The Most Over-Hyped Movie of the Year!

Rating: 3/10 (30 October 2009)

Oh how I so wanted to be scared of this film. And truly appreciate its "artistry". But sadly, I am mundane and skeptical. Here is a film made for less than $15,000 that is now on its way to grossing over $100 million domestically. It is pretty much "The Blair Witch Project" ten years later. While that film captured true horror by never showing us anything remotely 'horrific', it was the idea of the horror that led us to find the movie chilling and heroic.
"Paranormal Activity", which by the way should read 2009, not 2007, under IMDb, is a loathsomely tedious experience. It builds nicely- I admit I was nervous in the first thirty minute cycle. We meet the couple. He is a salicylic investment banker, she's his clingy girlfriend. They move into a nice house that has a pool that's apparently larger then their turf. But we know from the start why this is shot on a handy-cam. He has been videotaping their life because of the "activity" that has been going on. Weird noises at night. Bumps from downstairs. And worse of all- unexplainable happenings like fires starting, footsteps appearing, and actual levitation miraculously occurring.
Perhaps what makes this synopsis so frightening are two things. One, the couple appear to be real. Its like watching your friends on home video. Two, no music soundtrack. So you basically have to endure long periods of silence while their sleeping, ultimately wondering what will happen next. That part's scary. What's not scary is what actually happens. (Do not read further if you don't wish to be informed).
Without giving away too much, let's just say the happenings become more hokey, and if you're not religious you'll really laugh a quite a bit of what happens (there's a scene where the woman is dragged out of bed by the "demon" and flung to the floor, where the door slams behind her.) Many screamed in the audience. I was trying my best not to laugh too hard.
The conclusion of this over-hyped fiasco is what really makes me cringe. Without giving too much away, let's just say too much is revealed in too scarce amount of time for us to care, or sympathize, or even understand. If you've seen "The Ring", you'll get a general idea of where I'm coming from.
"Paranormal Activity" has been dubbed by some as the most frightening movie ever made. Hardly. It's not even the scariest film of the year. It's clever at best, but not scary or frightening except maybe when you dread what will happen. The critics who knight it the best ever have either only watched movies that have come out in the past decade, or simply have not seen "The Shining", "Jacob's Ladder", "A Nightmare on Elm Street", "The Silence of the Lambs", "Psycho" or "The Exorcist"- let alone "Rosemary's Baby"- which is still the best horror film to contrive the idea of demonic happenings without revealing it. Save your money on this dud and rent it on Netflix. You're sure to conjure up more "paranormal" activity in your own work life then what is presented here.