“Paranormal Activity” Review

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This review is spoiler-free. The only way this movie works is if you go in cold. So I’m going to talk around the big scares. What I am going to say is that “Paranormal Activity” works. I mean, it’s well after two in the morning, and I don’t feel like going to bed right away. I’m surprised the film sat on a shelf for two years before Paramount finally hit on the best way to release it. But running the film at midnight only is a masterstroke. It brings out the right audience. And seeing this movie with an audience is crucial.

“Paranormal Activity,” in the broadest of strokes, is about a young couple — day trader Micah and full-time student Katie — who believe they’re being haunted by some sort of entity. Katie believes a little more whole-heartedly than Micah, since this has been sort of an ongoing thing for her. However, it’s the skeptical Micah who shells out a pile of money for a high-end camera and begins filming their day-to-day lives, hoping to capture this beast on tape. His rationale for doing so is shaky, but people film all sorts of dumb bullshit these days.

I touched on the verisimilitude of video vs. film in my review of “Cloverfield” that I did ages ago. Let me retread. Since the advent of home video, I believe we’ve been conditioned to perceive a video image as authentic. Film, as we understand it, is too polished, too professional; it has a dream-like quality, creating something of a disconnect that we experience while watching it. Amateur video, to our eyes, is more “real” than a filmic image oddly enough. What’s more, films such as “Paranormal Activity” place the camera in the hands of one of the main characters frequently, forcing us to identify with them in a way that most movies generally don’t. We view the world literally through the characters’ eyes. We become part of that story world. Characters directly address us. We’re invested in the proceedings on a deeper level visually and psychologically. Going one step further, when the camera is placed on a tripod and trained on Micah and Katie in bed, and the image doesn’t cut away, doesn’t zoom, doesn’t do anything but observe as we would observe something were we actually in the room with them, we buy into the illusion.

And so, that’s why “Paranormal Activity” really draws you in, and how doors slamming and sheets being lifted and all the other gags are genuinely scary. Had the film been shot on celluloid by a DP who knew from lighting and composition, it oddly would’ve been much less effective and resonant.

That being said, is it actually scary? Well, I thought it was scary as hell, way scarier than anything else I’ve seen lately. Some of the moments in this are going to stick with me for awhile. The nighttime scenes actually gave me goosebumps because I had no idea what was going to happen. That Micah and Katie sleep with their bedroom door wide open is simply an invitation for some walking nightmare to come in. And the sound design in the film piles on the dread as the whatsis is always suggested by a low droning sound you can feel in your guts.

I cannot stress enough how great it is to catch this film with a midnight crowd. Hearing the audience collectively gasp as the spooky scenes play out only adds to the experience. Don’t worry about anyone talking or texting during this flick. “Paranormal Activity” literally grabs you and runs away.

-Brad Lohan

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