The Movie That Ushered The Era Of Found Footage Horror Flicks!

Rating: Null/10 (2 October 2015)

Paranormal Activity is that indie chiller whose unexpected box-office success brought back found footage subgenre of horror into the mainstream and spawned an era that saw almost every horror film using the POV-shot technique green-lighted into production by the studio, whether it packs in a compelling story or not being one aspect that doesn't play any role.
Paranormal Activity tells the story of a young couple who move into their new house in San Diego. When the girl confesses to her camera obsessed boyfriend that she's been haunted by a supernatural entity all her life, he sets up the camera in their bedroom to record any paranormal activity that takes place while they sleep and ends up capturing many strange occurrences in the house.
Written, co-produced, photographed, edited & directed by Oren Peli, Paranormal Activity is shot on a mere budget of $15000 and features a very simple premise, only two characters & vast amount of nothingness in its story but what really makes it work is the excellent use of silence & waiting to create an aura of tension as well as its greater emphasis on believability over action & gore.
Filmed with a home video camera, the film's POV technique is nicely executed for the most part but also overused. Plenty of sequences have no reason for the camera to be there but since it's our only eye into these character's lives, the forced camera-work ends up making the guy character seem like a freak. The performances are amateur and the only thing worth watching in these dull characters' lives are those supernatural phenomena.
On an overall scale, Paranormal Activity is a pretty decent horror flick that offers a couple of genuinely chilling moments, does a fascinating job in turning its limitations to its advantage, and is a fantastic debut feature for Oren Peli who did a commendable all-round job to bring it to life. While many consider it to be the picture that's solely responsible for revitalising the found footage subgenre of horror, Paranormal Activity never really adds anything new to the world of horror and its influence on the found footage flicks that followed has far more to do with its box-office performance than its content.