Paranormal Activity is scarily good – a no-budget chiller with the capacity to freak you out in a way that no CGI monster ever could, and thoroughly deserving of its $100 million word-of-mouth gross in the US.
Like its ‘found footage’ forebears (The Blair Witch Project, Rec, Cloverfield), in place of opening titles we get a message on the origin of the recording we're about to see, and it’s an instantly troubling clue that all might not turn out well for the couple who are its subjects. Micah, a day trader, has hired a swish night-vision video camera to get to the bottom of disturbances in the house he shares with his grad student girlfriend, Katie. To this point she’s the credulous one, and at first he’s just a sceptical boy playing with a new toy, but as he reviews his time-coded evidence it becomes increasingly clear that a malevolent presence may be shadowing his partner.
Don’t expect to be scared witless from the start – this is a film that lulls you into Micah’s initially derisive mindset. Ooh, her keys have moved, how terrifying. But as the nights progress, with the spirit seemingly energized by the couple’s increasing disharmony, what is captured by the camera and microphone shifts from the uncanny through the disturbing to the downright blood-curdling. It gets to the point where even a teddy-bear in the corner of a room can seem to radiate evil. Think of the derelict house at the end of Blair Witch, the TV from the original Japanese Ring – the kind of scene that physically winds you and unsettles you for days afterwards – the last ten minutes of this film are right up there. An instant genre classic.
Like its ‘found footage’ forebears (The Blair Witch Project, Rec, Cloverfield), in place of opening titles we get a message on the origin of the recording we're about to see, and it’s an instantly troubling clue that all might not turn out well for the couple who are its subjects. Micah, a day trader, has hired a swish night-vision video camera to get to the bottom of disturbances in the house he shares with his grad student girlfriend, Katie. To this point she’s the credulous one, and at first he’s just a sceptical boy playing with a new toy, but as he reviews his time-coded evidence it becomes increasingly clear that a malevolent presence may be shadowing his partner.
Don’t expect to be scared witless from the start – this is a film that lulls you into Micah’s initially derisive mindset. Ooh, her keys have moved, how terrifying. But as the nights progress, with the spirit seemingly energized by the couple’s increasing disharmony, what is captured by the camera and microphone shifts from the uncanny through the disturbing to the downright blood-curdling. It gets to the point where even a teddy-bear in the corner of a room can seem to radiate evil. Think of the derelict house at the end of Blair Witch, the TV from the original Japanese Ring – the kind of scene that physically winds you and unsettles you for days afterwards – the last ten minutes of this film are right up there. An instant genre classic.