Paranormal Activity
With the film Paranormal Activity, we have a movie that opened to limited buzz with no star power and a Blair Witch-feel that went on to gross millions of dollars and become a phenomenon. The film attracted attention because of its unique distribution method: audiences were asked to go online and demand showings in their area. This unique marketing strategy paid off, and the film has become regarded as the successor to The Blair Witch Project. The movie was recently released on DVD and Blu-Ray, where I finally had the opportunity to see it.
Unfortunately, the film did not live up to the hype. I had been told that the film was absolutely terrifying, but I didn't find it in the least bit scary; instead, I found myself bored the entire film. Paranormal Activity is a film that sadly leaves a lot to be desired and does not deserve its high praise or great box office.
The film is shot like a home movie on a hand-held camera, giving it the illusion of being a documentary. Unknowns Micah Sloat and Katie Featherston play the two leads, an engaged couple living in a huge house. Since the film never really bothers to tell us what these two people do for a living, it is never explained how they can afford to live in such a huge place, but that's beside the point. Anyway, the plot of the movie concerns how these two people are being haunted by a ghost or demon of some sort and the film follows this thread through as they search the house for some signs of paranormal activity, consult a psychic and a Ouija board, and get scared out of their wits over and over.
Does any of this sound remotely scary? I kept waiting for something to happen that would be in the least bit terrifying but unfortunately the film just doesn't deliver in that respect. I scare pretty easily – when a “scary” movie cannot even scare me it is not a good sign.
The film is filled with lots of shots of Katie and Micah sleeping while something otherworldly happens to them. The silence in between these events is supposed to lull us into a sense of security, making the scary stuff even scarier. However, I think the silence just increased my boredom and my desire to see the movie end. I have no problem with movies that are a “slow burn” – I tend to prefer them, actually. Yet, when a film like this one plays with our expectations in such a manipulative way, I get frustrated and bored. I kept waiting for something – anything – to happen, and nothing did.
I think in the right hands and with a better cast, this could have been a new horror classic. However, I think that the two leads just did not have enough acting experience to pull this material off. While I admire the fact that the film is cast with young unknowns, I think some actors with some more experience could have been much more convincing and believable with this material. That's no slight against the actors, just that a horror film of this nature needs to be believable, and Sloat and Featherston do not have the acting skills necessary to pull this off yet. Also, I think the director Oren Peli made some bad choices that just distracted from the story and didn't help the material any. Shooting it as a home movie may have sounded like a good idea on paper, and it was supposed to make the film feel more authentic and realistic, but instead it just feels distracting and cheap. Casting unknowns was also supposed to add to the authenticity, but as I noted earlier, it just makes the events in the film less plausible and less scary.
I really had such high hopes for this movie as I have not seen a really good scary movie in a long time but unfortunately this film does not deliver. It's just boring and dull and not very intriguing or interesting. Don't believe the hype: Paranormal Activity is not worth the rental. Grade: D+
