The power of hype, the failure of genre...

Rating: Null/10 (30 November 2009)

Oh crap why did I pay £7.00 to see this. I so wanted to believe! That an unknown film maker on a shoestring budget had really delivered a terrifying experience. That I would have trouble sleeping etc. Thanks for making me see how easily my desires can be manipulated. A successful exercise in hype, that's the only reason I'll remember this piece of god-awful, plodding pap.
If you've seen this by now, let's reminisce now on how wanky it was. A psychic who looks like a geography teacher adds precisely zero back story with his lame protestations that the presence in the house is 'too much for him' As if! and the bloke who he suggests never shows up! Having seen Drag Me To Hell, Amtyville Horror, The Exorcist etc I well understand the genre dictates certain staples - concerned clergyman or 'man in touch with the other side' who puts the willies up the audience with his vague mumblings of encroaching evil. The innocent protagonists have to be clueless and powerless to stop this happening, and the audience demand to see at least the horror in the faces of the actors, if not the actual horror itself. But Paranormal Activity labours every point it tries to make. From tired knocking sound to goose bumpy sleepwalking this poorly paced shocker meanders through the clichés to a dismal end that leaves no one wishing for a sequel. Somewhere in the mix the film maker had a shred of good intention and a grasp of cranking up tension, but the finished article is simply not good enough for general release. Only hype has saved it from laughable box office returns. Avoid at all costs.