Paranormal activity in our view.

Rating: 7/10 (14 September 2010)

Paranormal Activity
There hasn't been anything like this since The Blair Witch Project, but did Paranormal Activity do the hand-held camera idea better? This film knows how to make you insecure and nervous in your own home, and the way it's shot only adds to this effect as it feels like a voyeuristic intrusion into somebody's personal life. And in this case, the personal lives we follow are those of the Katie, who suffers ongoing torment at the hands of a mysterious unseen demon, and her husband Micah, who only really serves to worsen the situation. Both are played by low key actors, which removes the veil of Hollywood and releases the realistic elements of their lives.
This realism works extremely well in the horror genre: this could be you. It plays on every fear, from the corruption of Katie's childhood to the isolated way in which they both live. We never see anything away from their haunted property, and any relief in the form of helpful visitors is short lived as nobody seems willing to help. It may be unusual for a horror film that we never really see or understand what the evil force in the house really is, but our own fear of the unknown only heightens the horror. It does, however, follow other conventions: most of the really scary moments take place at night, when the unknown entity strikes when the unsuspecting couple are asleep and at their most vulnerable. I'm sure that a childhood fear of the dark is something we can all relate to, and something we'll all return to during the film. Even the scenes during the day keep us in suspense, making the audience nervous in preparation for the true horror to follow at night.
Overall, the film works as an interesting and genuinely scary take on the horror genre and definitely worth watching, although hardcore horror fans may find it a little slow and reasonably tame, as the scares are more psychological than outright gory.
Laura McCormick, Jessica Brown, Maria Perry.