Slides By On Interesting Concept

Rating: 5/10 (10 March 2017)

After being told that "Paranormal Activity" was the "next big thing" in horror movies (in line with The Ring and Saw), I wanted to experience the phenomena first-hand. Unfortunately, despite the film's knack for making you continue to watch just to "see what happens", it left me disappointed in the end.
For a basic plot summary, the film focuses on a young married couple who begin experiencing some strange phenomena once their heads hit the pillow at night. It starts with little things, like creaky noises and bumps in the night, but eventually escalates into footsteps, moving sheets, and slamming doors...too obvious to be anything "naturally occurring". The young couple then must decide what to do next...run away, or stay and fight this invisible force.
The interesting angle of this movie is that it is shot in a format not seen since The Blair Witch Project...handy-cam (for lack of a better word). However, the manic flailings of "Blair Witch" are tamed down this time into a simple camera on a tripod recording all the action. Whereas most traditional horror movies try to scare you with disfigured antagonists or bursts of well-timed creepy music, this effort just lets the "camera do the talking". It is a very unique way of creating suspense, and thus at least held my interest until the very end.
The big problem, though, is two-fold: repetition and incredible annoying characters. Every night, the same thing happens: a noise startles the man, who curses a few times, which wakes up his wife, who pleads with him not to go downstairs (which he always does anyway). That same sequence happens literally every night until the very end of the film. It doesn't help that both characters (played by Katie Featherston & Micah Sloat) do nothing but annoy each other (and thus the audience) for the duration. Micah treats the whole ordeal as a joke, even when the visual evidence is too much to deny, while Katie is reduced to little more than a scream-machine (albeit a very attractive one).
Thus, although Paranormal Activity is indeed a novel way to create a horror film, I can't wholly recommend it due to the shallow characters and repetitive plot. Up until the final couple of minutes, the plot is so tired and slow as to almost be boring at times. Let's just say that when PA 2 premieres this October, I won't be in the theater.