Paranormal Activity

Paranormal Activity (2009)
Directed by Oren Peli
Length: 86 minutes
Rated R for language





I'll admit, the horror genre and I have never been best friends. I am still traumatized by the haunting memories of the truly horrific Ernest Scared Stupid (say what you will, but when you're young, monsters afraid of milk will scare you); however, over the years, I have become more tolerant and appreciative of the genre. While you won't see me in line for the latest slasher flick, I can appreciate a good psychological horror film, a decent zombie movie, or the occasional spine-tinglier that has you tense with anticipation. Paranormal Activity definitely falls into the third category - a film that isn't necessarily scary but has enough tense moments to leave you gripping the pillow a little tighter than usual.

To quickly summarize, the film is shot from a documentary perspective (a la The Blair Witch) and focuses on a young couple being haunted by a demonic spirit. The couple attempt to capture footage of the haunting in order to prove their claims, before it may be too late. While it may not be the most original concept or latest filming style, Paranormal Activity does a good job of creating those tense moments where you know something is about to happen, only to still be scared when it happens. While you can traditionally gauge how scary a film is by how many times I jump (anyone who knows me personally can attest to just how jumpy I am), this low budget film doesn't try to scary you necessarily as much as it tries to creep you out.

The movie is far from flawless, and it definitely fails to live up to the critics' claim of "one of the scariest movie of all time." It is predictable, the characters are horribly and almost comically flawed, and there is no personified evil; all that being said, the film does a good job of creating enough suspense and edginess to still draw you into the tension building scenes. While I certainly wouldn't call it a classic, the film does what it is suppose to: scare you!

Final Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Favorite Quote:
Micah: "You're screaming like that over a spider?"
Katie: "Well, yeah...did you go run and get the camera first?"