Paranormal Activity

The problem many men have with films like Paranormal Activity has to do with its marketing campaign. It has been dubbed ‘the film that scared America’ and ‘the scariest film of the decade’.

Men don’t want to be seen screaming for their life in public. They want to be seen doing manly stuff, like playing football, and talking about the many things they want to do to the hot woman that’s just walked past them. Hence, we put our awareness shields up to 100%. Instead of emerging into the filmic world like normal, we start predicting what will happen next. And, due to the formulaic nature of the genre, turns out to be true most of the time. It’s quite distracting, but a natural instinct that can’t be helped.

Then there’s the ‘scariest film of the decade’ tagline. Gee, what happened a decade ago? Something to do with camcorders and horror films. The shadow of The Blair Witch Project forms is also distracting as this is just that mixed with the age-old ‘haunted house’ concept. Though, quite frankly, I’m amazed it’s taken them this long to produce such an obvious idea.

Overall, Paranormal Activity is satisfactory. Looking at a wider perspective, I’ll use the same point I used last week about New Moon – it’s a can of Ronseal. Those who are likely to get scared will get a thrill out of it, mostly thanks to the sound work. As a rule, most horror films get their scares out of sudden crescendos. Here, the minimalism of the camera whirring is eerier. It is the best technique to close in the space of a setting since the lighting of the caves in The Descent.

However, it’s not near as good as The Blair Witch Project. The idea of ‘realism’ is lost through hammy characters and plot conveniences. For one, how the bloody hell can Micah afford a house that big? He’s a day trader! He looks as though he should be preparing for the High School Prom. Micah is also great at having the camera during the big moments, and pointing it in the right places to satisfy the basic rules of cinematography. At least Blair Witch established their characters were film students. I think. It’s been a while since I’ve seen it.

I’ll give the film a loose recommendation if you like to get scared. If you’re a man’s man, I recommend the following: American football, listening to Nickelback, using a punchbag, firing a gun, watching Dave until you vomit blood…