Paranormal Activity Review

Since 1999, the horror film genre known as “found footage” (a genre of horror filmmaking in which all or part of a film is presented as an edit of recovered footage, often left behind by missing or dead protagonists) has been slowly but surely increasing in popularity. Films like The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield, and Quarantine have succeeded in bringing this relatively new genre into the eyes of the mainstream, and the new film Paranormal Activity intends to do the same thing, and perhaps even more than its predecessors.

The movie follows a young couple (Katie Featherston, and Micah Sloat; the names of the actors AND the characters) who believe that an entity from another world is haunting them, and they decide to set up a camera in an effort find out what is causing them so much terror. Both actors put on pretty convincing performances that succeed in making the viewer feel like everything is really happening. While Paranormal Activity is filmed with a handheld camera, the action is a lot less shaky than 2008’s Cloverfield (the latter gave me a splitting headache after it was all over) so if you are worried about motion sickness, P.A. shouldn’t give you too much of a problem.

Perhaps the biggest thing everyone wants to know about the film is “how scary is it?” Well ultimately, that depends on the viewer, and the environment in which the film is seen. Despite having an R-rating, Paranormal Activity isn’t a particularly violent or graphic movie (it was most likely rated R due to extensive use of the “F-Bomb”). The scares that occur throughout are pretty basic (creaking floor boards, disembodied voices, doors that randomly slam on their own etc.) and most of them occur during the night sequences when the couple is in their bed asleep. In the theater, P.A. isn’t particularly frightening unless you are a very jumpy person who freaks out whenever you hear an unexpectedly loud noise. The entire movie feels like it would function better on DVD in the middle of the night, and in the privacy of your own home, as it gives a much more fearful feeling than being in a huge theater surrounded by loud-mouthed teenagers. I would say wait to get it on DVD, and watch it in the dark when no one else is home. It’s a lot more effective.

Paranormal Activity is a very low-budget, but very entertaining horror film that reminds you of being a little kid terrified of the dark, and the “monsters” that used to inhabit the darkness during your childhood; it’s just that the scares are much more effective in your house than on the big screen.

The Verdict: 4/5