Rated: R | Review date: 22-Oct-2009

The movie everyone is talking about this month is “Paranormal Activity,” the chilling low budget directorial debut by Oren Peli. Many are hailing it as the scariest movie ever made, going as far as to say they could not sleep alone the night after seeing it. So is it all hype, perhaps the result of a mass viral marketing campaign? You’ll have to judge that for yourself. One thing is for certain: the movie is surprisingly original and worth the watch for any horror fan.

Chances are you or someone you know has at least seen the trailer. If that’s the case, you know what’s in store: a mockumentary style film shot with the intent of seeming real that follows a couple dealing with some paranormal activity. The couple, Katie and Micah, is played by novice thespians Katie Featherston and Micha Sloat. Their portrayal of a couple is so realistic that at times we forget this is a movie and really feel like we’re watching home movies. I especially liked Katie’s character, I really felt for her and became attached and concerned for her. Micha on the other hand is not so likable, playing the man-in-control who is always right, but this, while annoying, is an important attribute of the film.

The film follows the couple in their everyday activities, although they are not just random boring scenes. Most of the shots incorporate some dialogue or activity related to apparent haunting situation at hand. The couple rides an emotional roller coaster, no doubt a direct result of what’s been happening to Katie. I won’t go more into the plot, mainly because if you’ve even seen the trailer you already know too much.

So let’s get down to what people really want to know: is it that scary? Again, it depends on the person. Horror freaks with a conditioned heart rate will probably not make a stir about this film and avoid it because of the hype. I’m just going to say this: even though you see the majority of the creepy scenes in the trailer, you still aren’t sure when exactly they are going to happen, and when they do they are pretty darn chilling for the most part.

I can understand why the faint-of-heart experience sleepless nights after watching. The manner in which it is shot causes the whole situation to seem realistic and possible. For me personally, I enjoyed it’s realism and truly felt chills during certain scenes. Though I won’t go as far as to call it the scariest movie of all time (though on my list it might be amongst the top), I endorse this picture for it’s ability to achieve a lot with so little and to still be creepy when viewers most likely have a lot of prior knowledge of what’s in store.

On a side note: there has apparently been about 70 hours of footage filmed for this movie, along with many alternate endings. This should definitely make for an excellent DVD release if it includes any of these extras…ah the anticipation.

Official site/trailer

IMDb

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