The Most Terrifying Flick Ever?
by Randy MarrThere's little chance you've heard of this film, a succesful indie flick struggling to make it's way to the big box office. So here's a trailer to help catch you up a little:
If you like what you see, the official site for the film has a place where you can go to demand the movie in your area.
Katie and Micah are a couple living in California, enjoying their adorable little lives when something begins to bother Katie. Her boyfriend invests in a nice camera, which serves as your eyes and ears for the entire movie, in order to survey their days and nights to try and capture some of the creepy goings on camera.
The movie is staggered into two segments: the days and the nights. During the day we usually get a sort of "What happened last night, what can we do for tonight" run down of events, leading into the nights. That's where the fun really is. The whole experience is indeed like a roller coaster. I know it's a terrible metaphor that movies have used before, but it really works for this one. During the days we' re generally coasting, getting a laugh or two, or some general information. But once they set up on the tri-pod for evening, you become trained to grasp the arms of your chair (or loved one, in my case) tightly, bracing for the inevitable "drop." What this effectively does is keep you from getting acclimatized to the fear. For example, contemporary scary handi-cam film Quarantine (or REC for you indy fans) keeps you submerged in the fear and the scary moments. But Paranormal Activity lets you come out of the scary and relax again for just long enough that when we get back to the night segments, you get to experience that decent into terror all over again. Expertly executed.
Paranormal Activity relies more on mood and incredibly simple tricks to pack you full of dread, instead of pricey special effects and tons of jump scares. Instead, it is superbly paced, and convincingly acted. I was surprised at how real this felt, and at how much I felt these people were legitimately terrified. I'm trying to avoid making comments like "you'll be scared out of your damned mind!" because I don't know that you will be. You might be one of those people who can't be scared by movies. But even if you are, I think you can appreciate all the appropriate steps this movie takes in order to scare somebody else.
If you're thinking it looks too Blair Witch, let me assure you that it's supposed to. It's about regular people with a camera in hand while something terrifying happens. But! This movie does it exponentially better, taking better steps to terrify you, letting you take breaths so you can't get accustomed to the fear, and by not having a bunch of long, drawn out scenes about people being stupid and losing a map. I liked Blair Witch as an experiment, but this movie really evolves the concept and perfects it; turning Paranormal Activity into one of the best horror films I've ever seen.
How about you? Have you seen the film? What are your thoughts, without giving away too much of the plot here. (Actually, that brings up a question, do you like reviews that try and avoid plots as much as possible like this? I'm kind of trying to figure out if this is a better way to go, because it's the kind of review I appreciate.) If not, does it look interesting? Have I convinced you one way or the other? Jeff, if you're reading this, it's not Zombies so don't worry about that zombie fatigue you're getting.
Ooo-eee-oooooo
John Barrowman - Doctor Who Theme
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