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“Paranormal Activity”
Rated: R
Starring: Katie Featherson, Micah Sloat
Directed By: Oren Peli
Runtime: 86 min.
Rating: B
Low-budget horror films show audiences one thing: simple is scary. The ‘80s had “Halloween,” the ‘90s had “The Blair Witch Project,” and “Paranormal Activity” could come to represent the 2000s.
In his directorial debut, Oren Peli has delivered a quietly horrifying and shocking movie. With so many mediocre horror films representing the past decade, it is refreshing to find such an honest interpretation of a classic ghost story.
The movie follows a couple who move into a house after three years of dating. After learning of his girlfriend’s past with a demon, Micah (Micah Sloat) decides to set up a camera to capture any supernatural activities. Micah is doubtful at first, but strange occurrences, such as moving doors and mysterious footprints, slowly convince him of another presence.
Micah and Katie (Katie Featherson) become increasingly paranoid of these events and begin to lose their cool. They contact a psychic and an exorcist, but realize the battle is between themselves and the demon.
The movie uses a home-video style of filmmaking, a technique famously utilized used by “The Blair Witch Project.” This style is scary because it feels like it could happen to anybody. It brings something supernatural into a natural environment, challenging how people view the plainest of things.
“Paranormal Activity” does not get in viewers’ faces, but it gets in their heads. The movie does not use popularized scare tactics, such as quick edits and jumping at the camera, but instead takes a classic approach. The scenes are dragged and the scares are far in between, so the movie sends chills down the viewer’s spine by being reluctant and keeping them guessing. Because there is one camera, the audience is confined and left helpless to understand what it cannot see.
The movie’s dialogue is not exactly poignant, but it is honest. This asset is parallel to the acting, which is not over-dramatic and gets the job done. As a movie that uses everyday characters, it seeks to appeal to the average viewer’s simplest traits. It questions how one would react and what one would say in a modern environment with a demonic presence.
The script also shows promise in its storytelling. The scariest scenes are unpredictable and spread out, so scenes in between must keep the audience interested. Micah represents the audience and is skeptical of Katie’s story at first. However, after several unexplainable events, Micah and the audience realize there is more than meets the eye. When Micah and Katie view footage from the previous night, it gives the audience a chance to understand how scary and unreal it would be to experience these events. These scenes display their slow and steady decline into helplessness, which leaves the audience feeling the same way.
Travis Bean can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 275
