Paranormal Activity Review

An inspired pine-chiller cam cord movie. Some genuinely chilling moments but definitely over hyped.I enjoyed this movie, but I expected from the reviews for it to be more frightening than it actually was. There's some brave parts in the plotting. The movie starts out slow, it has two protagonists one who's a believer [Katie], the other who's a natural cynic [Micah].



My conclusion is in tick offs to your preference:



> Worth a rental? I'd say yes.

> Frightening? probably no.

> Inspired? Kinda but it's relatively well researched in the world of psychic trance and possession.

> Dumb but believable characters ratio? Well acted and without having too much of a false epic story thrown in. One is a bit egocentric, the other scared and kinda speaks sense. A good mix and for the whole part they have good characterisation. One can pick up from most parts in the movie without a huge back story. It's simple and ingenious in that way!

> Ending predictable: 80% chance you'll guess what'll happen.

> I liked the end scene but the cheese factor at that time was moving more than the EMF detector!



---------------- OUTLINE ----------------



If you're not a real big follower of horror movies and like the CAM genre it's been done WORSE elsewhere. I still hold that Cloverfield is darker.

Slowly a plot unfolds [a pace akin to Blair Witch]. Katie is being followed by something that isn't a Ghost and slowly she falls under the influence of a supernatural entity during the night. They invite a psychic detective to help them. He's pretty useless to be honest, but recommends a demon specialist to help them. They procrastinate [for reasons better left to themselves].



------------- DEMON OR SOMETHING ELSE???? -----------------

Still, it's unsure if the being is a poltergeist or a demon. The movie hints at a demonic influence. I'd put my money on this as well. There's no smell or coldness in the house, so this has been missed out on purpose, budget or differentiation. There's some cool parts where you catch the footsteps of the creature in talc, suggesting it has some corporeal form and some lost items being found in the house from a past event where all items had been destroyed. I liked the shadow caught on the door at one point. The action though seems to be focused on certain parts of the room. Other movies, like Cloverfield prefer moving the center of attention to different places.



------------------ ACTING OVERVIEW -----------------

The acting on the whole isn't overacted to a cam. For this reason I give it the thumbs up. It's less overacted than .REC for example that uses cheap tricks like loud sound to get you to jump. I liked it as it's an invasion into a property that is seen as safe [other than a building invaded by monsters/zombies or a mad axe killer].



--------------- PACING -----------------



The movie builds up a slow but not really foreboding pace to presences. The cam picks up Katie's influence under the demon at night. The male protagonist starts to jibe at the demon whereby its power and influence over her picks up to an unusual end.



The GREAT part is Katie's swaying which is in LINE to all forms of trance and possession. When the demon gets into bed with the couple and ermm.. exits the bed with one of them is a great bit and probably the most frightening. I guess done with a green screen. That part for me was the most ingenious.



Like Blair Witch, we're given an interpretation and a warning from previous demonic possessions. Probably the ouija board communication was a bit weak, but I guess it's better than having blood or writing in mirrors.