Paranormal Activity (2009)

Just in time for Halloween, a RETURN TO EXTREME UNCTION!!!

Just a general note, I've decided I'm going to make my posts much shorter in general, so I will be more likely to get them up, rather than let them pile up.

Now to the good stuff:

Paranormal Activity was directed by Oren Peli, and stars Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat as themselves.

This movie's been kicking around film festivals since 2007, and it seemed to get good reviews, though not much hype until recently. I really wasn't too enthused to be seeing it until I actually got into the theatre. I mean, it's a found footage movie about a haunting, meaning it could have gotten real hokey, real fast. I was expecting the same old Amityville Horror House nonsense, with flies and dripping blood, but the actual movie was much more subtle.

Basically, the director did something really smart and avoided the obvious. No cats jumped out of trashcans; no hideous visages appeared in reflections from behind the camera. Each effect was well placed and timed, so that each new occurrence built on the previous with almost no lag in between. This allowed the director to get the most out of each paranormal event, winding the audience up in a way that one really doesn't see in horror anymore.

I mean, the audience never sees anything truly tangible beyond shadows or footprints. The first scare is a door moving slightly one way, stopping, then swinging back in place. The end scene, out of context, could be considered on par with an opening scare in other movies, but when I saw it, the entire audience screeched. I was genuinely scared even after I left the theatre.

The only problem I had was in the advertising. Like Quarantine, (2008) the end shot is shown in the trailer. It just seems counter-productive, and trivializes the suspense the movie works so hard to build.

Movie: A

Trailer: C