Movie Review: Paranormal Activity

Movie Review: Paranormal Activity

It's hard to tell whether this movie could ever live up to all the hype it's received. Almighty Savior of the horror genre? Not so much. Good, old-fashioned creepy movie? You betcha!

A lot of comparisons have been made between this and 1999's Blair Witch Project, both for the way they were shot and the blitz of internet promotion. Sidebar here, I'm not buying so much into the "You demanded it a million times, and YOU brought it to the theaters - YAY!" marketing. Tre convenient that the American public just happened to reach the million mark on a Thursday, the day before new released hit theaters, and two weeks before Halloween. Still, that marketing bs aside, I'm glad it's gotten a mainstream theatrical release.

Paranormal Activity tells the story of a young couple - Micah, straight out of college daytrader d-bag, and Katie, a student sensitive to the paranormal - mildly taunted each night by....something. They're not quite sure what, so they bring in a psychic, who promptly says, "Whoa, out of my territory, good luck kthxbai." Micah decides to play junior detective with a night vision cam and some other stupidly brilliant devices, which of course makes matters worse.

Any more plot and I get into spoiler territory, but I will tell you this. Watching the movie in a theater, you'll think "Wow, this isn't that scary and is kind of cheesy sometimes." Hours later, when you're lying in bed trying to sleep, it won't seem that ridiculous. Not that, uh, I say that from personal experience or anything. Nope. Ovaries of brass, this lady.

What sets this one apart from the Blair Witch Project is the character development. All we knew about those three kids in the woods was that they enjoyed filmmaking, marshmallows, and the f-bomb. Paranormal Activity goes beyond that, actually giving the characters back stories and distinct personalities.

Micah is the sort of character you love to hate. From his constant dumb-ass moves that prompt the plot along to his machismo statements, you find yourself wishing that whatever is plaguing this couple would just push the dude into some swirling abyss and spare us one more refrain of "I'm getting some really cool shit on the camera, babe!"

The thing I liked best about the movie was the style. It just wouldn't have worked as a big budget CGI guts-o-rama horror flick. The mundane looking handycam grain sets up the scares when even the smallest thing happens. Also, for something so low budget, they reach that tender territory in special effects - between Plan 9 from Outer Space and Jerry Bruckheimer - know as "believable," mostly because they're minimal in scope and sparse. No visable wires and no exploding national monuments. So when it came time for [POSSIBLE SPOILER] the few wire-fu scenes [END POSSIBLE SPOILER], I found it to be pretty convincing.

In the end, I don't think Paranormal Activity's revolutionary. Might cause a few horror producers to rethink their gore budget, will probably inspire a few weak sauce knock-offs *coughthefourthkindcough* , but I don't see The End of Over Produced Horror. Still, if you're a horror fan or simply someone looking for a good Halloween movie, put this on your short list ASAP.

Final verdict: 7/10