Directed by: Oren Peli
Starring: Katie Featherstone and Micah Sloat (As themselves)
Paranormal activity is possibly one of the most popular and
talked about series’ for a while or at least when it comes to ‘mainstream’
series’. Generally, mainstream movies get a bum deal as far as ratings go especially
in the horrorverse and in my personal opinion, Paranormal Activity fared no
better.
Paranormal activity is a ‘Found footage’ film, meaning it
uses hand held camera work to make it appear the tapes were discovered and used
to make a true story movie of real footage. This isn’t a new thing. We’ve been
using this technique to tell raw and realistic stories for a good few decades
and the sub-genre features some of the most iconic movies of modern time such
as Cannibal Holocaust and The Blair Witch Project to name the most popular. PA
tells of a couple, Katie and Micah haunted by some sort of entity, Micah sets
up cameras around the home to capture the events. Slowly we discover that this
isn’t new to Katie and she has been subject to these hauntings since childhood.
Not dissimilar to most haunting stories, PA uses classic
haunting tricks. Plates smashing, doors slamming, duvets being removed while
the couple sleep, you know the deal. Sadly, it comes across as old hat for
those of us who have seen a lot of horror movies. However, the feel is menacing
and we know this isn’t Casper we’re dealing with but a malevolent and angry
being targeting the couple for an unknown reason. It is understandable how many
viewers would have been convinced that the footage was genuine and the simple
effects are realistic and not over played. If anything, it can get a bit dull.
Lots of sleeping! The story plods along at an easy pace most of the time and
when there are revelations they’re not over the top or completely unbelievable
but like I mentioned, you can get bored watching two normal people doing normal
things such as sleeping and housework and it’s tempting to fast forward
sometimes to get to some good bits. There’s the usual face in mirrors trick or
doors creeping slowly open when no one is home or awake but frankly, I need
more to get my heart racing.
Overall Paranormal Activity isn’t a bad film, just not a
great one either. There are far better and more terrifying found footage and
haunting films about and if someone asked me to choose one for them, this
wouldn’t be my first suggestion, but if it was someone new to horror I’d
probably be more inclined to say “try this”. It’s not too scary, but scary
enough and will leave some new horror explorers wanting more and hopefully look
for more like it and find themselves stumbling on some great horror that will
get them hooked for life!
