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Joined: Sun Sep 30, 2007 9:40 pm
Posts: 752
Location: Houston, Tx
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Hype for a movie can demolish all of the thought and work a production team put into said movie, especially so when it is over hyped. In recent memory, two summers ago's The Dark Knight was one of these plagued films and Paranormal Activity is even more so. To combat said over hype, I try to not listen to what other critics (not to mention friends and family) have said about the movie and almost act pessimistic towards not just these films but all. Thus, my experience is my own and not anyone else's. At first, Paranormal Activity was not only under hyped, it was being entirely ignored by major movie theaters. The only way a cinema would show it is if it received enough votes on the studios website, and once word of this hit the Internet, the Internet hit back with a brute force causing it to be shown in almost every theater. The point which it was categorized as being over hyped and not worthy of a five dollar ticket stub. I however have tried to ignore these complaints, with moderate success.
The following may contain spoilers.
The opening is the classic handy-cam type film opening. "The following footage is property of the FBI," blah blah blah. I wouldn't go so far as to call it redundant, otherwise how else would we transition into "shaky-cam" mode? It is however getting bothersome that the directors or producers behind these projects can't get anymore creative than that. I say shaky-cam above, but don't fret. It isn't as nauseating as Cloverfield or The Blair Witch Project were (I found them enjoyable, but there were masses of people who weren't as satisfied with their style).
Instantly we are thrown into the situation of Micah and Katie, an "engaged to be engaged" couple. Micah had purchased a camera because Katie has been having "paranormal activity" (har har har) happen to her her whole life and her fiancé wants to figure out what's going on and thinks a video camera can help achieve this itch of curiosity. Little did he know, it would only make the itch even worse. The first night of the camera being set up, nothing happens that causes them to wake up but it was at this point that I began to dread the night as much, if not more, than the main characters.
I think this minute film genre does so well in the thriller genre is because it places you in the main characters place. You see as they see, and hear as they hear. In this genre (contrasting to traditional thrillers and horror flicks), it not only relies to scare you off of your own paranoia and sustained belief, but off of what you do not see. The larger your imagination, the more frightened you'll be by this movie. I've seen a lot of movies, and none have fed off of my imagination like Paranormal Activity has.
By mid movie I had started to dread the night time when most of the activity occurred. The demon would allow the viewer and characters to acknowledge its presence by having the sound flooded not in volume but just an eerie humming then we hear heavy footsteps approaching. Paranormal activity ensues.
Minor spoilers end here.
It has received a lot of flack from the film community as a whole, and I think it may be because it received so much attention and people came to expect too much from this low budget project. There is a reason paranormal and paranoia have the sane prefix, so if you keep that in mind when viewing and allowing yourself to believe that it actually happened (regardless, by the end you'll try to reassure yourself it isn't to no avail) you will enjoy it.
XeroCint
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