Paranormal Activity

Paranormal Activity (2007)

92% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 24 reviews)

Runtime: 85 minutes (don't believe the 99 minutes that has been bandied about)

Directed by: Oren Peli

Starring: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat

From: Paramount/Dreamworks/Blumhouse Productions

I’ve talked about this movie before and there’s a really informative article from the LA Times here which explains the history of the movie and why it sat on the shelf for so long, but FINALLY now I can talk about it after seeing it in person.

To copy and paste from a recent MySpace blog:

I’m not sure if this was the arrangement that all the other 11 theatres had when they showed this last night and Friday night, but what everyone had to go through at Universal was enter in, wait in line, then the line was moved outside and then they only let people into the auditorium a few people at a time and then wait at least a minute before they let a few more people in at a time. THEN, you had to enter the auditorium (and be told where to sit exactly) first before going back to concessions to get stuff there! It was a total dick dance and I'm presuming based on past experience that it was probably a Universal thing (the staff being rude on that night didn't help matters) rather than a needlessly complex thing that was demanded by Paramount that all theatres MUST do. To quote another theatre-goer, "What, hasn't this place ever had a sell out before?" Why didn't they just have people enter the theatre normally rather than do this dick dance, I don't know, but it came dangerously close to ruining the whole night for me. I'm glad I ended up liking the movie and had a great experience once the film started. I don’t really want to give anything away (and when I eventually talk more about the movie on my movie blog page, I’ll try to be vague about it) as it’d ruin the surprises, but for a simple movie that isn’t complex and costs about as much as the cheapest compact car, it is VERY freaky and many people there were screaming in terror during the scary scenes. It’s supposed to be in wider release next month, or so I understand, so you can wait to see it then, or see it at Universal the first few days of next month if you can go to it at midnight and are willing to put up with that BS treatment I described above. Even with their dick dance thing, the movie IS worth that aggravation, and then some.

OK, onto the movie. As I said before, it's about a young couple who move into a new house and some sort of spirit that's bothered the girl intermittently since childhood pops up again and this time the boyfriend confronts it, and from the usage of a handheld camera hooked up to a laptop, they record what happens at night when they're asleep. We see everything happen in one house through the span of about 20 days. You'd think that with the setup and the budget, no way could it be as scary as advertised. Well, trust me, it IS very freaky. I mean, it's certainly scarier than most horror flicks out there, and it's the opposite of a gore-fest and what is so scary is the setting, the usage of sound, and strange out of the world images that lets you know something other-worldly is going on. There's probably a backlash due to all the hyperbole that's been used in the advertising, but don't let that sway you from seeing it if you can. It's in more towns this upcoming weekend and info can be found on such places as the movie's official website.

In general, the "sold out" auditorium (although the first few rows were empty) was freaked out of their minds by it. I'm sure I knew more about the movie than many of them did; I wish I knew how they all heard about it and if any had known about the movie for as long as I did. They ran mainly horror trailers and the only one that got applause (!) was the crappy no-budget one for Saw VI. I'm sure they would've gone wild if they had shown the New Moon trailer! No wonder why they were freaked out as much as they were. I was certainly chilled by it and I was on edge but there were people shrieking in terror and there was groans when they knew something bad was going to happen... and the surprises, I wouldn't be surprised if people jumped out of their seats due to fright. I know the ending minute or two is something I won't forget due to the surprise and one unnatural moment in particular.

Like I said, believe the hype and if you can see it, you MUST. It really is that good, and a 15,000 dollar movie having this kind of run is an amazing success story.

I'll be back by the end of the week.