October 26, 2009
Review: Paranormal Activity (TBC)
Directed by: Oren Peli
Starring: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat
“Reality” horror movie made on a shoestring using the actors’ real names and claiming to be footage recovered by police depicting a paranormal event. I finally checked out a movie that was originally released on the festival circuit back in 2007 and has just had a general release. So here we go, my review of The Blair Witch Pro…. erm, I mean Paranormal Activity.
The “story” follows a couple; Micah and Katie (Micah is a dude… yeah, I know.) as they attempt to document Katie’s apparent haunting on video. The couple begin to experience escalating manifestations of the entity and eventually Micah goes from mocking Katie to being just as terrified as she is. I don’t want to give away any spoilers so I won’t go any further into the plot.
The movie was made for something silly like $15,000. That’s quite an achievement, especially now that the movie has hit general release. However this does not make the movie either great nor original. I cannot stress this enough; This movie is, to all intents and purposes, The Blair Witch Project… in a house. Not only is the premise near identical, the marketing and hype are too, although to a lesser degree. I honestly couldn’t point out another significant difference between the two movies.
I do, however applaud the makers for what they have accomplished with next to no visual effects other than a bit of shadowing and a few fans. It is effective and resourceful and, again without giving anything away, the end scenes are executed really really well. The director did help to eliminate the shaky-cam 3000 problem that plagued Blair Witch, as well which combined with the subtle but well executed VFX does make Paranormal Activity a better movie than it’s predecessor/inspiration.
All in all, it’s worth a watch… if you like that sort of thing, but don’t bust a hip running to the cinema. It’s just not worth it.
Verdict: 
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News Feed
October 26, 2009 - 1:55 pm
I’m still wondering whether it’s a movie worth watching. I’ve watched The Blair Witch Project twice and, whilst it scared me the first time, it’s pretty dull and I can’t see this being much better.
Maybe if it’s on the TV one day I’ll just sit down and see if it’s any good.
October 26, 2009 - 9:49 pm
Dude all of your points are things that I agree with, but somehow it still fit together to make a great rounded package (for me). I am weird like that.
I think if you viewed it ignoring the fact that something like the Blair Witch Project existed, it might help to neutralise expectations.
It did feel like it was an idea that could have been condensed into a short film though.
October 28, 2009 - 4:16 am
I busted a hip running to watch Zombieland but it was totally worth it!
I think I’ll just sit here and eat cheetos instead of walking the 40 minutes to watch it, I never watched Blair either
Weekend Here come the Mummies and Daddies Links at C64GLeN – The blog of Glen McNamee
October 30, 2009 - 5:01 pm
[...] Dan at Minute44 reviews Paranormal Activity. [...]
November 9, 2009 - 11:50 am
Watched it.
Still freaked out by my own shadow.
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