Paranormal Activity: Slow Start, but Owns You
Review of the 2009 Thriller Paranormal Activity
Nov 5, 2009
Paranormal Activity is one of those movies that slowly builds up to a hard-hitting climax. It will leave you with your jaw dropped and screaming like a third grader on Halloween Night. Written and directed by Oren Peli, the movie centers around daytrader Michah and student Katie as they enter a new home and try to figure out what's going bump in the night. Micah decides to set up his camcorder and document everything that's goes on, even though Katie is not a big fan of it. She eventually gets aggravated by the constant recording. However, she is surprised when he catches her in some kind of trance on tape.
As the recordings continue, the two soon discover there's something evil at work in the house, and it's focusing directly on their bedroom and them. After finding some physical evidence and consulting with outside resources, they come to a crossroad on whether to leave or just get help. This leads them down a dark road that ends that ends with murder.
Just another scary movie?
While ghost stories of this nature have been told before (SeeBlair Witch Project), Paranormal Activity hits closer to home when thinking about the rise of new ghost hunters, electronic voice phenomena (EVP), reports of apparitions, and demons.
Networks such as The SyFy Channel(Ghost Hunters), Travel Channel(Ghost Adventures), and A&E (Paranormal State), have cashed in big on the ghost rave. Their shows challenge viewers' opinions on the topic of life after death.
While slow in building its climax, Paranormal Activity also has become a national sensation because of its simplicity, not because of its production. The movie is styled in a way that the entire project is shot from the viewpoint of a camcorder. Without smooth transitions, cool fadeouts and effects, Paranormal Activity meets a level of human connection very few can do with such a topic. Not to give it away, but this movie's climax involves a paranormal act that looks so real it will take a couple of seconds to truly register in your mind what you saw and heard.
And it's that scene that will own you. Period.
This movie is a 7.0 out of 10 for making the viewer wait so long for the climax. It's like waiting at a birthday party for the cake to finally get served after being there for an hour. However, it's a pretty big piece of cake.
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