Paranormal Activity: The power of word of mouth
So it's once again almost time for Halloween. So in honor of Halloween I will be reviewing "Paranormal Activity," the low budget horror mockumentary a la "The Blair Witch Project" written and directed by Oren Peli, a new face to the whole movie business. The film has actually been in existence since 2007 and has been shown at a few festivals but did not really see the light of day until September 25, 2009. On that day the film had a 13 theater limited release and based on word of mouth and the internet the films reputation spread like wild fire. There were people claiming that this was in fact "the scariest movie ever made" and that at some screenings people even walked out because of how scary it was. With whisperings like that it should be no surprise that on October 16,2009, just in time for Halloween, the film finally sees a nationwide release. Does it live up to the hype?
The short answer in my book is a resounding NO.
The movie is about a couple in their early 20s, Micah (Micah Sloat) and Katie (Katie Fetaherston), who are haunted by a supernatural entity in their home. Micah gets a camera and decides to film the experiences. The film is shown to the viewer in a sort of documentary format. The viewer witnesses the haunting along with Micah and Katie. There is an attempt to explain the haunting but it's very generic but I won't ruin it for you.
I will concede that the premise is terrifying. A supernatural entity that haunts you while you're sleeping. Just thinking about that has me looking over my shoulder as I type. The problem with "Paranormal Activity" is the execution. The whole mockumentary method of presentation has been done and I must admit it's lost much of it's mystique. With the way information travels now there is no way anyone will believe that this type of stuff is real. There shouldn't be so much effort put in to convince the audience that this is.
My main problem with the film is that the pacing was awful. I know it was supposed to build up tension to the final scene but it doesn't do it very well. Many of the scenes when they were trying to develop character or inject actual story were boring to the point of tears. The actual scary scenes were the ones while the main characters were asleep. But even those got repetitive. It was basically the same scare repeated over and over. But every time the movie started to pick up momentum it would switch to a story/character scene that would just put a dead stop to the momentum. I'm not saying there weren't genuinely scary moments because there were but they were few and far between. For me personally the movie was more boring than scary.
I mean the movie was interesting in premise. I think the high amount of hype generated for this movie caused it to fall very short of expectations for me. As with many low budget movie the actors in it are not well know and that adds to the mockumentary feel. I don't even know if I can honestly say I enjoyed the movie. I left the theater feeling cheated. I was hoping to be scared to the point of tears but instead I was bored to the point of tears. Big difference. The film preys on human fear of the being asleep and having an entity haunt you during that period. It basically tries to ride that out for an hour and a half, which was a bit too long in my opinion.
I really do not recommend this movie at all. There are far scarier movies out there. My friend said that if you watched the film in a full theater at night it would make it scarier. But that seems like a cheap way to increase fear since it is a feeling that can be contagious. On it's own merit the movie is nowhere near deserving of all the praise it has been getting on the internet. I think the movie is the perfect example of great viral marketing. It has already made a huge profit considering the cost and still in the running to make a bit more but the film is not nearly on par with all the whisperings on the internet. I will say that after seeing it I am scared to sleep simply because the premise has started my over active imagination. So I guess it does succeed in scaring me but probably not for the reasons it was so highly touted for. In closing I just want to say that if you do decide to go see it. DO NOT BELIEVE THE HYPE!
The short answer in my book is a resounding NO.
The movie is about a couple in their early 20s, Micah (Micah Sloat) and Katie (Katie Fetaherston), who are haunted by a supernatural entity in their home. Micah gets a camera and decides to film the experiences. The film is shown to the viewer in a sort of documentary format. The viewer witnesses the haunting along with Micah and Katie. There is an attempt to explain the haunting but it's very generic but I won't ruin it for you.
I will concede that the premise is terrifying. A supernatural entity that haunts you while you're sleeping. Just thinking about that has me looking over my shoulder as I type. The problem with "Paranormal Activity" is the execution. The whole mockumentary method of presentation has been done and I must admit it's lost much of it's mystique. With the way information travels now there is no way anyone will believe that this type of stuff is real. There shouldn't be so much effort put in to convince the audience that this is.
My main problem with the film is that the pacing was awful. I know it was supposed to build up tension to the final scene but it doesn't do it very well. Many of the scenes when they were trying to develop character or inject actual story were boring to the point of tears. The actual scary scenes were the ones while the main characters were asleep. But even those got repetitive. It was basically the same scare repeated over and over. But every time the movie started to pick up momentum it would switch to a story/character scene that would just put a dead stop to the momentum. I'm not saying there weren't genuinely scary moments because there were but they were few and far between. For me personally the movie was more boring than scary.
I mean the movie was interesting in premise. I think the high amount of hype generated for this movie caused it to fall very short of expectations for me. As with many low budget movie the actors in it are not well know and that adds to the mockumentary feel. I don't even know if I can honestly say I enjoyed the movie. I left the theater feeling cheated. I was hoping to be scared to the point of tears but instead I was bored to the point of tears. Big difference. The film preys on human fear of the being asleep and having an entity haunt you during that period. It basically tries to ride that out for an hour and a half, which was a bit too long in my opinion.
I really do not recommend this movie at all. There are far scarier movies out there. My friend said that if you watched the film in a full theater at night it would make it scarier. But that seems like a cheap way to increase fear since it is a feeling that can be contagious. On it's own merit the movie is nowhere near deserving of all the praise it has been getting on the internet. I think the movie is the perfect example of great viral marketing. It has already made a huge profit considering the cost and still in the running to make a bit more but the film is not nearly on par with all the whisperings on the internet. I will say that after seeing it I am scared to sleep simply because the premise has started my over active imagination. So I guess it does succeed in scaring me but probably not for the reasons it was so highly touted for. In closing I just want to say that if you do decide to go see it. DO NOT BELIEVE THE HYPE!
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