Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Oren Peli
Stars: Micah Sloat, Katie Featherston, Mark Fredrichs.
The Blair Witch Project has to be one of the most over rated movies of the past decade. It is also one of the most aggressively hyped movies, with its creators cleverly using the Internet to build interest. It was also unfortunately very influential with a lot of subsequent movies copying its do-it-yourself mentality, from the small budget and no-name cast, through to it faux documentary style and the overuse of hand held digital cameras to create a sense of immediacy. Films like J J Abrams’ Cloverfield have modelled themselves on this style, albeit on a larger budget and with better production values.
And now comes Paranormal Activity, which has been marketed cleverly as actual footage of a haunted house and demonic possession. As with The Blair Witch Project, the footage is presented as if it was discovered after the events depicted.
The film was shot in 2007 but has sat on the shelf for a couple of years until Paramount picked it up. They developed an aggressive advertising on-line campaign inviting audiences to request the film be shown in their town. Its novel strategy has paid off handsomely as the film has recouped its miniscule $15,000 budget many times over (over $100 million and still counting!).
Micah (Micah Sloat) and Katie (Katie Featherston) are a young couple who believe there is an evil presence lurking somewhere in their two-storey house. Katie believes that she is being pursued by a demon that has haunted her since she was a child. Determined to find out the source behind their discomfort, they set up a video camera to record what happens at night while they are asleep. For three weeks, the camera captures strange noises, shadows moving around the house, and lights switching on and off. But the video camera also records the increasing tension in the relationship between the couple. They also bring in Dr Fredrichs (Mark Fredrichs), a psychic, who becomes disconcerted by the negative energy and disturbing ambience he detects in the house. Despite warnings to leave the house, the couple stays on until the bitter end.
Israeli writer/director Oren Peli (a former video game designer) has a minimalist approach to film making, which serves the simple material well. Peli understands that the real horror comes, not from what we see on screen, but what we imagine is happening off screen, in the shadows. He cleverly uses the home camera device to give the familiar “things that go bump in the night” premise an eerie atmosphere. His use of a static time-lapse camera to record long periods of inactivity gives the film the semblance of reality. Despite some of the very strange things caught on camera, it is very hard to detect the obvious use of CGI or special effects. The lack of credits and a dedication to the families of Micah and Katie also add to this belief that what we are watching is real.
The characters are steadfastly one-dimensional, but the performances of the two leads seem natural and unrehearsed. Featherston is particularly good as the shrill, and occasionally annoying, Katie, and is on camera for much of the time.
Paranormal Activity will inevitably be compared to The Blair Witch Project, but this one lacks that spark of originality. The modern generation of movie goers, who are ignorant of some of the classic horror films like The Exorcist, Rosemary’s Baby, and even the original The Amityville Horror, with which this film shares a few similarities, may find Paranormal Activity scary. However older audiences will find the artifice and machinations almost laughably silly and banal.
*1/2