Z/Web

I’ve been hearing about this for a while and almost saw it a few weeks ago, but it didn’t work out. Now it’s everywhere and big hit. It cost about $11,000 to make and has grossed nearly $100 million, which is incredible. The story, if you’re not familiar with it, is exceedingly simple: a young couple are experiencing a haunting and set up a video camera to record any “paranormal activity” and we get to watch the footage. Fortunately, there’s not too much hand-held camera and it doesn’t feel awkward or nauseating or cheap. The scares are of a mostly subtle nature: creepy sounds in the dark, mysterious movements, and so on. It’s surprisingly effective. By showing so little, your mind imagines the worst, and that’s far more frightening than seeing fake blood or a wax monster. I didn’t find it particularly scary during the film (though the ending is creepy — and good) but I didn’t want to think about it later that night, alone in my house with the strange sounds outside. The main thing I enjoyed about this was the performances of the two stars. They are unknowns and they are perfectly cast and the acting feels real. They are sympathetic, too, so we feel bad that these things are happening to them, which keeps us involved. I also loved the choice of setting in a modern house in suburbia rather than in the traditional creepy falling down ancient mansion. The setting made this seem much more real and plausible and therefore scary. Storywise, the film feels light: it should have had a subplot that would tell us more about the characters and keep us engaged. The problem with the suspense nature of the paranormal activity is that it must be milked out carefully throughout the film, and thus there are places where activity lags and not much is happening and it’s a bit boring. (Note: this is not always, just sometimes. Many times the slow pace is just perfect and totally creepy as you watch an empty room for many long seconds waiting for something to happen.) A subplot would have kept things entertaining and given the characters more depth. Still, it works as it is, though it’s therefore not a profound movie: just a recorded event with not much else to go with it. Recommended, though I wouldn’t recommend it if you live alone in a creaky house!