Paranormal Activity is a great little film that seems to have sprung up out of nowhere. It was actually made a couple of years ago before it was snapped up from a festival and has had a little gloss added to it. But not much.
Like The Blair Witch Project, everything we see is from the point of a view of a camera as Micah documents procedings. There’s a single camera and Micah is out to try to prove whether or not something supernatural is going on. He videos everything all the time – in particular setting up a wide-angle shot each night with the camera recording in night-vision.
Slowly but surely, things are cranked up. Because the film is shot in this verité style, there’s no soundtrack – just ambient noises within the San Diego house where Micah lives with his girlfriend Katie.
The house becomes relatively claustrophobic and apart from a shot of the drive at the beginning, and a couple of brief sorties into their back garden, we never leave it. Katie believes in the supernatural while MIcah seems more intent on catching some cool video footage.
Ultimately, if you love “things that go bump in the night” you’re going to love this film. I went to a fairly busy screening by myself and just before the film started a lady I didn’t know sat next to me. She very nearly found herself jumping into my lap on several occasions! It really is one of those films that some may prefer to watch from behind a sofa.
It’s not a gorefest. Everything feels real – well as real as ghostly or demonic behaviour can be. The performances are relatively naturalistic and in some small way the film also reminded me of Open Water.
Interestingly, the film has practically no opening titles to speak of – and nothing beyond a copyright slide at the end. This all adds to creepiness. People nervously left the cinema at the end. Well worth catching when it opens in a couple of weeks.