(2007)
Katie and Micah have been dating for a few years and decide to take things to the next level by purchasing a house together. Soon after moving in Katie suspects that weird things are happening while they are sleeping. Despite his skepticism, Micah surprises her with a new video camera, which he sets up in the bedroom in order to capture any strange phenomena.
To my knowledge no horror film in recent history has been as polarizing as Paranormal Activity; people seem to either love it or hate it. I loved it. Although there is subjectivity to all forms of art/entertainment, horror movies seem especially idiographic; what scares me does not necessarily scare you. Over the years I have watched hundreds of films from the genre. I generally find horror movies entertaining but rarely frightening. Hauntings, however, are my Achilles’ heel.
Paranormal Activity is remarkable because it was made for $11,000 yet, for me, is scarier than most of todays big budget horror fare. Director Oren Peli reminds us that you don’t need a lot of money to frighten people (e.g., JUON versus The Grudge). With its stripped down setting and the use of silence in place of “scary” music, Paranormal Activity feels authentic. I can’t recall the last time that I heard frenetic violins playing when I walked around my house late at night.
When you watch Micah and Katie you see two people you might know. There’s nothing especially noteworthy about them but they seem nice enough as they slog through their daily routines. They tease each other and occasionally bicker and it’s clear that they’re close. Although Micah is incredulous about Katie’s claims of paranormal activity, he purchases an expensive video camera to document any goings-on. He loves her and he wants to alleviate her concerns. Each morning he reviews the footage to prove to Katie that there's nothing to worry about. The video tells a different story.
In Jordan’s excellent Quarantine review he discusses the appeal/effectiveness of “found footage” as a cinematic device,
“I realized that this was no fluke, but a genuine aesthetic form being born; the cinematic equivalent of the epistolary novel. Having just watched Quarantine (2008), I’m convinced that this technique is one of the best things to happen to movies, and horror, in decades… I love “found footage” movies, because I think they're a groundbreaking innovation (see below), but I especially love them because they’re all horror movies (they have to be).”
I couldn’t agree more and I find technique effective even in sub-par efforts like Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2. There is something about watching scary events unfold on video that enhances the fear factor for me. It might be argued that video within video should make things less frightening because it further removes the audience from the “real” story. I believe it has the opposite effect. There’s a certain psychology to it; “If it happened on video than it must be real”, or something like that. Since watching Paranormal Activity I have fantasized about detectives finding all the footage from Micah’s camera. I would love to be a fly on that wall.
Paranormal Activity is low budget, engrossing little story about things that go bump in the night. The ad campaign would have you believe that it’s the scariest movie of all time, which it is not, not even close. Yet it kept my attention from beginning to end, which is really what’s it all about, right?
8 comments:
First!
Hmmm.. I dismissed this movie after Catfreeek gave it a sound thrashing. I guess I'll have to squeeze it in and judge for my damn self.
I'm still not sold on the the "found footage" as a genre theory. I think it's possible that it's just a fad that will run it's course but it's still a little too early to tell.
"I can’t recall the last time that I heard frenetic violins playing when I walked around my house late at night." Ha. Good point.
Cool that this worked for you so well! It's interesting that you bring up Blair Witch 2, which is mostly a regular movie but has that intriguing video from the night before.
And I like that you connect the different uses of found footage (or maybe I should say "meta-footage"), pointing out that the fuel source that drives Cloverfield and Quarantine can be tapped by movies that feature video as part of the story.
Maybe that was the trick right there... take the inherent creepiness of the footage within the movie and then just remove the frame. Make the whole plane out of the black box, so to speak.
"And I like that you connect the different uses of found footage (or maybe I should say "meta-footage"), pointing out that the fuel source that drives Cloverfield and Quarantine can be tapped by movies that feature video as part of the story."
That comes from Jordan, I only wish I had his brain.
I generally love found footage films for the very reasons you point out in your review. This one just didn't grab for me. I didn't find the couple all that likable and thought the tension just kept getting swept aside by the chatter in between scenes. It's nice to hear a different opinion though, I guess this really is a love it or leave it film.
Also, it wasn't just me and my friends who felt this way when we saw it. It showed on one of the big screens in Warwick and by the last 10 or 15 minutes of the film people in the theater were talking, laughing and picking the film apart. Maybe the crowd swayed me somewhat but I'm not willing to sit through it again to find out.
there's room for twist even in the narrowed idea of "found footage" -- think of *where* the found footage in Cloverfield was found.
it was found in what couldn't even be called central park anymore.
i think it was jordan who made the official connection that "found footage" implied that something bad happened to our protagonists. the cloverfield spin is that "found footage" implied that something really bad happened to all of the rest of us.
JSP: "I think it's possible that it's just a fad that will run it's course but it's still a little too early to tell."
They said the same thing about rap, rock n roll, and probably Jesus. I think Jordan is dead-on in his assessment. At the very least, we will see a few years' worth of copycat style stuff, though I think as a genre it may burn itself out quicker with audiences who will become "used" to the gag. A new genre, certainly. One that may fade out quicker, possibly. It HAS been around for almost 10 years, though...
And Cat's point about the audience is very pertinent. I saw both Matrix Reloaded and the Dawn of the Dead remake at the AMC 42nd Street theatre in sold-out stadium houses. The seats were packed with those types of movie viewers (*polite politically correct cough*) who LOVE to yell shit out at the screen.
I gotta tell ya, for both movies, the atmosphere was charged and electric with people that were becoming SUPER fans of both films, and it enhanced my enjoyment. During the first Burly Brawl, when Neo plants the steel pole and starts to run-kick all the Agent Smiths horizontally, all I could hear was a chorus of "Awwwww sheeit, GO NEO! DAMN!!"
Similarly, as I alluded to in a prior review, the second that first zombie takes off sprinting in DotD, the place fucking exploded. You couldn't help but get caught up in the communal atmosphere of fun and enjoyment of the moviegoing experience.
This can obviously work the other way too, as Cat experienced. But "found footage" has the greatest potential to snare an audience's attention.
Just like Jesus.
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