Paranormal Activity (2009), directed by Oren Peli is very much a film about traumas, paranoia and superstition. The whole film is concentrated mostly on two couples who live in a suburban home. Katie (actress Katie Featherstone) claims to be haunted by a ghost ever since she was eight years old. She claims that the ghost has been following her from house to house ever since. What starts of being trivial acts by the ghost turns into violent and aggressive acts from doors slamming and lots of noise coming from the attic and so on.
What I liked about Paranormal Activity was the way the characters use hand held cameras to give an artistic subjective feel. This type of filmmaking is uncommon within most Classical Hollywood films and I enjoyed this change. But what changes drastically is the feeling of art and slow paced filming to a more traditional paced method of filming more towards the end of the movie. Still, it kept me entertained and gripped.
Another thing to say about Paranormal Activity is that it has been clearly been influenced by films such as The Blair Witch Project (1999) and The Exorcist (1973). One way it copies The Blair Witch Project was when Katie attacks the camera at the end of the movie. In The Blair Witch Project, similarly at the end of the movie the main character gets attacked and the camera falls to the ground. In both cases the camera is the main use of the ending as it is attacked. The only difference is that in The Blair Witch Project we don’t see the witch but we do see the demon in Paranormal Activity in some form.
In Paranormal Activity what starts off to be a subtle slow paced film turns into a tense, uneasy film to watch. Even though Paranormal Activity does take elements from other films it does also have some originality attached to it. The idea of subjective hand held camera filming in a small house is interesting and visually compact. It feels as though the outside world doesn’t exist and that they are kept in the small house on the suburbs. I did laugh in a few scenes in the movie to relieve the tension. When the couple leave the camera rolling in the night it feels quite tense and uneasy.
What I was impressed with was the way that director Oren Peli used the two characters and how the momentum and fluency was kept throughout the movie. It is quite admiring to see a film being made by almost two characters in the movie. This demonstrates that a movie does not have to consist of big landscapes and lots of characters. Paranormal Activity is made in a small house and with two characters. Not at any time in the film do we go outside the house. In consequence this makes the audience feel trapped and slightly alone.
Overall I found the film entertaining and quite scary. I would rate this film 5/10. If you are going to watch this film it would probably be best to watch it with a friend or someone who you know.
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