First-time director Oren Peli’s Paranormal Activity succeeds because it does the little things right in telling its tale of terror and fright. It is a tidy little picture, utilizing a documentary handheld camera style to work through the events of a young couple haunted by a supernatural presence. The film is effective and truly frightening, a rare feat in today’s more is more world of moviemaking.
It should be noted that this review covers the 2007 original version of the picture. Upon doing a little digging, I realized that the 2009 wide theatrical release of Paranormal Activity features a different ending (one suggested by Steven Spielberg). I have seen the new ending online and I have to say that the 2007 original ending seems to be more satisfying.
Paranormal Activity is compelling in that it didn’t use a cinematographer in the traditional sense. Instead, the two actors (Katie Featherstone and Micah Sloat) do the camerawork due to the premise of the film. Featherstone’s Katie and Sloat’s Micah are two twentysomethings that have moved in together in a San Diego house. The couple begins to experience some paranormal activity, so Micah has bought a video camera in hopes of capturing some of it on film. That’s where the movie begins.
Through the ever-present eyes of Micah’s camera, the story begins to unfold slowly and with effective subtlety. The most frightening portions of the movie are provided in the early going, with small noises and slow movements of doors or shadows. The anticipation is killer, but Peli builds things up to a crescendo at the events of the haunting become more pronounced. The camera dutifully records it all, capturing the madness of Katie standing just out of bed for long periods of time or the slamming of doors and the sound of footsteps.
Paranormal Activity is a wonderful little horror picture, but as the movie builds, it becomes less efficient and more, well, like a movie. The scenes feel somewhat less genuine and the performers resort to acting rather than reacting, slightly damaging the premise for the sake of bigger thrills and chills. That’s not to say that the final moments aren’t frightening, of course, because they sure as hell are, but the almost explicit nature of the sequences threatens the film’s delicate fabric.
Peli knows how to use the device (the video camera) to its maximum effect with Paranormal Activity. The bulk of the terror is constructed slowly rather than set abruptly upon the hapless viewer and, in this way, the movie truly provides frightening moments. More than moments, Paranormal Activity offers a disturbing, scary mood. As we watch Katie and Micah sleep night after night, we start to wonder what will happen next. We are in on the experience, watching the corners and listening closely for any possible sound.
Paranormal Activity is a tight, concise, excellent motion picture. It works because of its simplicity and its audacity. It offers a terrific blend of frightening scenarios, some of which exist in our own interpretation of what might lurk in the shadows and what might be making those thumping sounds. In a day and age when so much horror is about showing the blood and gore and nonsense, Peli’s less-is-more approach proves spectacular.
8.4/10
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