Review: Paranormal Activity
Let me preface by saying I hate horror movies, or more so, movies like Saw that have take over the genre. Paranormal Activity thankfully is not full of the gore and violence that passes for scary movies these days. It is a movie that allows suspense to build and will have you guessing until the very end.
Created by a former video game designer, Oren Peli, who wanted to make a movie, PA was made for approx. $15,000. Yea, $15,000. However, the quality of the film is nothing that will bother you for a second.
The film tells the story of a twenty-something couple, Mikah and his girlfriend Katie. Katie has felt she has been followed by some sort of ghost or demon her entire life and is starting to experience it again. Mikah buys a video camera to document if anything happens. Shit starts to get real.
The film is plotted out very well and creates a kind of suspense that the horror genre was based on in the 70’s. Obviously, its easiest comparison is The Blair Witch Project, and really its probably the best one. I would say BWP works better as a story, but I can’t really say on the scary part because I haven’t seen it in nearly a decade.
My major qualm is that Paranormal Activity suffers from a complete lack of human logic. I know, I know, its ghosts and demons and really logic should be left at the door, but I sat there in those “in-between” scenes and just thought “no reasonable person would do that, or not do this”. However, you really aren’t going into this to be challenged; you’re going to wet your pants.
Paranormal Activity is already a grand slam for Dreamworks and Paramount, taking in $45,000 per screen avg. in just over 150 screens. This is the “must see” movie out right now, and thankfully it is also one of the best horror films of the decade.
