Paranormal Activity (2007)

I wasn’t sure what I was going to review for this week. To my surprise, no new releases as far as horror movies came out this week. I had purchased a DVD a couple of weeks ago, and that was going to be my review for this week. Then I woke up on Friday morning, and discovered that Paranormal Activity was going to get its national release, starting this weekend. I quickly called people I try to watch movies with, but being on such short notice, everyone already had plans. Even though Paranormal Activity got its national release, after a Demand It Now online campaign, it is still somewhat a limited release. Being in the Dallas/Fort Worth area though, I knew I would be able to find it somewhere. I did find it in fact, even if I had no idea where the theater was located. It was one I had never been to before, and to make matters worse, the road leading to it was closed for construction, so I had to figure out a different way to get there. Why go through so much trouble? Paranormal Activity is probably the most hyped up movie since The Blair Witch Project. If it didn’t do anything for me, I at least wanted to see how other people would react to it.

Katie (Katie Featheston) believes she is being haunted. Katie, and her boyfriend Micah (Micah Sloat), have lived in their new home for a few weeks now, are have noticed some rather strange things. Micah has come up with the idea of buying a camera in order to try and catch some of the things they have been noticing around the house. This is where the movie starts for us, with Micah first using the camera, the back story is told to us a little later. This is pretty much the entire plot of the movie.

The plot, like the movie itself, is pretty simple. This is what makes it so effective though. Even though Paranormal Activity is being compared to The Blair Witch Project, it actually only shares two things with that movie. One is that they are both “discovered” films. The other is that they leave a lot to your imagination. Outside of that, they are completely different films. A lot of people that didn’t like The Blair Witch Project said they didn’t because we don’t actually see much of anything that scares the group we are following. Paranormal Activity is kinder in that respect. They do show us a few things here and there. What worked best for me is not what we end up seeing, but what we don’t see. The unexplained noises were getting to me much more than what they let us see. Some people are complaining that nothing happens in this film either. That isn’t entirely true. I felt that there just wasn’t enough that happened, seen or not. I enjoyed what was there, just wish there had been more of it. The film is a little slow in places, and it all takes place inside of the house. It would have been nice to see them interact with the outside world more often than we do. These are the only things I found I didn’t care for, but they are rather minor to me.

Not a lot for effects, but to be honest, I wasn’t really expecting anything. A few minor CGI effects are to be found. We can thank Steven Spielberg in part for this it seems. He suggested a new ending, and director/writer Oren Peli went with it. From what I have read, there are a couple of different endings. The ones that Peli came up with sound more interesting to me. Not that the ending took me completely out of the film, like it seems to have done for some.  But it feels more Hollywood than the rest of the film. I felt the acting was very well done. The lead actors do a good job with the material. Considering this is something that we will likely never have to go through, they pull it off well.

Paranormal Activity is a little hard to talk about. With the plot being so simple, I’m trying very hard not to give away any key plot points. Should you believe the hype for this film? Many are calling it “the scariest movie ever.” This is a good thing as far as Paramount is concerned, since it gets people into the theater. Hype is a dangerous animal though. It builds up everyone’s hope that this is the film that will scare them once again. I didn’t walk into it expecting to be scared by it, but I was hoping it would do just that a little bit. There were times when the tension was building that I could feel that happening, but the pay off just wasn’t enough to even get me to jump. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy it any less though. I would have liked to have watched one of the other endings, or possibly a combination of them. If you have watched the movie already, just do a search about them, because information is out there about them. There was some talk about remaking the film, but I’m glad they released it as is, so speak anyway. Paranormal Activity offers some interesting things to see and hear. There is a little bit of comedy to be found, mostly in what is being said at times. If you believe in ghosts, or even partly believe in them, you should check out this film. If you can find it playing close to you, it is well worth the trip to go see it.

4 out of 5 Ghosts like even numbered days, who knew?