Paranormal Activity Review: Puts the "Super" back in Supernatural.

Paranormal Activity may have one of the least creative movie titles ever produced, but what it may lack in name quality it more than makes up for in its execution. Long have I waited for a “good” horror flick, considering most of the J-horror rehashes are just plain annoying, and I’ve finally got what I’ve been waiting for. Paranormal Activity may be a hit-or-miss for many people, especially considering its direction style, but if you’re a fan of scary films in general or at least loved Cloverfield or The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity may just be right up your alley.

Personally, nothing scares me more than phenomena pertaining to ghosts, demons, or otherworldly figures, which is primarily why I was so excited for Paranormal Activity. It tells the story of a couple living together, Katie and Micah, who experience strange, unexplained happenings in their two-story home. As a fun experiment, Micah buys a high-end video camera and sets it up in their room (along with walking around the house with it) to officially record evidence, although he doesn’t take it too seriously. Katie explains that whatever is haunting them has been following her ever since she was a child, so no matter where she goes, she hears strange noises and has horrible nightmares. After doing some research, Micah discovers that her haunting is actually the work of a “demon,” a creature who solicits joy from the torture of others.

Paranormal Activity will scare you.

That’s simply it. I went into the film looking for a fun and scary thrill ride, but what I got was so much more than that. This is possibly the best form of the hand-held digital camera style of filmmaking I’ve seen yet for multiple reasons.

Paranormal Activity does what most other horror films don’t: it involves the audience. What many horror films try and fail to do is tell a coherent story and rather than put you in the shoes of the victims, they act more like forgettable campfire ghost tales. Paranormal, on the other hand, treats you like a member of the couples’ experience, which is where the pacing of the story sets in so well. While many might find it annoying, the film starts off with Micah buying the camera, playing with it and teasing Katie; this kind of footage goes on intermittently throughout the film multiple times. The nighttime scenes, however, are where the gut of the film lies, demonstrating the demon’s haunting of the couple while they’re asleep. As I said, the interweaving of dull, daytime playful behavior amongst the couple may be boring and annoying compared to the incredible suspenseful scenes that occur at night, but the film would be nothing without them. You can’t have a horror film that scares from beginning to end; there has to exist a normal world that you can feel comfortable in, in order for shock value to take its place. It’s a lot like being in a relationship with someone; you can’t see them every second of every day because you won’t have time to long for them and be thankful for when they’re actually there.

Paranormal also sets up its own scene-by-scene formula which becomes obvious by the 2nd nighttime scene: daytime shenanigans, nighttime scares, daytime shenanigans, nighttime scares, etc. There are a few twists that break up that seemingly monotonous cycle, though, which definitely help. Even if you’re not a fan of the way Paranormal plays out, you have to admit it’s creative in its approach, intelligent in design, and original in that it knows exactly how to sway your emotions.

Acting is extremely well done, even for the “act like yourselves” mindset these actors retained. At all times, Paranormal feels like an experience or an actual documentary rather than a “movie.” In fact, there are no narrative parts to the story at all; it’s all told in its documentary-style realism. Anyone younger than 17 will most likely believe that Paranormal is actually a true story and will wet themselves repeatedly for fear of the same occurrences happening to them. Even if you don’t believe the story, though, it sticks with you and instills that realistic fear in you anyway. Director Oren Peli is masterful in the way he pulls the audience and manipulates them every which way, specifically with the actual characters. You begin to actually care about them because they do feel real and not like they were conceived artificially in a production studio. By way of the everyday comedy that ensues between them, the angry squabbles they get into and the pure emotion of fear they evoke, you not only care about their situation but you relate and connect with them.

The horror aspect of the film is fundamental at times, but enthralling overall. I would've liked the film to be a little bit longer and perhaps have a little more back story (there's a small explanation that goes deeper than what the film is on its surface, but its barely touched on and inexplicably introduced). Like I said, Paranormal involves the audience in ways rarely seen in cinema. Because it feels so real, it transcends the idiotic time-wasting efforts of modern-day horror flicks and enters a realm where it sets its own bar. Paranormal, above anything else, is smart. It rarely devolves to lowbrow cheap scares or predictability; in fact, most of the scares are predictable only in the sense that you know something is going to happen at some point, but you don’t know what, how, or where, exactly. Then again, that was the whole point of its own formula…you knew as soon as you saw the bed with the door open and the time stamp in the corner that you were in for something freaky to happen, but you didn’t know what. Especially fitting with its October release, it’s the perfect way to break up the monotony and drudgery that “horror” films have been giving us. It’s time to wake up, get scared and have fun; Paranormal Activity is low-budget filmmaking at its absolute best.

9.0/10
-Kyle Shelton

P.S. Steven Spielberg viewed the film on DVD at his home where he believed the DVD was haunted because moments after watching, his doors locked by themselves and he had to call in a locksmith to get himself out.
P.P.S. The entire film was shot, edited, and finalized in one week.