Paranormal Activity is All Hype
06 Nov 2009 3 Comments
During the recording of Episode 11 (October 6th) of Double Talk Radio, when we started doing our Shocktober series, a listener had brought up Paranormal Activity and provided us the URL to the movies website, http://www.paranormalactivity-movie.com. I immediately checked out the site and was pumped to see the film. I had decided then that I would see and then review it on our final Shocktober show on October 27th (Episode 14).
Paranormal Activity is a film about a young couple, Katie and Micah (pronounced: mee-cah), who are haunted by a supernatural presence in their home. Micah, who is a self-made day trader, a jock and a technology nerd, decides to buy an expensive video camera in the hopes of capturing paranormal activity on film. He sets up the camera on a tripod in their bedroom to capture any of the activity they have been experiencing. Katie, a student, is less rational and a part-time believer in the occult, is not so sure but she capitulates to Micah’s whims anyway. Soon, as expected, the night-time footage, shot from a single continuous vantage point at the foot of the couple’s big bed, proves revealing – a door moves inches on it’s own, a sheet billows inexplicably, footprints appear across the polished floorboards. The drama escalates; a Ouija board spontaneously combusts, Katie sleepwalks, a psychic arrives and quickly flees from the home’s “negative energy,” and the demonic force eventually shows its teeth and it’s considerable physicla strength.
The film, directed by Oren Peli, is presented in a documentary style, using found footage from the camera set up by the couple to capture what is haunting them; much like the 1999 film The Blair Witch Project. Peli admits that The Blair Witch Project was his source of inspiration and the similarities are self-evident. So, with only $10,000, a crew of three, a Sony video camera and two actors (Featherston and Sloat were paid $500 for their services), Peli filmed the movie in his own San Diego house over seven days and nights; shooting around the clock and with very little sleep.
I must say, I remember al the hype about The Blair Witch Project and when I finally went to see the film and I was less than impressed. To be frank, I hated the movie because it annoyed me rather than scare me. But, I was not going to let my feelings of The Blair Witch Project taint my movie-watching experience during Paranormal Activity.
The movie begins giving you the impression that the film is a true story using written narration; I suppose this is a ploy to make the film even more frightening than it’s premise makes it out to be. Don’t be fooled by this, it’s not a true story and it’s not that scary. I found the movie to be rather boring for the most part. I spent most of the time bored, a little seasick from the movement of the camera, and waiting for the big scare that, much to my chagrin, never came. I remember there was a point, in the middle of the movie where I actually wondered if I should have opted to see Saw VI or the remake of The Stepfather instead. Sad but true.
For weeks, Paranormal Activity has been a trending topic on Twitter, I have been reading tweets about how frightened they were during the movie or how they were having nightmares from the movie. Really? Nightmares? Wow, what was I getting myself into? I soon found out. Absolutely nothing.
