Paranormal Activity

Once again, apologies for posting this so late as this is the film for 10/14. But busy busy, enjoying Fall Break and horror films come last during the day. Perhaps that's how it should be, though. Also, take note, my post tomorrow will also not be posted until the next day as I'm seeing a film at the Telluride Horror Festival in the evening and won't have time to post until probably the next evening. I won't reveal which, but I am quite excited to view it. But I digress, onto the review...

Tonight my horror film was Oren Peli's "Paranormal Activity." When this film came out it slowly became huge due to the extremely effective ad campaign surrounding it that consisted of "demanding" it in your local theater. After it blew up I feel that, like with anything that becomes popular, many people wanted to write it off as an overblown, overhyped movie that really had nothing going for it. I can't disagree more. Sure, it became popular, but for good reason. This is an extremely well done, genuinely scary horror film, and, especially for that latter part, how many horror films can you say that about? But to the movie at hand. Mood is created marvelously here with the anxiety of the characters regarding the demon in their midst and just what it will do next. The mood extends to the viewer as well; every time night comes fear enters your heart just as it does the characters. The home video aesthetic that has been done enough to start bordering on overplayed is used to it's true potential here. It makes you feel the scares just as the characters do. And where I feel this films true power lies is in it's recognizing of what horror films back in the day used to understand: the less you see the more horrifying. Like Hitchcock's "Psycho" Peli realizes the power in not fully relying on graphic, gruesome gore. People fear what they can't see far more than what they can and Peli fully capitalizes on that. One thing I am glad about is that I did see this on the big screen initially as the scares are that much more powerful, especially in the sound; they boom out at you and shook the theater. At home that effect is lost (unless you have surround sound which I don't unfortunately). An incredible ghost story that actually scares and nods back to the knowledge horror filmmakers of old understood. I can't say enough about this film.

9/10