Paranormal Activity
Bedroom scares in Paranormal Activity
Friday, 27, Nov 2009 05:14
Directed by Oren Peli, out November 25th in cinemas, starring Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, running time 85 mins.
What's it all about?
When student Katie (Featherston) is convinced that her new home with boyfriend Micah (Sloat) is haunted, the tech-savvy latter sets up a high-spec camcorder to try to catch the culprit in the act. As days pass in the suburban San Diego house, Katie's fear grows with each bump and bang in the night...
As an example.
"These hauntings feed off negative energy, so... " - Psychic
"We shouldn't let your mother come over anymore." - Micah
"I can feel it breathing on me... " - Katie
What the others say
"It works best when it comes out of nowhere, because that's, in the end, where it goes." - AO Scott, New York Times
"An Amityville for the YouTube age: potent, primal and genuinely frightening." - Simon Crook, Empire
So is it any good?
Director Oren Peli should be commended for his honesty in admitting the influence of The Blair Witch Project on Paranormal Activity, especially in confirming his desire to follow in that film's footsteps and "define horror for a generation". Because his own homemade horror, released ten years after Eduardo Myrick and Daniel Sanchez's 'found footage' smash hit, is not only a scarier film than The Blair Witch Project, it could also make you afraid of the most banal of activities - sleeping in your own bed.
The similarities are hard to miss - handheld camera, threadbare budget, a miniscule cast and a footage that purports to have been 'found' by the police. And while the paper-thin plot of Blair Witch was aptly savaged in an episode of Family Guy as "Nothing's happening... nothing's happening... something about a map... ", it wouldn't come as a surprise to see Paranormal Activity parodied along similar lines - "They're asleep... the door moved... they're awake... ".
But the strengths of this latest 'found footage' horror - and the reason why it's become a veritable word-of-mouth phenomenon in the US, with takings of $85milion-plus at the time of writing - is in its simplicity. Peli throws us straight into the everyday life of Katie and Micah, with only the briefest of preambles and barely 15 minutes have passed before we're experiencing our first night as viewers behind the static camera stationed in the couple's bedroom.
While the opening hour largely provokes a "gasp" before a snigger, the apparent monotony of Katie and Micah's routine only promises greater scares for the climax. When they come, they're entirely chilling on a primitive level, with Peli following Myrick and Sanchez in exploiting the fear of the unseen. With just the one camera angle, a corner time stamp that we watch with growing angst as it nears the witching hour and sparse sound effects that make even the tiniest hallway creak a cause for panic, Paranormal Activity reveals Peli's masterful command of suspense - even the most cynical viewer can't help but dread what could be outside that room.
Featherstone and Sloat are also both excellent, wholly believable as a long-term couple and doing well to rein in the histrionics, even when Katie's disintegration and Micah's possible antagonism of their paranormal visitor could allow for melodrama.
It might seem strange to spend the best part of £10 to watch a sleeping couple but after watching this breathtakingly tense and atmospheric horror, you'll start to shiver at every bump and creak in your own bedroom...
8/10
Lewis Bazley