Paranormal Activity

Title: Paranormal Activity (Extended Version)
Rating: 3/5
Genre: Horror
Starring: Micah Sloat, Katie Featherston
Director: Oren Peli
Duration: 99mins

“[Trying to communicate with the entity] What is your quest? What is your favourite colour?”

This is the sort of film that is set to divide people straight down the middle, and it’s not difficult to see why. There is much here for those only used to ‘shock’ horrors that have come out in abundance in recent years, armed with an ever more grotesque array of torture, murder and mayhem; that’s all fun – sure – but it doesn’t make for a good horror. This film is a breath of fresh air to mainstream modern horror which had just began to forget that what made a great horror film was not CGI effects or gratuitous bloodshed, but realistic, easily related to situations with subtle suggestions because if it can feed on your own imagination, psychologically haunt you into thinking you’re hearing things or that such events could happen to you, then its impact will be far greater than any gore grand slam ever could be.

There isn’t too much of a plot, revolving around a mysterious entity tied to the character of Katie that only reveals itself to her, whispering suggestions in her sleep and haunting them relentlessly. The boyfriend’s resolution to videotape it all to discover the cause does little but anger the suspected demon resulting in a rise in both tensions and an escalation of the impact the entity has in his scare tactics. The handcam works in far less of a ‘Blair Witch’ style, successfully maintaining a realism in both acting and basic effects used within the story, with far less movement than even [Rec] which told the story from the point of view of a cameraman. It feels adequately amateurish because it is amateur in both production costs and choice of actors, which is precisely what gives the film its strength; the ‘average’ looking leads easier to empathise with than a failing model.

The characters feel real; in fact, I wouldn’t half surprised if this was half ‘mockumentary,’ genuinely scaring his partner for the camera, as their relationship felt that akin to one another. You have no cliché puppy love or stereotyped screaming sissy girls; they joke, fight, scream at spiders, and in the case of Micah, lend his own brand of subtle humour, never failing to grab his camera before looking to see why his partner is screaming her head off. It is the humour that is a double bladed weapon, not only creating a contrast for the more genuine scenes of torment but creating a realistic persona that’s easier for the audience to identify with (if your mate came up to you and said a demon was stalking you, would you laugh in their face, mock them, want to film it, or gasp in absolute belief of them. I’d be surprised if many picked the latter).

If this exposes more people to creative film-making outside of the torture horror, to the ‘Anti-Christ,’ ‘Tale of Two Sisters’ and ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ way of thinking then it can only be a good thing, but for those already versed in psychological horror there’s little here that hasn’t been done before (in fact, if I’m honest I spent more time laughing at how easily this would be to spoof). Almost all the effects too easy to figure out how they were done given just a little knowledge of the old arts of wires and stop-motion (though I commend them on what was accomplished with a mere $15,000, less than what I’m sure your average big name actor spends on their hair these days), this is an excellent point to begin exploring the genre in all its minimalist glory, but more experienced horror hounds will need something a little more difficult to predict to cure their cravings.