don't like supporting people who go around filming themselves and then call this one of the scariest films ever. I could do that myself. DUMB! DUMB! DUMB! Oh did I forget to say this movies was DUMB!!!!
November 3, 2009 at 12:25 pm
I don't know how people can rate scary movies. Here's how my scary movie rating checklist goes:
was it scary? check.
alright, 5 stars.
This was a great movie, and I was scared out of my mind. Your comment about the tension being unbearable, and then when something finaly happens there's no releif is dead on!
November 8, 2009 at 11:17 pm
This was not a terrific movie,or a good movie.Actually this "movie" was terrible. I heard that only about $11,000 was used to shoot the film and I can honestly say that figure seems way over budget. It might merit one star but only one out of a hundred.There was actually a person who walked out 45 minutes into the flick. I should have followed his lead. Definitely a stinker.
November 20, 2009 at 11:24 pm
It was intense and I had to cover my eyes in a few scenes. My heart was racing and I needed a stiff drink when it was over.
December 13, 2009 at 5:25 am
I really liked it for what it was: a scary movie, and I wish more people would film like this, it adds so much more to the realness-feel of the movie. Also it's nice to be able to say "i told you so" to my friends who claim that non-hollywood actors are crap, this movie definitely convinced them otherwise. Great review, I couldn't agree more
December 14, 2009 at 6:55 am
Like posters #1 and #9, I do not have the enough amount of guts to watch this. Everyone I knew already did. Yeah, I'm a milksop.
December 26, 2009 at 3:28 am
This was the most boring movie I have ever seen in my life.
I thought the set-up in the first act was good (using the psychic to expose the logic of the situation, and the concept of demons), but the film did nothing for me.
I actually fell asleep twice (for about a minute or so) while watching it.
Boring, boring, boring.
Can someone recommend a horror movie to me that will really scare me?
January 17, 2010 at 9:40 am
I didn't think this movie was scary...at all. I wouldn't go so far as to say it was boring, but after all of the hype about how terrifying it was and how it was the scariest movie ever, I was really kind disappointed that I was not scared in the least, not even once.
January 17, 2010 at 5:12 pm
People who don't think this is even slightly scary either don't have an imagination, or aren't letting themselves go fully to the movie experience. How people can say it's boring or NOT scary is beyond me. It's a lot more scary and suspenseful than a lot of modern mainstream horror.
January 19, 2010 at 9:06 am
I think if you are scared of the dark, this thing will definitely scare you. If you were never scared of the dark, it won't scare you. Kind of how Blair Witch really scared some people and bored others. It depends on what YOU find scary.
I personally hid under my seat and made my date let me hide in her armpit for most of it.