Viewer beware, Paranormal Activity will scare you. Touted as one of the only films to attribute its success to viewer demand via the internet, it’d be easy to dismiss this indie horror film as having the quality of a direct-to-DVD movie (and in truth, it almost was.) However, I’m delighted to report that this wasn’t the case and that dismissing it as such would be a terrible mistake, especially for those that are rabid for their Halloween fright fix. Paranormal Activity absolutely fits the bill, is absolutely terrifying, and will absolutely stick with you on the drive home from the theater and likely into your would-be pleasant dreamland. But what makes it so effective? Read on to find out.
Paranormal Activity‘s plot can be summed up simply; Micah and Katie move into a new home, discover it may be haunted, and then begin filming what goes bump in the night while they’re tucked into bed. What footage is salvaged from their amateur endeavor is presented to all of us to behold. The entirety of the film takes place in Micah and Katie’s home and is shot on a handheld HD cam that Micah purchases to document (and passively poke fun at) Katie’s feeling that their new home is indeed host to an unwanted guest. Micah spends his days playing guitar and day trading while Kate is in school to become a teacher. As the frequency of strange occurrences within the house increases along with their severity, the young couple escalate their tactics to deal with whatever foul thing is lurking in the darkness.
The small cast of less than a dozen actors (all unknowns) show tremendous chemistry. They were given little direction, nearly no script, and a seven day shooting schedule. The set looks like any other suburban home (largely because it is in fact the filmmaker’s home) and this single location adds to the claustrophobia of the dire situation. As Micah and Kate grow exhausted battling what torments them, you’ll likely feel that tiredness too, which is a testament to director Oren Peli’s abilities in portraying two people forced to deal with something far beyond their abilities to handle.
I feel like I say this about more and more films but I’ll do it again; Does Paranormal Activity open us up to a radically new concept? No. But it does do so better than I’ve seen before. While obligatory Blair Witch comparisons are in order, I’ happy to report that there isn’t any nausea-inducing shakiness here to detract you from what’s happening onscreen. In fact, 50% of the time or more the camera is (thank God) on a tri-pod, filming our protagonists in their sleep. Never have I seen such tension so aptly built in a single-room shot, repeatedly, no less. However, rather than rapid-fire jump moments at you as is all the rage it seems in recent Hollywood horror, the filmmakers here have all but mastered the art of suspense. As I see it, suspense should suck you in for a bone-chilling fright then ease you back down into at least some level of comfort to recover for the next. Not only does Paranormal Activity gracefully handle this ping-pong effect on the viewer’s nerves, but in those waiting areas it displays true patience that amazingly, doesn’t drag at all. It’s not overly long or short, but as my father would say it’s Goldilocks- just right. While you might think that all of this build up would lead to a let down conclusion, you’d be sorely mistaken. The end is both well thought out, leaves you uneasy, and allows you a terrifying glance into the events that had slowly crafted its admittedly horrifying end.
In the end, it’s a triumph of a film that managed to squeak by on a budget of only $15,000. That’s right- $15,000. You just about can’t buy a car for that amount but this lone filmmaker had a vision, knew what worked to tear at the comfort zones of all of us, and abandoned an inflated budget rife with largely ineffective CGI and made a modern-day milestone of psychological horror.
10 out of 10.
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