Paranormal Activity – My Thoughts

Well, the weekend had finally come.  For the past couple of weeks, I have been trying to get ‘Paranormal Activity’ to show here in St. Louis.  Sadly, we could never break into the top 10 of the campaigns to get those midnight showings.  Once the campaign went from the top 10 most requested cities to once one million demands were requested, I knew that St. Louis would get the movie before Halloween.  Many of the horror news websites were giving this film glowing reviews.  This and the fact that I haven’t been scared by a film since ‘The Blair Witch Project’, I got super excited.  Caught up in the hype, I told friends that I wanted to see it opening night.  We got about 7 other people to join me and my girlfriend at the local theater to experience what was being called as the scariest film in a long time.

‘Paranormal Activity’ is about Micah (pronounced Mee-kah) and Katie who have been experiencing noises and strange phenomena inside their house.  Micah purchases a hi-def video camcorder to try to document and make sense of what is happening.  Later on in the film they realize that they are not dealing with a ghost, but possibly a demon.  This is when Katie’s past is revealed a bit more to Micah and this entity is something that has been with her previously to the house they currently reside in. The film has pretty much the same structure of ‘The Blair Witch Project’ which for viewers over the age of 18 will definitely reference to.  All the scary stuff happens at night and the audience is treated to a unbreakable one take shot and only anxiously await for dawn to rise.

So, lets dive into it.  Did ‘Paranormal Activity’ give me nightmares? No.  Did ‘Paranormal Activity’ effect my sleeping patterns? Nope, sure didn’t.  However, there was a guy in the audience behind me that fell asleep and snored through the last 3rd of the film.  ‘Paranormal Activity’ is a slow movie.  There is no doubt about it.  This is not a perfect movie and in watching it I kept thinking of things that could have made the night scenes creepier or more terrifying.  I believe we are treated to 10 night scenes (maybe more) and the only memorable ones are the last two nights.  The film is horribly paced and definitely could have used some editing.  The film has no credits or traditional score, however there is a low hum when the scary stuff starts to happen.  That kind of pulled me out of it.  The presentation is supposed to be realistic and if we are put in that mindset, I don’t think that distinct sound of a low hum would be apparent. We didn’t need to see all of the night scenes that were shown.  In fact I think a couple could have been cut out.  Also, if you want to see this film, if you have seen the trailer you have already ruined one of the best parts of the film.  When it happened, it didn’t scare me because I saw it in the trailer.  I will say the last image creeped me out and validated why I just spent $20 for me and my girlfriend to see it.  Only 2 people out of the 9 people in my group (including me, my girlfriend and my mother) really thought the film was generally creepy all the way through.  Needless to say, I was disappointed.  I don’t think it is a lost cause though.  A lot of people seem to enjoy the film and it is nice to see some of the younger generation actually be frightened by a film.  Another reason why I didn’t get freaked out was there was no mythology behind what was happening.  It was hinted at towards the end, but never explored.  Blair Witch had a huge story and background behind it plus had an urban legend quality to it.  Maybe that is why I found Blair Witch to be very frightening.  Plus, after watching ‘Blair Witch Project’ you could explore and read about all of this fake mythology that was devised for the film.

I honestly hope this film destroys ‘Saw VI’.  The Saw franchise really just needs to die.  It has been worn out. I think that ‘Paranormal Activity’ would benefit for someone seeing it at home for the first time as opposed to the theater.  Actually, Devin from CHUD.com wrote up a great article on why he thinks Paramount might have screwed the pooch a bit on this release. I agree with him.  I think they should have done the midnight shows for those couple of weeks in September/October and then release it out on DVD.  I believe watching it inside your house would freak you out more.  I enjoyed hearing and watching half the audience react very well to the film, but who is it to say that if I watched it alone with my 5.1 surround sound, I wouldn’t be more freaked out.

Now, there is more to this article than just a review.  I want to talk a little bit on the hype machine.  Remember a decade ago when Blair Witch came out and taglines like “SCARY AS HELL” were used in the teaser trailer and ad campaign.  The film I think scared less people than what Paranormal Activity is doing, but this campaign seems to echo the Blair Witch campaign as well.  Part of me believes this is all validated, but another side of me wants to think that all of the sites being quoted and all of the magazines being quoted haven’t said anything was scary since 1999 when the Blair Witch Project came out.  It almost makes me feel that since this film had some tense moments and one startling one, that they took it and ran with it by calling it the scariest movie of the decade.  When I hear that quote, we all know they are talking about Blair Witch.  That is what pops in my mind as BWP is celebrating it’s 10th anniversary.  Have we become so short sided as reviewers to latch on tight to a films split second or brief moment of brilliance and exploit it?

Here is the deal:

If you are under 18, see ‘Paranormal Activity’.  You will have a good time and probably get scared.
If you are over 18 and have money to spend, go see with your significant other at a theater this Halloween season.
If you get scared watching some of the best episodes of SyFy’s GHOST HUNTERS, bring a extra pair of underwear.
If you are over 18 and don’t have a lot of money to spend, wait until DVD – the experience might be better for you.
If you are a seasoned horror fan, there will be moments of this film where you will love it, but for the most part..you will probably be bored.

‘Paranormal Activity’, to me, seemed like a 4th generation dub of Robert Wise’s ‘The Haunting’.  Official DTB rating 6.5 out of 10.  With that said, I do want to watch it again at home.  Alone. With no lights.