Screen Rant’s Kofi Outlaw Reviews Paranormal Activity
[Check out our Paranormal Activity 2 review]
Paranormal Activity is a little film that was reportedly made for $11,000 over the course of a seven-day shoot by writer/director/producer/editor Oren Peli, and stars newbies Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat and the couple’s camcorder.
The ghost story is pretty straightforward: Katie and Micah (the actors use their real names in the film) are a young couple who have been together for about a year or two and have recently taken the plunge of moving in together. Soon after, they begin to experience weird paranormal activity taking place in their home – lights and sinks turning on and off, doors slamming, etc. Katie soon reveals that this isn’t the first time she’s been “haunted by ghosts” – when she was 8, she had re-occurring visits from a shadowy apparition and her family’s home was eventually burned to the ground without explanation. Since then, the apparition has followed Katie wherever she goes, “visiting” her from time to time, up to the present. Micah wishes that Katie had told him all this BEFORE they moved in together.
Katie is freaking out about the reappearance of her ghostly stalker, but Micah (of course) is too MANLY to believe in such nonsense, so he invests in a top-grade camera, some top-grade mini microphones and sound recording software, in order to wire the house for a ghost-hunting experiment. Our POV is that of the camcorder and boom mic, as they record the paranormal happenings taking place in Katie and Micha’s home over the course of about three weeks.
That’s the setup, and it would be hard to go much deeper without dropping some major SPOILERS.
I can tell you that Katie and Micah bring in a psychic (Michael Bayouth) who determines that what they’re facing isn’t a ghost trying to establish communication, but rather a malevolent demon, hell bent (pun intended) on claiming Katie’s soul. The psychic tells Katie and Micah that they need to bring in a “demonologist” to help exorcise the evil spirit – only the guy is currently vacation, so they’ll have to wait it out. In the meantime, the psychic breaks down a few demon rules for the couple (and us) to understand:
- There is no running from it – leave the house and the spirit will only follow.
- The spirit feeds off negative energy (anger, fear, etc).
- Don’t do ANYTHING to enrage or attract the demon – especially buying a Ouija Board.
Of course, if you’ve ever seen a horror movie before you know that the rules are only there to be broken by doomed fools. Katie is all nervousness and pragmatism (“Honey, let’s just stop and ask for directions…”), but Micah, the skeptic, would rather “man-up” and handle things his own way (read: pacing the house, challenging the evil spirit to show itself). Smart idea.
The best horror movies are the ones that exploit our deep-seated anxieties about real-life events or situations. The Exorcist was every parent’s worst nightmare: their innocent child suffering a terrible affliction; Rosemary’s Baby played upon the high-anxiety of pregnancy and child-rearing; Hitchcock’s Psycho gleefully exploited the near-universal fear of random, unprovoked violence. Paranormal Activity will stand out for a long time in my mind (and I’m sure others) because it hits just the right panic buttons inside the brain: the familiar fear of the creaky, empty house at night – but more importantly, the high-anxiety of being in a relationship.
The latter theme is only subtly touched on, due to the nature of the POV (it would’ve stupid to have the couple record their dramatic fight moments), but that current is always on and running, coursing through the cinematic subtext. Anybody you partner with in life is bound to come with baggage – Katie’s baggage just so happens to be a freaky demon. Micah is portrayed as something of an alpha-male stereotype – brash and insensitive a lot of the time, you know the picture – but also as a guy who is genuinely trying to help his chick sort out all of the crazy in her past, so they can be happy together in the present. And, like real-life relationships, sometimes the best intentions…
Continue reading our Paranormal Activity Review
Our Rating:
4 out of 5
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Sure the movie might have been trying to be realistic, but the point is, it’s still a movie. Movies != real, unless it’s an ACTUAL documentary or something of that nature. That’s why it’s a damn movie.
i will never watch this movie, cuz i dont agree with getting myself messed up with demonism !
i dont belive in ghosts , cuz the dead are dead ! thye have no recolection of anything ! and if things are “happening” in your home or life, its the demons ! cuz demons are real, ghosts are not !!
This moive was garbage. everyone was making a big deal about it and it wasnt even scary. if you think that is scary you must get scared when you see your shadow. the moive is unrealistic.
Was disappointed. I thought the blair witch project was much scarier. Can’t compare with classics like the exorcist. I found it boring and quite frankly, stupid. Maybe it was all the hype over this movie that left be expecting so much more. Unlike the blair witch project where they were lost and trying to get out of the woods and frightened, these two seemed non chalant about the so called demonic presence in their house. It was more a comedy than a thriller. Save your money and wait for the dvd.
Yes, SK-47, we wrote something up about the multiple endings recently.
Vic
I think that it just depends on the person. Personally, I’m not going to say I believe in ghosts and demons, but I’m not going to bash them in. My opinion is that I’m not just but just to be safe, I’ll be cautious. So for people who either believe in ghosts/demons or are cautious about it, the movie is scary. I admit, the actual movie itself wasn’t GREAT. But it gets in your head and makes you think that you could have a demon watching you right now read this comment.
It’s about the unknown and what COULD happen.
I’ll also add that it’s not just about the “subtleness” of being haunted (ex: breezes on your neck, thumping in the other room, etc.) because what kinda movie would that be? OMG A BREEZE!… without a climatic ending right? It’s kind of the escalating of the haunting. In the movie, the ghost guy even says that it’s very rare for someone to be hurt. It’s just about the “what if” for those who believe. Like omg, I’ve been hearing things… what if it gets worse?!
That movie is a joke. I have never seen a movie that is such boring. It is a super low budget movie shot with a regular video camera in a house with 4 people in total. 2 main actors and the other 2 have shown no more than 5 minutes in total. Boring conversation. Half of the movie are the 2 main actors sleeping in a bed. I still don’t understand why some people think it is scary. Especially, it is not from a true story.
I’ve had been dying to see Paranormal Activity. I finally got time last night and I’m sorry to say, I was bored and annoyed for almost the entire movie. I left feeling ripped off. And I’m not some one who needs special effects & gore.
I accually don’t like gore. I can’t watch Saw movies. Now The
Exorcist, BlairWhich, and Poltergisted ARE scary movies. Paranormal Activity is a total rip off. Any one who says it was good or in any way scary is a plant. The makers should be sued.
I wanted to see this movie for so long, when I did what a dissapointment it was. Completely overhyped. I love ghost/paranormal movies, but this one didn’t cut it for me. Blair Witch was a fresh approach and loved it. Recently seen Ghosts of Crowley Hall and that was scary. That hasn’t been hyped up though, so had no preconception of it. I hear there’s going to be a sequel to Paranormal Activity now. More hyping.
Maybe you shouldn’t let hype ruin a movie.
@Vic,
Thanks!
Booring! damn bad movie. i was laughing when she get draged out of the room^^ there are only one movie that can describes as horror. The grudge, and that is’nt scarry enough. this movie gets 0 bananas of 5.
This was a poorly made film with terrible acting. My friend told me it was real and I believed it up until I started to wonder why two young kids had a huge house. The main male character was kind of funny and witty. And actually the funniest scene I thought was when she was dragged out of the bed. Anyway the acting was amateur at best. The police at the end were terrible as well. They shot a girl and afterwards they turn their attention to something else on the other end of the house. I would give this movie a 1 out of 5 stars. They did lots with a little. It would be acceptable for a film school project or something. Overall was not impressed at all.
Here’s the deal – SUSPENSE is what makes a movie scary. You know exactly when something scary is going to happen, because the camera stops fast forwarding…then…bam (a lowercase bam, mind you) something sppoky. Disappointing and the most “un-scary” movie I have ever seen and I’ve seen a LOT of horror flicks.
I would be interested to know from all the folk who did not like Paranormal Activity, what films DID scare them? And by that I don’t mean ones that made you jump or scream at the time you were watching them – I mean ones that long after you watched them, you were still unnerved and looking over your shoulder, convinced something was gonna get you!! For me that has to be something BELIEVABLE, I can jump at the likes of Halloween, The Grudge etc but once I switch it off, I am not sitting there terrified Michael Myers is coming! With this and my experiences of paranormal happenings, I was totally freaked out as this kind of thing can and DOES happen!!
Yay for Musicmaz understanding why this is a good movie.
And here’s a thread from another site (PopEater) that should make a bunch of you calm down about why you thought the movie was “stupid” and “boring”:
“I think that it takes a certain degree of imagination for this film to be effective. It doesn’t spoon-feed the audience and tell them at every step how they should be responding at each moment, so most of the general audience might be confused or disappointed by it. I’d assume that these people would be more satisfied by movies trying to appeal to the lowest-common-denominator moviegoer – such as Jennifer’s Body.
Accusing the movie of being stupid, or of people who appreciate what the movie accomplishes of being lightweights or part of an Emperor’s New Clothes-esque scheme to “dupe” people shows a stubborn, aggressive type of ignorance that really saddens me to see so prevalent in our culture. Just because it wasn’t your cup of tea, or you didn’t “get” something, doesn’t mean it was necessarily bad. It just wasn’t the movie for you.
The fact that so many people do respond to this film shows that it IS effective… but without the imagination mentioned, an ability to really put yourself in the position of the characters on the screen, and a certain degree of open-mindedness, then that effectiveness is going to be lost. It’s a pity that this movie DID get so much hype, because I believe that is what’s making people take such an aggressive stance towards it. What confuses me is that the movie delivers exactly what it promises in the previews – you can tell that it’s a handheld, zero-budget film with few effects from the shots you can see, and can gather from that the fact that it’s going to be largely character-driven and tense without much in the way of dramatic pay-off (much like Blair Witch was) – so I have no idea what people were expecting to be so disappointed. I can only assume that they either cannot connect or identify with the actors (which is understandable, I mean, who can really identify with two college age kids who can afford to own a four-bedroom home in this day and age?), or they lack the ability to imagine what it would be like to have something unstoppable invade their home, and therefore can’t connect with the basic principle of the film.
All endings aside, it might have helped if the filmmakers hadn’t put a name to the entity, since I think belief (or suspension of disbelief) might have also been a factor.”
Original link: http://www.popeater.com/2009/10/28/watch-original-ending-of-paranormal-activity/
@Joe LOL. You think people calm down and buy into opinons when you call them morons? I find it interesting that there is such intensity in like or dislike of this movie! Wow. I came here to express my opinion and dismay that it was not what I had hoped for. But I am surprised to see such aggression on both ends of the spectrum!
As for your referenced thread…just more uninformed assumptions about the people who did not like this movie. What basis for such generalizations? I bet if someone did a study, we would find that there was much divergence among individuals both pro and con. If anything is an “aggressive type of ignorance” (quote from your post) it is attacking the intelligence, imagination, and openmindedness of people just because they do not agree with you! Actually, I think the Emperor’s Clothes theory the post mentions has some merit….I had not thought of that. Interesting…
This was the biggest piece of crap I have ever seen. I have seen Disney productions scarier than this. What a scam! The guy in front of me fell asleep and I waited 40 minutes for something to happen and what do I get… wind blowing through a window shaking plants with the Ouija board disc sliding across the board with a flame trailing it. WTF!!!!!! I should have brought my pillow.
@Diane
I don’t know about you, but after reading most of the posts here, I think I can safely assume that there’s a lack of open-mindedness. You can’t tell me you do not somewhat agree.
I sat through the 1st hour of this movie and I must say
It didn’t scare me at all.I got a little board and went outside the theater to have a cig only to find that I was locked out after lol. Honestly I wasn’t to upset. I’m relived that I will get my money back
For everyone who said it scared them so badly that days later they cant get over it, Grow a spine plz.
wow all you people saying this movie not scary or is garabge or worst movie ever, how come its getting 4/5 stars on almost every rating site? mabey u have no taste in a good horror film.
I just saw it last night, the near empty theater should have been a sign, my girlfriend fell asleep and I nearly dozed off one or twice. I kept hearing the film screening in the adjacent theater and I kept thinking, “Damn, wish I was watching that movie.” But instead I sat and waited for something to make me scared and I was sorely disappointed. I could see maybe with a full audience how this might be scary but in an empty theater it was just dreadful. Stay home and slam doors your own door, watch “Ghost Hunters”, pretty much the same thing.
I feel like there has to be something wrong with me because this movie did absolutely nothing for me. It was incredibly repetitive (day 1 bed moves, day 3 door creaks, day 11 sheet rustle, day 21 shadows, day 23 more shadows) too little action, too much talking and not enough background.
I think it would have been a lot scarier if we knew who was hunting what was the background. You would think the doubt and wondering would be creepy but to me it made the whole thing seem silly.
Not only that but Katie was so silly, just letting her boyfriend do all this stupid stuff, the poor couldn’t even pee in peace!! The movie was counting on startling the viewerd instead of truly scaring them. Of course people are going to jump and scream if all of the sudden a face appears on the screen. That movie didn’t insprire true fear. It was the same I felt when I saw the Blair Witch’s project. Utter dissapointment.
To the person who asked which movies have scared the ones who didn’t like Paranormal I would say The Exorcist still scares me to this day and it is definetly because the Catholic in me still believes (against all logic) that it could happen. Aside from that I havent seen anything truly scary.
So effin boring! One of the worst movies I’ve even seen.
IS this movie real?
@BlaBla
No.
I loved this movie. It is the scariest thing i have ever seen. The Blair Witch scared me, and so did this. I have to admit, during the time while watching the movie,it wasn’t that scary (some part scared me, like when she was dragged down the hall, and most of the knocking) but, what i think, a lot of the people who are saying they hate it on here haven’t really thought about the after effect it has on people. I was shaking after this movie, it seemed so real. But what was even worse (and i think this is what the film maker were trying to do) when i went to sleep that night, i kept hearing noises i never noticed before. Every bump or creek i heard was really scary. A lot of these people saying they hate this movie haven’t really told about after (and dont lie if you do). That is what this movie , and Blair Witch, were made to do. My hose is set up a lot like the upstairs of the one in the movie. (the stairs are on the other side) and it is creepy. I’m 13, and a strong believer in ghosts. I have had my own paranormal experiences with my passed step dad. (a lot like the stuff that happens in the movie, i am not saying he is a demon, and he is not). This movie was made to scare your mind and trick you into thinking there are ghosts.
This is a true work of art, made for the open-minded person and should be seen by someone and then lock them in a dark room and start making noises, it would freak them out. A masterpiece. 5/5