Paranormal Activity

Plot synopsis:
Young couple Katie and Micah move to a new house in San Diego. Katie claims an evil presence has been haunting her since she was a child, so Micah sets up a camera in their bedroom to record any paranormal activity that occurs while they sleep. A famous psychic Dr. Fredrichs, who reveals that Katie is being haunted by a demon that feeds off of negative energy and is intent on tormenting Katie, advises them not to communicate with the demon and to contact demonologist Dr. Johann Averies if needed. Katie seems interested, but Micah does not take this seriously.
The camera manages to capture many strange occurrences, which are minor at first, such as noises, flickering lights, and doors moving on their own. However, Micah taunts and mocks the demon, worsening the situation. During the thirteenth night, the demon angrily screeches and there is a loud thud, causing the entire house to vibrate. Voice recorder tests are conducted by Micah the following morning, which reveal demonic grunting when Micah asks if it would like to use an Ouija Board. During the fifteenth night, Katie, in an apparent trance, stands beside the bed and stares at Micah for two hours before going outside. Micah tries to convince Katie to go back inside, but she refuses and appears to remember none of it the next day.
Micah brings home a Ouija board, which infuriates Katie. When they leave the house, the camera records an unseen force moving the planchette to form an unknown message on the Ouija board, which then spontaneously catches fire. Katie sees the video and pleads with Micah to contact the demonologist, but again he refuses. During the seventeenth night, Micah sprinkles baby powder in the hallway and bedroom. The couple are awakened by creaks, and find non-human footprints leading to the attic, where Micah finds a burnt photograph of a young Katie, previously thought to have been destroyed in an unexplained house fire. Katie finally calls the demonologist, Dr. Averies, but he is occupied.
The events of the seventeenth night have psychologically terrified the couple, which in turn has strengthened the demon. Over the next few nights, the paranormal activity is excessive and intense. They eventually call Dr. Fredrichs back to the house, but he is overwhelmed by the demonic energy upon entering. He apologetically leaves despite their pleas, stating that his presence only makes the demon angrier. The bleak reality causes the couple to lose all hope, which makes the demon strong enough to be able to pull Katie out of the bedroom and bite her, causing her to become fully possessed. Micah discovers the bite mark and deciding events are too out of control to remain in the house, he packs to head to a motel. Just as they are set to leave the possessed Katie insists they will be okay now.
The following night, Katie gets out of bed and stares at Micah for two hours before going downstairs. After a moment of silence, Katie screams for Micah, seemingly being attacked by the demonic presence; he abruptly rushes to help her. Suddenly, Micah exclaims in pain, Katie stops screaming, and then heavy footsteps are heard coming upstairs. Micah's body is violently hurled at the camera, which is knocked off the tripod, revealing Katie, now a demonic human, standing in the doorway. She slowly walks into the room, stained with blood. She crawls to Micah's body and then looks up at the camera with a grin. As she lunges toward the camera, her face takes on a demonic appearance just as the scene cuts to black. Epilogue text states that Micah's body was discovered by the police on October 11, 2006, and Katie's whereabouts remain unknown.
=== Alternate endings ===
Once Paramount acquired the film, the original ending was scrapped, and two new endings were developed for the film, one of them being the one seen in theaters (the scrapped ending was shown at only one public viewing).
==== Original ====
After going downstairs on the final night and waking Micah with a scream, only Katie is shown returning to the bedroom, covered in blood and holding a large bloody kitchen knife. She sits beside the bed, holding the knife and rocking herself for hours. The next day, her friend Amber calls and leaves a message, expressing concern. That night, Katie is still sitting and rocking by the bed, and Amber can be heard entering the house. During this short period, Katie stops rocking, but when Amber screams (presumably after finding Micah's body) and runs out of the house, she resumes her motion.
Half an hour later, police enter the home and discover Micah's body as well. They find Katie and call to her. She wakes from her catatonic state and seems confused. As she approaches them with the knife in hand, they ask her to drop the weapon, but then a nearby door slams shut, startling one of the policemen, who shoots and kills Katie. The police investigate the area and find nothing but the camera, still running. The screen fades to black, as a dedication to the deceased Katie and Micah is displayed.
==== Paramount alternate ending ====
In this ending, available as alternate ending on the home releases of the film, Katie gets out of bed and stands staring at Micah, as she did in the theatrical ending, except she does not move to Micah's side of the bed. After three hours, she goes downstairs and screams, waking Micah, who runs downstairs. The same screams and heavy footsteps are heard. After a moment of silence, Katie re-enters the room covered in blood with a kitchen knife. After closing and locking the bedroom door, she approaches the camera and promptly slits her own throat, before collapsing dead. The scene then fades to black.
==== Unfilmed alternate ending ====
A third alternate ending was written in which a possessed Katie would corner Micah and bludgeon him with his camera, while viewers watch from the camera's point of view. This version was deemed too complicated and too brutal to shoot.

Tags: dark, boring, psychological, murder, paranormal, horror, atmospheric, haunting, psychedelic, entertaining

Review:
Scenery - granted that the whole movie is filmed in or on the characters' house, the static viewpoint of the camera gets a little boring.
I'm not easily scared, but given the circumstances in which I watched PARANORMAL ACTIVITY I was quite tense.This film is a lot like Blair Witch, Cloverfield in the use of the home camera, but the way in which the characters in PARANORMAL approach their situation is rather realistic and believable.
The only thing I had a problem with (as far as believability) was the exorcism footage they looked at on the net.Maybe I would have been disappointed if I had driven half an hour to the closest English language cinema to see this film when it comes out in December.
A couple decide to document their nights while they sleep, after they hear strange noises that they believe to be a haunting.I respect this film, for the fact that it was shot for less than 20,000, had absolutely no marketing campaign and has become a huge success based on word of mouth and the audience demanding to see it.
Compared to The Blair Witch Project, where you couldn't see a damn thing to be scared of, and Cloverfield, which just made me nauseous from the jerking camera, this film at least has steady camera work most of the time.
So, while his stupidity starts to wear on you, its a slightly more plausible reason for the continual filming than say Blair Witch Projects "THE CAMERA IS ALL I HAVE LEFT!!!" moments.
The movie should have been scarier if I had had more empathy for the characters.Anayway I enjoyed watching this film, but the hype made me expect more..
Young couple Katie and Micah plan to film their home at night while sleeping in hopes of capturing evidence of a ghost that seems to haunting them, or more precisely Katie, since this is not the first time she has experienced these type of visitations.
It helps that Ms. Featherston is an unknown (it's difficult to imagine caring this way about a recognizable actor) but her ability to create a believable and sympathetic character is remarkable and turns an effective thriller into something extraordinary.It's not often that a movie will truly have me on the edge of my seat.
Watching it I was reminded of those days long ago when I first saw "The Exorcist", "Halloween" and "Alien"; movies that have stayed with me over time as moments spent in a theatre genuinely frightened.
Paranormal Activity is a creepy horror thriller with just the right amount of suspense from writer/director Oren Peli whose admirable in making this movie that doesn't rely on cheap scares and CGI effects to entertain the audience.
I enjoyed the fact that instead of relying on CGI and cheap thrills writer/director Oren Peli chose to use more practical effects like the sounds of footsteps, growls, a door closing shut, lights going on and off, and loud bangs to scare the audience.
However, Micah borrows an Ouija board endangering their lives.After the original "The Blair Witch Project", many low-budget movies made with hand-held camera have been released and the only exception that really worked is the Spanish "(REC)".
I cannot understand how a viewer can startle or fear with the awful scenes and noises, unless those that are easily influenced by the marketing of smart producers that releases a cheap crap wrapped in advertisements and fake reviews promoting the movie.
Dollar for dollar, you get about a zillion times more entertainment out of Paranormal Activity than you do out of even good blockbusters like Iron Man, let alone such overblown, overfrenetic, overloud crap as Transformers.The movie is set entirely in a single house and features only 2 actors, both nonentities, aside from fleeting appearances by a couple of equally unknown supporting actors.
It's all filmed with a consumer video camera, and much of the film is devoted to what that camera, mounted on a tripod in the young couple's bedroom, captures on its ultra-low-light setting as they sleep each night away for 2 weeks in late 2006.As we learn in the opening sequence, it's a pretty expensive camera, and Katie Featherston (playing a character of the same name) is fretting over the cost, but her boyfriend, Micah Sloat (ditto), assures her that he makes that much money in a single morning.
In fact, almost all the shots are long, fixed- camera, wide-angle perspectives, and you can see exactly what's going on at all times (including the time stamp in the lower right corner).All of which make this the kind of movie that I'm always hoping for — an original story, well told, effective, using believable characters and, at least in this case, not needing a huge budget to get the job done.Since I saw it the same day as Pandorum (3), with its seizure-inducing stroboscopic credits, I must also say a good word about the closing credits for Paranormal Activity: 3 minutes of total black screen.
In his review of "The Blair Witch Project," Roger Ebert said, "The noise in the dark is almost always scarier than what makes the noise in the dark." Indeed, that film terrified audiences 11 years ago by exploiting that fact.
This is now in my top 3 best movies of all time (If you don't have annoying people laughing in the theater while you watch it).
The only scary thing about this movie was the fact that today's youth actually seemed to believe that the footage was authentic.I cringed every time a "night scene" began.
I've been so disappointed with recent horror movies, (and yes I've read threads where people actually liked the Grudge)that I've begun to think that Americans couldn't make horror films anymore.
I cant tell you much without giving stuff away, so all I have to say is that this movie is a must watch once it is released worldwide.Just like Tubbx3 said, "What really makes this film shine above the rest, is the fact that the characters are really relatable (for anyone in a relationship) you find yourself feeling for the two.
PARANORMAL ACTIViTY is a very ordinary haunted house movie about a VERY ordinary couple who film spooky things when they sleep.
Yes it does and it is a far better film with seriously chilling exposures and a fantastic and real appearance of a very scary ghost....totally unlike PARANORMAL ACTIVITY.
I wanted to mention why I think this film has been so profitable - and it's not because of the movie itself, which I didn't find to be that great or that scary.
It's because of the marketing.The extremely limited pre-Halloween release combined with the TV ads and internet trailers showing people watching the film and apparently having a jump-out-of-their seat fright-after-fright sort of time, created a demand that will probably go unchallenged in the future as moviegoers are unlikely to fall for the tactic a second time.
But other people may find it enthralling - some reviewers have already said as much.I watched it on my own, and I think I'll sleep quite well, thanks.It's a shame, really: a scary movie without gore is something to strive for.
Then I made the mistake of actually watching the movie.My verdict: Bad enough to make the crowd laugh at the "scary" parts, and boo at the end.
Ten years ago, two guys, Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez, put together a scary little film on a peanut-shell budget and utilized the still-fledgling Internet to create a seemingly "paranormal" phenomenon which became known as The Blair Witch Project.
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY (2009) (zero stars!) Hugely overrated 'horror' film about an annoying young couple (egregiously acted by Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat) find they are being haunted and instead of leaving their apartment, decide to record the events on the ever-present video camera that acts as a surrogate for the audience since it cannot even begin to depict some truly scary moments (Not.One!) Novice filmmaker Oren Peli resorts to loud, thumping noises off-screen and grainy night-vision sub-par visuals that the end result is headache-inducing inanity.
I just didn't get it - it was like watching Big Brother Live in the middle of the night, but even more dull.Several reviewers have made comparisons to The Exorcist, but this wasn't even as funny as that old gem of horror comedy.
I found Blair Witch Project infinitely more interesting, and even a little scary - it did everything that this film failed at.The ending was a relief, to be perfectly honest.
Not only was it unbelievably boring, the characters were less interesting than Kraft American cheese(the individually wrapped ones) and the one scary scene was in the last 30 seconds of the 'film'.(which was a totally cheap, effortless and uncreative scare, at that.) I honestly believe that people are trying to seem film savvy by finding this movie unusual in some way because they can't admit what a total piece of s*** it is.
I forced myself to watch this movie till the end trying to realize what was all the hoopla about.It has been a long time that i had written comments but was again forced to write it.
There is very little by way of visual horror.The film opens with the viewer being introduced to the main character, the camera, as well as the main human participants, Kate and Micah.
At that point the familiar becomes hackneyed.One could argue that the entire execution of 'Paranormal Activity' has been done once before in the decade old 'The Blair Witch Project.' It may be the limitation of the "found footage" medium, but other than the considerably longer runtime of 'Paranormal Activity,' the pacing, style of tension built (sounds, character reactiveness, off camera action), and even the sequence of events including the finale are almost exact.When the camera goes live, we are slowly told the story of Kate and her life-long battle with disturbances around her.
There's no question that one must be able to suspend his disbelief to catch fright in a movie like 'Paranormal Activity.' I'm usually able to do that well enough to enjoy any film, but not this one.
However any joy that can be obtained from such visualization is shortly ruined by a movie plagued by obnoxious characters, horrible scripting, and, for the love of god, the closer to the end it gets the more ludicrous it seems especially went eh 'real' stuff starts happening , you continue to question why are these people so nonchalant about it, however freaking out every night.The movie, which seems to be self ego'd for realism (the whole real TV thing going on) I have to say misses the ball, and strikes out hard.
The film starts with the two main characters who are terrible at acting, they were trying too hard to be "normal" and seem like their relationship was real, which they fail at.
One part was scary when the girl is dragged from her bed, but even this wasn't all that amazing and happened around and hour and a half into the film by which time i just wanted to sleep.
Paranormal Activity provides an eerie atmosphere and it all felt very real; the main characters were incredibly relatable and I couldn't help but feel a great deal of empathy for both of them throughout the entire movie.
Understandably, it's kind of hard to sympathize with the somewhat annoying Micah, who keeps up a pretty cavalier attitude towards the whole thing, and he's one of those characters in these types of movies who keeps the camera going even when implored by another to stop.
A young couple decide to try & capture the paranormal activity that seems to follow Katie around on a new camcorder...Sitting down to watch this with an open mind, My GF & I were looking forward to this movie (after seeing the audience reactions in the trailers.
The actors spent so much time in bed, with us watching them, that it was making my girlfriend want to go to bed to sleep herself.We stayed until approximately 15 minutes from the end, which I have been told was the BEST bit.
Then, in the last 2 minutes, either the director or the film editor made a really bad decision on the final scene, threw away any shred of common sense and went for a contrived ending.What I really do not get is how anyone thinks any of this film is even slightly scary, or will stop them sleeping.
In fact if I was pressed into a movie comparison I'd choose Blair Witch 2 because at least the first had some originality upon its emergence, this stanky mess is more a poorly related sequel than any original horror.The story would have been better served up as a conventional horror instead of trying to steal some reality TV steam (which has long since lost itself) through a poor poor poor reasoning as to why so many mundane activities were being filmed; bad idea that crippled this film.Save yourself the effort; rent it when it comes out, skip the first hour and scan through the 'scary' bits..
I just wish they had a better movie to begin with.Anyone who has had to canvas a house knows you turn on every light in every room you pass as you explore the room.When a noise is heard he has the presence of mind to grab the camera turn on it's light but not bother to flip on the stair lights on his way down?When you exit the couples bedroom there is a room on the left that was NEVER entered.
It's funny how the "the scariest film in the history of cinema" formula works every single time, like throwing bits of food at a pack of hungry dogs, they're always gonna go for it, and it's really sad, specially how American audiences are apparently so amazed by this rubbish.This is the kind of film I would play on Halloween to a bunch of 9 year olds with no criteria, but all these young adults flinching and getting their knickers in a twist with the cheap thrills from P.Activity?
Not since The Blair Witch Project has a low budget film been so hyped up as Paranormal Activity.
From Night #1 in Paranormal Activity to the last night in the three weeks had me scared half to death and the ending that will stay with me for a long time.Micah and Katie who claims that since her youth, a ghostly entity has haunted her, are a young couple.
Micah buys a video camera in the hopes of capturing paranormal activity on film.
I went in expecting a lot from this movie based on user and critic reviews and I was very disappointed.The story is basic and makes little sense when trying to tie back to another storyline about a girl named "Diane." The entire movie is about a couple teasing a demon until they tick him off enough to kill and possess the people inhabiting the house.Cheaply made movie that looks and feels cheaply made with a corny, stereotypical storyline thats been done multiple times.
The plot sucked, the acting sucked, and the camera movement was exaggerated and made me want to throw up.Throughout the entire movie I was hoping and praying that there was going to be something scarier that would happen.
Something weird happening to the girl..the start recording themselves to see if they catch footage or weird things happening..they hear a noise..they go to sleep..the door opens...they go to sleep...something moves downstairs..they go to sleep..something bangs on the walls..they go to sleep..something breaths..they go to sleep..finally something a little bit scary happens..the movie ends...oh ya and at one point a demon with hooves leaves three footprints on the floor.
I didn't waste any money on the film =] for that reason and that reason alone I guess it deserves my 1 star.I've seriously come to the conclusion that all the positive comments left about this movie were made by family or friends of the people involved...
:)There is only one horror thing about this movie, and that is that it's a horrible waste of time and money.
The similar movies like Blair Witch project, Rec, Quarantine etc are hundred times scarier and better.
I honestly don't want to waste my time trying to eloquently put forth my problems with this movie, so I'll just present some highlights in bulleted form below:-Yes, this was very documentary-like, in that I have never been so bored watching a work of fiction before.-About a quarter of the way in, myself and several other theater-goers were laughing outright at the corniness of the acting, writing, and directing.-No, it's not immersive.
Not only is this gem-of-an-indie-film, 'Paranormal Activity' the scariest movie I have ever seen, it is the most horrifying experience I have ever been a part of.
If you think about, just seeing an empty, silent room does not seem scary at all, but there-in lies the genius of this film: That something that simple can scare you down to the deepest core of emotion.If you've read any of the other reviews for 'Paranormal Activity', you will notice almost all of them mention that a viewer will not be able to sleep after watching it.
I actually laughed more than once in the movie and felt like I wasted my money by even going to the film.
I looked at the time 40 minutes after the start of the film, NOTHING scary had happened.
I was completely bored throughout the movie.I was alone in my cellar room watching this film at night and was completely unmoved by it.I love good scary films.
I watched this film thinking it was going to be entirely scary and frightful and considering i am easily scared and jumpy i was expecting a lot more.
I am a horror fan, I like to watch B horror films too but when I see so much stupid and fake thing in the movies then I get very upset.