So Good, It's Scary!

Rating: 7/10 (25 October 2009)

Paranormal Activity is a very unusual movie even when you don't consider the movie itself. It was made in 2007, but is only just now enjoying a theatrical release. It took just a week to film, starred a couple of unknown actors who used their own names in the movie, and was filmed at a cost of only about $11,000 using the director's own home as the set. The director also wrote the screenplay, and it was the first time he'd done either. But because Paranormal Activity enjoyed a tremendous grassroots fan base which demanded wider release (the publicity campaign for the movie was also utterly inspired), we're now all able to see this little film.
Paranormal Activity is filmed and told entirely from the point of view of a video camera purchased by Micah Sloat. He and his live-in girlfriend, Katie Featherston, have been experiencing some strange happenings in the middle of the night, and Micah wants to use the camera to see if there's anything really there. Micah and Katie joke about the camera and about whether or not anything's really haunting them. Even so, Katie takes things seriously enough to contact a psychic (played by Mark Fredrichs), but Micah even laughs at that.
The psychic doesn't think the situation is funny. In fact, he tells the couple that he's pretty sure it's not a ghost that's their problem, but something far worse. Katie is terrified, but Micah is excited. What if he can actually prove something's going on? You can almost touch his anticipation as he sets the camera up to film in their bedroom every night. But then things start to happen, and that's when even Micah realizes that the paranormal activity going on in their home is no laughing matter.
The story told by Paranormal Activity isn't entirely different from things we've seen or heard before, but the way it was handled was a stroke of brilliance. By letting us effectively be voyeurs in someone's home over the course of a few weeks, we're intimately involved in everything that happens. That intimacy makes every twist and turn all the more shocking.
Even what appears to be home video, however, wouldn't give us the sense that we know these people and are experiencing what they are if the script wasn't good. Fortunately, the script is more than good. It's completely and utterly believable. The people talk like real people, and they react like real people. There are no geniuses or heroes here, but people very much like you and me. It sounds odd, but the truth is that it's a whole lot harder to write "reality" than it is to write something quite a bit more fantastic, and Oren Peli did a stellar job.
In fairness to Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat, even a great script couldn't have saved this movie if the acting was either too stiff or over dramatic. It was neither. I swear it was as if we really were spying on somebody in the privacy of their own home. If either actor had been over the top in their performance, it would likely have ruined the entire ambiance the director was trying to set. Neither did; they were perfect.
Oren Peli's direction was excellent. How do I know? I couldn't see his hand anywhere. Everything flowed naturally. Once again, the reality of Paranormal Activity was striking, and that can't happen without careful effort. The cinematography, while reminiscent of films that have gone before (The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield come immediately to mind), was nicely done with both stationary and hand held cameras. Finish that off with some solid edits, and you've got an independent film that's better than a whole lot of what's being put out by the major studios.
BOTTOM LINE: I like horror movies, so I see a lot of them. The best ones have me jumping or cringing in my seat. But a rare and notable few have me scared not just in the theatre, but after I've left. So if you want to know if Paranormal Activity is genuinely scary, well, I'll tell you this: I did everything I could to take my mind off the movie after I saw it. I even went and saw another movie. But when I got home and got ready for bed, there was nothing I could think about or do that would convince me to turn off the light in my bedroom. Nothing. Now, how good a recommendation is that? FAMILY SUITABILITY: Paranormal Activity is rated R for language. I honestly think that it should hold an R rating for the very adult and genuinely terrifying subject matter alone! This is not a movie for those who are easily frightened, nor do I recommend you take the kids. Movie geeks and horror freaks (who know enough to realize that blood and gore does not necessarily equal horror), however, will love this one.
POLITICAL NOTES: None.