PARANORMAL ACTIVITY

You may have heard of Paranormal Activity already, it’s the one with “Scared the beard off of Steven Spielberg” and “Make the execs at Paramount collectively vomit in terror” all over the poster. At this point you’ll probably be thinking that it’s nothing more than overhyped toss and since the actors are unknowns, they use their real names and most, if not all, of the publicity is stating that this is real footage of events that really happened. It kind of reminds me of something along the lines of another overhyped horror, I'd hate to name names but it rhymes with The Hair Bitch Project. OK so far so unimpressed but as soon as the lights went up after THAT final scene I can honestly say that Paranormal Activity is one of the scariest film I’ve seen all year.

A young couple has recently moved into a house together and the girl is experiencing strange happenings during the night that she cannot explain. The fella decides to buy a video camera in order to catch on film what exactly is going and though he is skeptical of any paranormal wrong-doings he aims to put his lovely lady’s mind to rest. What happens over the course of a month of their filming is what very few horror’s are able to achieve and that is a genuine building terror while never once getting boring, never once getting overexcited and shooting its horror load in the faces of the audience before the end of the first act and actually creating something that felt real enough for most of us to sleep with the light on for the next few days. Ours heroes played by new-comers Katie Featherson and Micah Sloat are a completely believable couple and as shit starts to go down and their relationship begins to break down, it’s a credit to their performances that I got that feeling usually reserved for real-life couples, where I actually like those two together and hope they work it out. The chemistry between them is perfectly pitched going from the two fooling around with the camera (Micah even suggests a sex-time recording but is instantly shot down) to Katie at her emotional breaking point. At one point demanding Micah put the camera down while he stubbornly wants to keep film but unlike Cloverfield where the cameraman ridiculously films everything, Micah knows eventually when to put the camera down and when to turn the camera off.

But the real star of the show is the direction of Oren Peli whom creates an atmosphere so uncommon in modern horror that it needs to be seen! Peli isn’t some hyper gore fanatic anxious to get to the blood, guts and monsters without any thought to the actual scare-factor (I’m looking at you Descent 2). He is conscious of how a good ghost story needs to be told, not by plodding uneventfulness but by suspense and the slow escalation of something trying to terrorize the psyche of his victims/audience. It comes to a point where even a creaking door makes the audience squeal. Happily this isn’t a shaky-cam riot where you get nauseous and can’t follow what is happening rather the camera barely moves when the fear start building and is unflinching when the real horror starts.

Paranormal Activity is a rare thing in modern horror; something that is subtle yet totally immerses the audience and creates one of the most effective shockers for years.

On a side note: See this in the cinema! Seriously, the only way to see it is with a big audience in the dark much like when I lost my virginity.


- Pahl Disasterfield