Tue 27 Oct 2009
Movie Review: Paranormal Activity
Posted by Emma under movies
[4] Comments
Synopsis from Rotten Tomatoes
A haunted house makes no secret of the fact it is not pleased with its new tenants in this independent tale of supernatural horror. Katie (Katie Featherson) and Micah (Micah Sloat) are a twentysomething couple who’ve just moved into a new home in San Diego, California. Katie has an interest in the paranormal and believes that malevolent spirits have been following her since childhood, though Micah is not so easily convinced. However, after several nights of loud noises and strange happenings, Micah starts to agree with Katie that some sort of ghost may have followed them to the new home. After a paranormal researcher tells the couple he can’t help them, Micah decides to take control of the situation and sets up a battery of video cameras so that if a spirit manifests itself, he can capture its behavior on tape. Once the surveillance cameras are in place, Katie and Micah bring in a Ouija board in an effort to talk to the spirits, a move that deeply offends the ghosts. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY was the first feature film from writer-director Oren Peli
My Review:
First thing I want to say is that the movie wasn’t scary. Creepy, yes. Nightmare-inducing, No. Next thing I’d like to say is that you can tell the movie only cost 11,000 dollars to make. I found the movie to be rather boring. I mean some scenes were creepy. But for some reason I couldn’t find myself believing it. It was very unbelievable. It just seemed so fake. After the end I was like “That’s it?” I mean I don’t know why so many people are raving about this movie. I don’t know why people think it’s scary and they can’t sleep at night. It didn’t scare me at all. Some scenes did creep me out though. But Blair Witch Project was scarier. As far as horror films go this was a major disappointment. I can go to sleep easily tonight because this movie didn’t affect me at all. I recommend that you don’t waste your money and go see it at a movie theater. Wait until it goes on DVD or cable. If you can watch it for free, even better. It’s not worth your money. It’s not a scary film. The only good thing I can say about this film is that the creators and cast are making millions off of a movie that cost 11,000 dollars or so to make. I give this movie 2 stars out of five. It bored me. And I scare easily. I usually don’t watch horror films because I can’t get the imagery out of my head. I usually have nightmares. But this movie was very tame and not scary at all. Creepy though.
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Tags: horror, Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, movie review, movies, Oren Peli, paranormal activity
I’m glad you enjoyed my little ol’ blog
I also thought that Blair Witch was scarier. This one was no big deal. But I am anxious for The Fourth Kind to come out though.
Yah, I didn’t understand what all the hype was about for Paranormal Activity. It creeped me out but it didn’t terrify me. I saw trailers for the fourth kind. It looks intriguing. I’ll have to see it
I think you summed it up nicely. There were creepy elements to it but it didn’t seem to live up to the hype of being truly terrifying.
I also think the way they had to take the camera everywhere was a bit contrived. The dialogue was not natural but used to tell the story.
Many of the early scenes didn’t have much point or didn’t fit together suggesting that they were obviously foreshadowing the climax. To that extent the end was very predictable.
I agree with everything you said. It was contrived and the ending was rather predictable. I wasn’t scared at all. A little creeped out, but not terrified.