Every couple of years a horror movie will come out that will get a LOT of people talking. Some of these films end up being great and some not so much. These horror films are usually low budget and generally speaking make a KILLING in theaters (no pun intended). 10 years ago “The Blair Witch Project” came out and took the world by storm. 10 years ago that low budget movie made more money than anyone expected simply by the crazy word of mouth it produced. Everyone kept talking about it and it became the movie you had to see. 10 years later “Paranormal Activity” is becoming the same thing. This horror movie, with it’s $12,000 budget and no name actors, will probably be talked about for a while. The only question that remains is: Does the movie deliver?
Spoiler Free Review is under the cut!!!
Horror is one of those genre’s that has so many different types of movies. You have the recently popular “torture porn” style horror, the classic “pop out of the corner” style horror, the “intense moments” horror, and even “comedic horror”. Most horror movies don’t scare me. I suppose it has to do with the fact that I had been watching horror movies like Halloween, The Shining, and all the other classics since I was 3. It’s rare that a movie actually scares me.
Paranormal Activity actually scared me.
I’m gonna say right off the bat that Paranormal Activity is a solid movie. I choose the word solid because it’s better than good but not quite great. It does some things that are FANTASTIC and other things not so much. Worth the hype that it’s getting and is going to get over the next few weeks? Not quite. Worth seeing in theaters? Definitely.
What I really loved about the movie is that it’s a true horror film. It’s the type of movie where you will sit there, with your hair raised on end, anticipating what will happen next. You sit there legitimately creeped out. The true genius though is the camerawork. The movie is filmed in a documentary style way just like Cloverfield and Blair Witch. What separates this movie from those is how smart the director is. He makes the camera move with such precision without making it seem fake. Every movement that the camera makes is perfect for maintaining the intensity of the moment. Simply put, the movie is very well shot. I’d even go to say that it’s the best “documentary style” horror film to date.
The two main characters of the movie are Katie and Micah played by… well… Katie and Micah. I won’t get into the things they do in the film because I want to keep it spoiler free. I will say however that their acting is amazing. Because of their acting the movie maintains it’s sense of realism. It’s one of the rare movies that you watch that you sometimes forget is just a movie. What I really liked is that they are just your average young couple. They are casted in a way that makes you realize that something like this could happen to you.
The movie was good but like I said it did have it’s flaws. For one the ending came way to quick. It had a great pace and a great build up but the ending, although VERY creepy, was also very sudden. What’s ironic is that it’s almost too good a build up. The reason the ending feels so sudden is because you want more. Despite it being an hour and a half you really feel as if it were 45 minutes long. Another flaw I should mention was the shakiness of the camera was at times a bit too much. Other than the first 5 minutes it didn’t bother me too much but a normal person or someone with motion sickness may get a little queasy at times.
Paranormal Activity is definitely worth seeing. The key is to go into not looking for the scariest movie ever but looking for a good solid horror film. It delivers on all fronts despite having a questionably sudden ending. The director, Oren Peli, reaches every goal he was going for. He keeps it realistic and intense and uses your own inner fears against you. The scariest moments of the movie are easily when you are anticipating something to happen. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t but he always keeps you on edge. The great thing about a movie like this is that half the fear is when you are watching the movie. The other half is when you get home and your in bed by yourself wondering what’s happening around you.
Tags: fear, horror, oren peli, paranormal activity
October 11, 2009 at 2:51 am |
Shit yo, this makes me wanna see this movie haha great post.