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One might not think that a two year old film, created by a one-man team, and backed by less than the cost of a new car, could make a lasting impression. But Paranormal Activity, written, directed, and edited by Oren Peli, is easily one of the best movies of the year. And the whore-quotes on the TV commercials that proclaim the film to be one of the scariest movies ever made? Yeah, it's true.
Paranormal Activity is a mockumentary that follows a young couple's haunted house over the course of a month. Twenty-somethings, Katie and Micah start hearing noises during the night. Micah, thinking the supernatural sounds are exciting, buys a camcorder to document the activity. As Micah tries to have fun with his impromptu investigation, the activity becomes worse and worse. It's finally revealed that Katie had been haunted by a ghost earlier in life until her house mysteriously burnt to the ground, destroying all of her family's possessions. A psychic is called to the house, where he becomes ill at ease and tells the couple that the thing that's haunting them is an inhuman spirit and that he is no help to them. He recommends a demonologist, but Micah, who is already unimpressed by the psychic, won't have a whack-job demonologist anywhere near his home. As Katie is tormented by the demon, Micah becomes more and more interested in documenting the occurrences. Micah's unrelenting curiosity provokes more aggressive activity, completing the vicious cycle, until the haunting goes from being foreboding to outwardly violent.
Like this. But scarier.
Paranormal Activity achieves both its goals of telling a compelling story and of scaring the pants off of the viewer. The entire movie is told through the viewpoint of Micah's camera (a technique that's been employed long before the "innovative" Cloverfield). Being constrained to a single camera adds a subconscious claustrophobic intensity. As stated above, the ghostly activity slowly increases over the course of the film. This provides for a strong story arc. The viewer is constantly wondering "what's going to happen tonight?" And since the activity does not worsen every single night, the audience is kept on their toes. Another technique that provides for a nice pacing is the division of daytime and night scenes. The viewer's heart is pounding while the camera is perched on top the bedroom tripod while Katie and Micah sleep (or at least try to), and a sigh of relief accompanies the arrival of sunlight, because paranormal activity can't occur during the day, right? The two main actors do a nice job of contrasting Katie's torment and Micah's pigheaded inquisitiveness. The fact that the demon is haunting Katie - not the house - packs another punch. The viewer gets the urge to ask "why doesn't she just leave," but leaving wouldn't help, since the demon would simply follow wherever she goes. A vicious feeling of being trapped adds even more intensity. Katie isn't the only target of the spirit, though. As Micah antagonizes the ethereal enemy, the spirit implies that Micah is going to pay for prodding through several subtle foreshadowing clues. Paranormal Activity is a great cat-and-mouse game adapted into film. There are no twists, nor any morals to take away (except not to screw around with the supernatural), but the movie does tell a memorable story.
Now about those scares. The first half of the movie's frights are all bumps in the night. But that's not to say they're cheap thrills. Each event is ushered in by a motif of earthshaking bass tones. These dark and foreboding audio effects pile up the tension until the breaking point, where a crash wakes up the couple or an inanimate object moves by itself. Following each noise, the couple grabs the camera and investigates. These middle-of-the-night misadventures are dripping with the classic "don't go around that corner" feel. After a while, the spooky stuff advances from disembodied sounds to possession. One of the creepiest moments of the film is when Katie wakes up and stands at the side of the bed, staring at Mikah for three straight hours (one of those clues I mentioned above) until she unconsciously wanders outside. It's amazing that a person just standing around can be so impassioned and disturbing. In order not to spoil any of the other surprises, we'll leave it at that, and just say that all the scares are well-crafted, that Peli doesn't take any cheap shots at the audience, and that atmosphere takes precedence over scary imagery.
Another merit of Paranormal Activity is its accurate portrayal of the paranormal. It's clear that Peli thoroughly researched the pseudo-scientific field. Nothing outrageous or unbelievable (provided you believe in the paranormal) occurs throughout the film. No creepy girls crawl out of the television.
The only flaw of the film is its ending. The final scene starts off somewhat scary and becomes intense and mysterious after a minute or so. But the final action of the scene just comes off as cheesy and pulpy. It's scary, but somewhat silly. Before the film ends, a title card states the fate of the couple. This almost ruins the exclusively first-person viewpoint. The film's abruptly ending would have been a simpler, creepier conclusion. This could have easily been achieved. Within the last 15 seconds of the film, something happens that could have resulted in the camera's breaking. This was a perfect opportunity to end the film at an eerie point and keep a cliff-hanger feel, but it wasn't taken. Hopefully the DVD will feature the rumored alternate endings.
Spoiler: It was a dog.
It's encouraging to see that a super low budget, bare-bones film can get the recognition it deserves in an increasingly concentrated industry. Due to critical acclaim (or clever marketing), Paranormal Activity went from a limited release to a wide release in less than one month. That's pretty amazing. Finally, atrocities such as Couples' Retreat and Law Abiding Citizen are taking the beating they deserve from an unlikely opponent.
Even if you've grown weary of the paranormal genre cash-ins riding on the coattails of Ghost Hunters, you need to see Paranormal Activity. It will make you jump out of your seat in the theater and keep you creeped out for days to come.
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The biggest impact this film has is when you go home that night and try to sleep. This film sticks with you well after you have left the theater.