Review: Paranormal Activity

For a movie that cost an estimated $12,000 – $15,000 to make, Paranormal Activity it certainly is bringing in far more than anyone could have expected, at the box office and in crowd support. You see, this isn’t your typical horror or thriller movie – for two reasons. The first reason is that it’s shot like a documentary, a mockumentary if you will. It’s drawn a lot of comparisons to the Blair Witch Project which caught the country by storm some years back. The second reason is what I just stated: catching the country by storm. This movie started out in less than 15 locations, mostly college towns. To get it playing in your area, you had to “demand” it online. Demand, well, it was high, and still is. Packed houses across the land have been scared silly over this movie, calling it ‘the scariest movie in years’. Well, it was certainly entertaining at times, but after my creepy viewing, I wasn’t completely won over. I slept quite well, thank you.

You have to give it credit for the original feel and it certainly had its moments, but in the end, 'Paranormal Activity' turned out to be just "OK". (DreamWorks Pictures/SlashFilm.com)

What Paranormal Activity did very well was build on itself, scene after scene. After the initial set-up and understanding of who these two characters are and so forth, something kinda weird happens. You smile a bit in your chair, waiting for the loud noise to thunder through the auditorium. But nothing happens, and the story does an admirable job of moving forward and not pulling any cheap tricks. Then something else happens at night, the trend beings to emerge. You know something’s coming but you don’t know what – it was harder to guess, and more creative it turns out, than your average thriller movie. Each and every time it became night, you tensed up, gritted your teeth, and waited with immense anticipation. Most of the time, the movie delivered pretty well. It played off some fears people have of “what goes bump in the night”, but I do disagree with the notion some people are putting out there that this movies captures everything we are afraid of – not so much. Nevertheless, it was pretty eye-opening at times, and kept you waiting. It didn’t let down until…

The end. Oh the hard to wrap your head around ending, the one you wish that they hadn’t used. An ending and conclusion, if you want to call it that, that drops this movie from good to just alright. Now, I understand how hard it is to make movies. Actually, I’ll probably never understand how hard that trade really is, and especially to make one that really catches fire and is successful. But in my heart of hearts, I know that there had to be something better to cap this one off. I can’t say much, as to potentially ruin the ending, but it was certainly disappointing. The anticipation was whisked out of the theater and most of the audience calmed down, and it ultimately became just another thriller, instead of that special kind of movie that comes around once every blue moon. It’s a shame that such a fresh feel to a movie, packaged so nicely with sincere acting and great build-up, dwindled when it ran its’ course.

Paranormal Activity is likely to be “demanded!” by the masses as it gains more and more hype, and good for the director who made this on chump change by Hollywood standards. But as exciting as it was, as fun as the anticipation was for most of it, it turned out to be nothing really special. It had its’ moments, but didn’t quite live up to the hype. I’m not disappointed at all, but it would have been pretty neat if the notion that I’d have nightmares for weeks was true. Thanks to a shaky plot twist, or whatever you want to call the last 25 minutes or so, that remains untrue.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: (out of 4)