Paranormal Activity

All a Matter of Manners

Paranormal Activity is a movie with a fair amount of following behind it. The film uses the technique of feeling like a home movie, there is no big editing, and there is only one camera. Many attribute The Blair Witch Project as the film that launched the idea and made it popular, which I will not argue. The inexpensive and casual feeling this method gives truly can add to the fear the film is trying to give, but the style isn't too popular with some, as too many of the films leave too many questions, and end up having their editing make it feel no longer natural. That was not the case with this film.

Paranormal Activity felt like a home movie the entire run time, and even had a clever explanation for why it did look like it was edited together, the main character purposely just editing out anything that did not connect with what he was trying to tape. His long time girlfriend, who he is living with, believes something supernatural has come over her. He begins taping their everyday life, and more importantly while they are sleeping, to try and disprove her. He just ends up making it look more likely.

Many modern horror films like to rely purely on jump scares, having no build-up whatsoever, killing any aspect of terror. Paranormal Activity avoided this, having very slow and strong build-up for it's chief scares. Anything that didn't have a big build-up, still had very strong tension. This movie wanted to be scary, and it knew how to do it.

The film was very well made, as I have stated, and that alone makes me want to like the movie. However there is chief reason I do not like the film. My chief reason may seem petty to some of my readers, but I stand by it.

Our lead character, Micah, is completely unlikable. As I stated above, he is a smart protagonist, figuring out how to deal with what is happening. However, that is the only smart thing he does. One of the first things he does in the movie is go against his word to use a Ouija board, justifying his reasoning by saying he only said he wouldn't buy one, and only borrowed it. This is the most likable thing he does, and that is still fairly stupid and mean of him, it completely angers his girlfriend, who he obviously does not care about at the moment, as he believes he is right in his reasoning. He's mean-spirited, rude, and possessive throughout the whole movie. I could not stand the character, and this is a huge failure on the movie's part. If you do not care about a character in a film, than you do not feel bad for them if something bad happens to them. Horror works when we care about what it is happening to, if we don't, then it feels like just desserts, and not remotely scary.

True, his girlfriend, who's name I do not remember, is far more likable, but her character has flaws too. Notice how I have forgotten her name, this is because we don't learn too much about her. True, we get a lot of back story near the end, but it's more about the circumstance than about her herself. She's smart enough for her own good, and her stupid moments are easily shrugged off as she is just stressed out and does actually have no clue as to what is happening to her. Her biggest flaw is her level of immaturity, which really only flickers back and forth, something Micah had as well. I could not stand her calling her boyfriend "MEE-KA", it droned in my ears, and sounded like something a sixteen or even fifteen year old calls her new boyfriend, versus an adult woman who's living with someone. Or, as her boyfriend called it "Engaged to be engaged", another uncomfortably immature line for characters that are most likely in their later twenties. It did help me remember Micah's name though, I'll give it that.

It especially sad when we get the more romantic scenes, meant to show how much the care about each other. They feel out of place considering Micah shows clear signs of a possessive boyfriend, and sometimes even unnerving her a little bit. It's supposed to be touching, but it instead made me feel uncomfortable, and made me want to help her get away from her boyfriend just as much as the paranormal.

I did think the movie was well-made, I even thought the movie proved to be scary. There are just some flaws in a movie that can not be overlooked. I give the movie 2.5 out of 5 stars. A very nice try, and would have succeeded if they had a more likable protagonist.