Take heed when things go bump in the night

Paranormal Activity «««½
R, 99m. 2007

Cast & Credits: Katie Featherston (Katie), Micah Sloat (Micah), Mark Fredrichs (The Psychic). Written and directed by Oren Peli.

Paranormal Activity is the kind of disturbingly effective horror movie I wished The Haunting In Connecticut (2009) whose storyline was supposedly based on true events, had been. I have long since been convinced that the best horror films are those made on a low budget that include John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978), George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968) and his shopping mall, perhaps I should say "chomping mall" follow-up, Dawn of the Dead (1978). Although I didn’t care much for Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), I still can’t shake the final image of Leatherface running amok with the chainsaw on the dirt road and still wonder whether that corpse of Grandpa the twisted family kept in a wheelchair really was sucking blood from the female victim they terrorized.

Now I am starting to be convinced that the best horror movies are those that AREN’T supposedly based on true accounts but we are lead to think they were thanks to the cleverness of the filmmakers. Let’s be honest. The Haunting In Connecticut’s only selling point was the movie poster that showed the young kid barfing out what ghost hunters call ectoplasm. What they see as ectoplasm, I see vomit. I think that’s the only reason the filmmakers chose to adapt that particular story because of the supposed one incident, which may or may not have occurred, just to shock audiences.

If Paranormal Activity has any flaw, it is the way it’s being compared to the independent success of The Blair Witch Project (1999), which also boasted a supposed true life premise about three filmmakers who mysteriously disappeared while shooting a documentary in the forests of Burkittsville, Maryland. The only remains found was the videotape documenting their terror. The story wasn’t true but the clever mass marketed advertising campaign worked and what cost filmmakers Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez $60,000 to make, the film went on to gross $140 million at the box office.

By comparison, Paranormal Activity was made for less than $15,000 and its slow building box office success is based on positive word of mouth from those who saw the director/screenwriter Oren Peli’s work at midnight screenings over the past month. The film’s expansion into more movie theaters now is the result of distributor Paramount Pictures “Demand it” campaign on the movie’s website.

Like The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield (2008) or even the 2002 documentary, 9/11, shot by French filmmakers Jules and Gedeon Naudet that captured what went on inside the World Trade Center's twin towers as firefighters responded on Sept. 11, 2001, Paranormal Activity is about as close to “horror reality television” as you can get save for what’s captured by the news networks.

There are no opening or end credits or music, save for the opening card that says the filmmakers would like to thank Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat and the San Diego police department for providing the footage.

Everything is shot on a hand held camera as we are introduced to Katie and Micah who are being terrorized by an unseen presence in their home. Micah decides to chronicle their entire dilemma on film that lasts between Sept. and Oct. 2006, leaving the camera on in their bedroom while they sleep at night to record any unusual disturbances.

In the morning, Micah analyzes the previous night’s footage on computer. Some nights, nothing happens, while on others…well.

We learn how Katie as a young girl was terrorized by a presence of sorts that seems to follow her wherever she resides. Her worst fears are realized when a psychic (Mark Fredrichs) tells the couple the presence in their home is not a ghost but a demon that for whatever reason wants Katie. Despite Micah’s skepticism, the psychic warns him to take the matter seriously. Such are famous or infamous last words for any non believer.

This is more than just your average ghost story where things go bump in the night, loud menacing foot steps are heard, bite marks that can’t be explained, and the couple’s picture frame unexpectedly falls from the wall showing cracks on Micah’s face.

“Why is my face cracked and not yours,” Micah asks Katie.

What makes Paranormal Activity work is the way the film plays on our fears when we seem to be at the most vulnerable, which is during sleep and how we never know what might be lurking in the dark hallways. Even as I am typing this review at 3 a.m. in the morning in a dark house with only my computer on, my little Yorkie dog, Mickey, is barking and growling at the black lounge chair in the living room as though someone is sitting in it when I know there is no one there. Although now that I think about it, my grandfather did sit in that chair when he came over and he passed away a few weeks ago.

Anyone watching Paranormal Activity, most likely skeptics, will be quick to say the way they made the blanket move to make us think something was getting into bed with the couple at 2 a.m. was the work of some clever invisible string. Or the scene where Katie gets grabbed by her legs and is dragged out of the room one night was the work of using trick photography and computer software.

Seeing the couple asleep at night as the time fast forwards to certain moments, however, I couldn’t tell if what was happening was the work of visual effects artists or if the film itself or the home this couple lives in is actually “haunted.” That’s what makes this movie so unsettling.

I am not going to reveal the final shot. I know some will get a kick out of it and laugh just for the fun of being scared. Others may jump not expecting what they see coming next. What I will say is I can’t stop replaying what happens in those final few minutes in my head whenever I think about it. Think of the most horrific image you’ve seen in your lifetime. If such a scene still bothers you to this day, that’s the kind of scene I am talking about here.

©10/10/09