Paranormal Activity

paranormalactivity

The movie has been compared to The Blair Witch Project for a few reasons. They were both made cheaply. They were both a smash at an indie film festival (Sundance). They were both made popular by viral marketing campaigns and word of mouth. They both have the same basic premise that a tape was found and we watch the people on the video as they film what is happening to them. I believe the similarities end there since I wanted so much to like The Blair Witch Project, but didn’t find it scary. I think it could be that I don’t find being in the woods scary and I can’t fathom being lost for that long. While I haven’t ever experienced any kind of paranormal activity, hearing people describe ghost encounters or spooky houses can freak me out. I watched the trailer and thought it looked like the Ghost Hunter shows, but where they actually capture stuff on the camera instead of freaking themselves out about nothing.

I believe what made it so scary for me was you did see things happen, but you never saw what was doing it. You saw a door move and then stop. You saw the bed sheet billow up when there was no fan or air blowing in the room. You saw a shadow move across the door and foot prints appear on the ground. It was super creepy! I think what adds to the creepiness is watching it in a dark theater with a bunch of other people probably as freaked out about it as you. There was no scary background music to prepare you that something was going to happen. There was no “jump” moments where some creature pops out at the camera. It was dead silence while you waited for something to happen and you knew it would.

I love scary movies, but don’t find many of them scary anymore. They rely too much on being bloody and gory or there are so many cliches that alert you that something scary will happen. They also show you the monster. I think it is creepier when you don’t really see everything since my imagination is usually much worse than what is shown. I do recommend seeing the movie in a theater since I don’t know if it would have the same effect on a television, especially if there were other distractions going on around you while watching it.

Rating: A

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