Review: "Paranormal Activity"

Let me preface by saying that I didn’t think that the "Paranormal Activity" trailer - a mish-mash of film footage and audience reaction - was particularly effective. Although, it does highlight the best reason to see this film in theaters: the audience. There isn't much critical material available on "Paranormal Activity". It's been out for just over a week, but there are only 30 [very positive] reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. It's the sort of film that builds momentum through word-of-mouth. Paramount Pictures is well aware of this, which is why their initial distribution strategy is completely dependent upon online demand. I'm willing to bet that this past weekend’s screenings were pretty full as a result.

The film's success, and it is undoubtedly successful, is almost entirely owed to "The Blair Witch Project". The general premise is this: a couple has been experiencing paranormal activity and so the boyfriend has invested in a camera to document the happenings. Produced on a shoestring budget, the film is told entirely from the perspective of the boyfriend's camera, similar to “The Blair Witch”. Also like that late 90’s shocker, the bare-bones budget limits (or perhaps liberates) the filmmakers to base their scares almost solely around things that go bump in the night. The structure of the film is brilliant if simple. During the day, the couple talks about the nocturnal disturbances, conducts paranormal research, consults with a psychic, etc. All of the night scenes begin from the same vantage point: the boyfriend places the camera on a tripod at the foot of their bed, and it surveys the whole room and the dark hallway that stretches beyond. Each night is prefigured by a title card – Night #1, 2, 3 and so on. The structure, like a roller coaster with every subsequent dip (or night scene) being steeper and longer (or more frightening) than its predecessor, had my audience positively writhing. The sound design is likewise wonderfully developed. At the beginning of the film, the soundtrack is sprinkled with bumps and scrapes so indistinguishable and soft as to be almost commonplace or even unnoticeable. As the film progresses, however, those seemingly normal and everyday noises turn into something that is...decidedly not. By the end of my screening, one audience member was audibly whimpering and another was slapping his knee in fits of anxiety.

“Paranormal Activity” is probably a better film than “The Blair Witch Project”, though the latter will always be the innovator and tremendously influential. Still, consider the following. The task before the filmmakers of "The Blair Witch Project" was to derive fear from the forest. Not particularly challenging, as forests are inherently dark, disorienting and filled with strange noises. Oren Peli, the writer and director of "Paranormal Activity", was charged with something much greater and more difficult: filling one's own home (specifically one's bedroom) with terror and menace. He has accomplished just that through a minimalist approach that relies on swinging chandeliers, moving bed sheets, whispering wind [or was it breath] and other things that go bump in the night. Pleasant dreams.

*** / ****