Paranormal
Activity might well deserve all the hype it’s received for being the
movie industry story of the year. After all, in this awful economic
clime, the idea that Paramount Pictures is rabidly nurturing the release
of a full length, feature-ready film made for eleven thousand dollars
sent a shockwave through rival movie companies. Practically tangible is
the movie studios’ glee at the disintegration of movie stars' bloated
contract riders and film budget overruns becoming an endangered
species. The incredibly successful viral publicity campaign behind the
film is the thing of note, as well, once again attesting to the power of
movie fans and the internet. I could get behind all these overdue and
welcome changes in the way films are bought and sold, but what I can’t
support is all the noise over a scary movie that simply isn’t very
scary.
Paranormal Activity is a ghost story, plain and simple. A camcorder
follows a young couple, Katie and Micah, as they try to determine the
source of some funny happenings around their (- incredibly spacious)
home. Using night vision to capture the reason why things are suddenly
going bump around the house at bedtime, things grow ever creepier, until
the two discover they may be in over their heads as ghostbusters.
One of the worst things any creator of a horror film taking place in
modern day America (- or anywhere else with a Cineplex or
Netflix) can do is to write his characters as if they’ve never seen
a horror film before. Paranormal Activity freely and egregiously cribs
from The Blair Witch Project and Poltergeist, which doesn’t help the
film’s déjà vu feeling at all. Worse is when Micah, our “hero” actually
name-checks William Friedkin’s 1973 classic, The Exorcist, because if
anyone with half a brain suspected they were under siege by some sort of
evil spirit, the logic would be to do whatever worked in those films,
yet it’s never attempted. Faced with loudening footsteps in the dark,
increasingly corporeal shadows, painful manifestations and inexplicably
weird behaviour by the fairer of the couple, at no point does either
partner ever call for Father Merrin. The second I watched a door open
and close on its own in my flat, you’d see the witch doctor, the Dalai
Lama, a rabbi, an imam, a boatload of voodoo priestesses and the Pope in
my apartment. Heck, I’d throw in that guy who stands in the background
at the Today show carrying that big sign predicting the end of the
world. Instead, our doofy twosome relies solely on a lily-livered
professor of the paranormal, who sets up the movie’s game rules and one
of its big plot holes. Early on in the film, when the first evidence of
ghostly shenanigans appeared, the sage wisdom of Eddie Murphy rang
through my head like a bell. All I could think of was his horror
movies skit from 1983’s Delirious about what would have happened if he
had been in the Amityville Horror:
Eddie:
"Oh baby, this is beautiful. We got a chandelier hanging up here, kids
outside playing. It’s a beautiful neighbourhood. We ain't got nothin’
to worry. I really love it, this is really nice.”
The Ghost:
“GET OUT!"
Eddie:
"Too bad we can't stay, baby!"
Run! Just run. Even if it availed them nothing, I’d like to see the
kids at least try to save their own hash. While the professor informs
the couple that whatever it is that’s causing their distress can’t be
avoided by leaving their home, it plays like pure plot device because
we’re told in the same segment that this isn’t the first time one of the
characters has been the victim of spectral harassment, and yes, was able
to be avoid a recurrence for years by getting as far away from it as
possible. Also, the good professor advises the couple that
acknowledging the pooka is making it stronger; in other words, stop
filming it. Of course, what does Katie’s lunkheaded boyfriend do?
Uh-huh. Another film device absconded with in Paranormal Activity is
courtesy of one of my least favourite films of 2008, Cloverfield.
Micah’s assertion that their travails should be documented after
directly being told to cut it out is a wire-thin excuse. As was my
complaint with Cloverfield, for any semi-sane person, less attention
would have been paid to capturing YouTube moments and more to fleeing
like one’s bum was on fire. Even worse is Micah’s macho chipmunk
insistence that he can handle what is happening to them, even after the
ghostie pops into bed and makes off with one of the characters. Don’t
even get me started on the secondhand Ouija board this fool brings home.
Besides the above, the pacing drags between the film’s precious few
frights and could have done more less about 10 minutes. Yet, for its
narrative failings, there is a lot going for Paranormal Activity; most
notably director Oren Peli’s ability to create a truly creepy atmosphere
using lighting, sound and silence. I welcome the return of the true
ghost story; the kind that is meant to get under your skin and deliver
frights devoid of buckets of blood, gory eviscerations and torture porn.
If indeed Paranormal Activity was made for eleven thousand dollars,
then the creativity and resourcefulness Peli employs during those
moments that do raise an eyebrow is indeed laudable. There are some
good (- intentional) laughs in the movie, as well, one moment in
particular featuring the good professor doing exactly what the two crazy
kids should have done long ago by turning tail and running for the hills
after feeling the increased strength of the boogeyman. I always enjoy a
coward with common sense.
The LA-based Paramount executive who attended the public preview here in
New York tried his best before the show to convince us how very
terrifying Paranormal Activity was; relating that moviegoers had left
other screenings unable to stand the pure terror of the film. I can’t
imagine what he made of the New York audience’s laughter and occasional
jeers when they should probably have been jumping or shrieking. I
reckon it was difficult for the crowd to get that scared over horror
film protagonists who keep doing exactly what they wouldn’t in a million
years. Still, if one leaves their disbelief at home, the film can be
fun watched in a theatre for those few moments of actual surprise.
Is this the scariest film ever made? Not in the least, but what
Paranormal Activity is is a terribly interesting example of the will and
imagination of a filmmaker to create over extremely limited resources.
While I can’t cosign on the Paranormal Activity hype, I’m looking
forward to whatever film Oren Peli will make after this. I have a
feeling he’ll have a slightly larger budget to work with next time
around.
~ The Lady Miz Diva
Oct. 9th, 2009
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