Thursday, April 9, 2015

Paranormal Activity


8/10

"Sometimes the things you regret the most are the chances you don't take.."-Unknown.

The above quote has nothing directly to do with "Paranormal Activity," but it is exactly how I felt after watching it. This 2007 film is one that I put off for years with the fear that I was going to hate it. I felt like it had been advertised too much, and that there was only a rave about it because of the whole "Bandwagon" thing. As I sat down to view this for the first time, my expectations were as low as could be. I had seen the positive reviews online, but I was not enthused at all. By the time this 88 minute experience was done, I was mesmerized. "Paranormal Activity" is a rare film, with its greatness being in the works of an extremely small budget. Oren Peli made all of the right choices with the film, including perfect scare techniques, a great cast, and awesome techniques as a director. I personally thought this was one of the finest horror movies of the 21st century. 

The story follows a young couple named Katie and Micah. The two of them are mildly concerned, because paranormal terrorizing has come back into Katie's life, and is starting to take the house over. Micah begins to tape their room at night, and they begin to see these occurrences happen. Right away, they call a specialist named Dr. Frederichs. Frederichs senses something wrong instantly, and suspects it may be a demon. He unveiled that the house isn't the problem, but Katie herself is being followed. Sadly, this practice is out of the man's field, but he recommends a demonologist named Dr. Avery. Micah is very against this, because he wants to take care of the problems by himself. As a result, the hauntings become worse and worse, until both of their lives become hell, and their fate becomes unknown.

The first thing that I loved about this film was the cast. Katie Featherston was very good in the role of Katie, because she made the anger and frustrations in her character come to life. Micah Sloat was awesome as Micah, because he really played a role that you could see being him in real life. He could portray a laid back coolness, or a freaked out hysteria in the matter of seconds. Mark Frederichs was good as Dr Frederichs, because he didn't make himself likable, which worked for the unreliable nature of his role. 

The movie was shot in found footage, and although I usually dislike that technique, it worked really well for this film. I thought that it gave more of the feel that what was happening was real, and added to the freakiness of scenes. I think the reason it worked in this movie was that it was shot at home, rather than in a less appropriate place like the woods. When the characters are asleep or doing casual actions(like in the film), it is much easy to keep a steady filming. In others where there is a lot of running in a big space, the camera becomes too shaky, which makes it annoying. 

As if watched the movie, I was trying to compare it to others in the supernatural genre to see what was good and bad. One of the film's that came up the most in comparison was "The Amityville Horror." This movie is not one I'm a fan of, and I felt that "Paranormal Activity" succeeded in everything that the former failed to do. Both films had a gradual increase with each occurrence to make it freakier, but the problem with "Amityville" was that it's peak was nothing spectacular at all, and it fell back to its happy go lucky nature in seconds. "Paranormal Activity" knew how to keep going with its increase until it completely shocked you, and it never went back down. I thought that this made the movie genuinely scary, because it made you wait a very long time for the payoff, but when it came it was something more than imagination could withhold. 

The DVD I bought for this film gave the option of watching two different endings to the movie. The theatrical one was perfect in my eyes, because it left a lot of mystery as to what was happening. The alternate one was much weaker in my opinion, because it went too far with its violence, and took away from the nature of the film's intended horror. I thought that it also took away any questioning as to what was occurring, because it was all on screen. I feel that the conclusion that was shown to the public was the right decision, and was part of the eventual success. 

Overall, this movie was really great. It was a smart, scary, and enjoyable film that will become a classic one day. I thought it was probably the greatest paranormal movie I've seen thus far, because of its fresh tactics in scares. I definitely recommend this to all horror fans, because it is dark and exciting, and something that you will never forget.  

2 comments:

  1. Interesting insights, especially regarding the found footage techique.

    ReplyDelete