Santikos Cine-opsis

“Paranormal Activity” will not be able to escape comparisons to “The Blair Witch Project”, especially after the weekend it had.  At just 160 locations, the little indie horror film that could, in fact DID $44 grand per theater this weekend.  A little over a decade ago, “The Blair Witch Project” opened followed a similar marketing strategy, promising scary scenes and shaky camerawork.  Audiences ate it up, giving the film a $29 million opening weekend and cementing its status as one of the most well-marketed pieces of b.s. filmmaking of all-time.

It’s unfortunate in a sense that “Paranormal Activity” had to follow “Blair Witch”, because “PA” is a much better, much scarier film.  But the silver lining for PA is that audiences have become much more assimilated to the style of testing a small budget film in limited release before making it a mainstream name…or a mainstream flop.  But PA’s success was assured not because of any marketing ploy or film-making gimmick, but by a suspenseful and refreshingly unique design that kept audiences riveted until the final freaky frame.

The plot of “Paranormal Activity” is simple enough.  A young San Diego couple, Micah and Katie,  pick up some video gear to document a “spirit” that has been following Katie since her childhood.  They hook up the camera and sure enough, things in the house are indeed going bump in the night.  The occurrences begin innocuously enough…a door cracks slightly, the keys that Katie places on the mantle end up on the floor.   For horror film veterans, the tedium of the first hour is outweighed by the realistic settings just enough to keep them watching.  And they are repaid for their patience, for as soon as it is learned that the spirit haunting Katie is in fact not a spirit at all, but a malevolent demon seeking nothing more than to inflict pain on others for it’s own amusement, well….let’s just say that’s when the fun begins.

Despite the initial lag in the action, much credit for “PA” goes to writer/director Oren Peli (”What?!?  You mean it wasn’t real??”)  Peli creates an intimate feeling of reality gone paranormal, sticking main actors Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat in moments that give their relationship a level of authenticity needed in a movie like this.  Much credit too goes to Sloat and Featherston for being believable in their roles, and repressing the new actor urge to make a splash and “act the crap out of” the script.  Featherston’s role is particularly hard to play, as the girl who has been haunted her whole life, but she manages to merge the terror of being messed with by ethereal beings with the knowledge that it’s been happening to her since childhood.   Although, I guess being haunted in your sleep never really “gets old”.

I will resist the urge to overhype this movie, since that’s what killed the Blair Witch, but I feel confident in saying that this sleeper hit has enough iconic scenes to be remembered as one of the great low budget success stories in modern cinema.

….And it’s scary enough to make your girlfriend jump into your arms, which never hurts, either.