Paranormal Activity: Movie Review

Paranormal Activity: Movie Review

Rating: 7/10
Cast: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, A House
Director: Oren Peli
So the film which has torn up the USA Box Office and apparently scared Steven Spielberg silly finally arrives on these shores.
Apparently based on a true story (cough, cough) this is the tale of WASPish couple Katie and Micah who live in the suburbs of San Diego. The pair are happy but have started to notice an increase in ghostly activity in their pad.
So Micah decides to buy a camera to chart any off the wall activity in the hope they can find out exactly what is haunting them - and why.
But as the camera rolls and the nights come and go, the situation grows increasingly hostile and dangerous for the pair....until both realize they are well and truly out of their depth.
Ok let's be clear about Paranormal Activity - like the Blair Witch Project before it, this film will 100% divide the audience. It's a polarizing piece - you're either 100% in or 100% out. Granted the marketing seems to be doing a lot for this film with word of mouth giving it the momentum that it needed to become a bona fide box office smash.
But that aside, Paranormal Activity is one of those films which will play on your basest fears and insecurities.
While we watch the action from the comfort of down the camera lens, there's a growing, gnawing tension which ramps the audience up - you're never quite 100% sure where the story is going.
Both Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat are good in this - but it's their ordinariness and average performances that make the film that more compelling as the inevitable spooks begin to play out (to even discuss some of them would unfairly rob you of those heart in the mouth moments you'll see on screen.)
You also have to credit Oren Peli for creating something truly different for a generation which has seen it all before - from the irony to the blood and spatter, this genre was clearly exhausted. Yet the reinvention and ability to twist your fears and deepest worries are two of Paranormal Activity's greatest assets.
Along with the minimal effects and superb sound, you'll feel sickness and panic rising in places.
However, it's with a sense of frustration towards the end, that Paranormal Activity ever so slightly misfires. Its eventual denouement will have some sections of the audience screaming at the characters as they seem to go back on their nature and fall into clichéd horror trappings.

Paranormal Activity works best with a packed audience - its psychological spooks and frights are unexpected and you may find yourself sleeping with the light on after you've seen it.