Paranormal Activity 2007 - REVIEW

Paranormal Activity was created in 2006 as an indie mocumentary in which a couple, Katie and Micah, chronicle a haunting that is taking place in their home.

The movie starts off at a snail’s pace by introducing us to the main characters of Katie (Katie Featherstone) and Micah (Micah Sloat), by making us spend 40 minutes with these people to only learn that Micah is an oblivious immature dipshit, and Katie is just oblivious. Their plight is that they have been experiencing some strange occurrences in their home. It started out with the usual footsteps, banging and scratching sounds coming from the walls. This prompts the couple to buy a video camera and some digital mini recorders to see what they can catch. However when the activity escalates they turn to a medium to access the type of haunting they are dealing with. He rules out a human spirit and tells them what they are dealing with is a demonic entity. However it is during this meeting that Katie is forced to admit that this is not a new experience for her, and since the age of 8 she had seen a shadowy figure standing over her while trying to sleep.

main con I have with this movie is the character of Micah. Most often in horror movies, you are actually supposed to be in the corner of the main characters, but when the main character is nothing but annoying and abrasive there isn’t much sympathy that you can evoke for them. Now with that being said, who am I supposed to care about while watching this movie? It is most certainly not the idiotic brohab who is going to attempt to chest bump a demon down a hallway while yelling at it to “leave his lady alone”. However part of the charm of this movie is the haunting effects, mainly Katie being drug out of bed and down the hallway. But then I also have to say that they went into overkill with the Ouija board scene, there was so much going on at once that I expected fireworks and fanfare.

This movie has forced me to sit on the fence, because I didn’t like it, yet I didn’t hate it either. However with all the various endings and the scene alterations made just so this movie could get a theatrical release I found that it cheapened the whole thing for me, and just made it seem very silly in the end. I also personally preferred the screener version, to the theatrical release.
Some noticeable differences between the two are the exclusion of story of Diane (screener) to be replaced with the broken picture of Katie and Micah (theatrical), along with the different endings. After doing some research I have found out that there are really three endings to this movie, however one that featured Katie cutting her own throat in front of the camera was only shown once at a public viewing and then was replaced with the ending that was seen in the screener at Screamfest 07 and Slamdance 08.

Overall I think it is a fair thing for me to state that the hype might have damaged this movie for some horror fans. The most common thing I have heard from people is “It didn’t really scare me.”, which I also happen to agree with. There were a few moments where I perked up in my seat and thought “That was neat” but this is really not one of those movies that you have to run out and see at the theatre, unless you really hate SAW like I do.

Reviewed by: Miss J