“Paranormal Activity”, when viewed for the first time, at least for the first twenty minutes or so, makes you think you are watching a blatant rip-off of “The Blair Witch Project”. With its shaky cam and seemingly real “slice of life” reality cinematic style, it looks like you might be in for a long evening of headaches and cheap thrills at best. What I got instead was a carefully crafted and decidedly low effect driven piece of suspense horror that made an entire room full of adults feel creeped out and ill at ease for the duration of the film.

The trailers for this movie show more of the audience watching the movie than it does of the flick itself. This marketing tactic has helped position “Paranormal Activity” to be one of the most successful “independent” horror movies to ever come out. Notice how I put “independent” in quotes? That’s because, while this movie was made for a budget of $11,000 the distribution of this film can hardly be thought of as independent. Should we penalize this movie for getting in good with Hollywood insiders? I don’t believe so. I think that as long as you can get your film made and out there it really doesn’t matter how it’s done.

The movie itself features essentially a cast of two. The couple are in a relationship and have moved in together sometime in the recent past. The girl Katie is a student, and the boy Micah is a day trader. With the exception of a traumatic childhood incident from Katie’s childhood, that is all we really know about either of them. Katie has been plagued all her life by scary dreams, and visions of things watching her near her bed as a child. She thinks she is being haunted and Micah takes it upon himself to do a little research and try to find out the cause of some of the strange disturbances happening around their house. Now, one thing that sets this movie apart already is the fact that it isn’t the location that is important in this movie. A lot of film aficionados would just scream at the screen for them to get out of the house altogether and move someplace else. In their case it would do little good, as the thing that is bothering them seems to be tied to Katie.

While we see Katie and Micah go about their day-to-day via Micah’s handheld camera that he uses to capture the strange phenomena occurring in their house, it is at night when they’re both sleeping that the effectiveness of this style of cinematography becomes apparent. The fears, at first, that this movie tries to play on are the everyday unexplained things that happen in our own homes. Sometimes something will drop off a shelf or counter for no apparent reason. Sometimes a light is left on when you swear you shut it off. And then there are the various noises that houses of all ages make. There are the little creaks in the floorboards, and the vermin in, under, or around the house that make little noises at night. This film takes everything that could possibly be spooky about a house, your house, magnifies it, and shoves it in the viewers face. The level of unease this creates is very effective especially since there is nothing at this point the characters can do about it, since they’re asleep.

Three Quick Theories:

#1 The Camera As A Guardian Angel – The camera stands guard over them at night and records the disturbances throughout their house. The camera never leaves their side and is always running to catch on film whatever it is that is going on. It is ever watchful, never ceasing. If the characters miss something at night, the camera is there to recount the ordeal for them the next day when they wake up. Regardless of whether the lights are on or off the camera sees everything that is going on.

#2 The Camera As the Demon – The demon knows when they are at their most vulnerable. It usually acts out when they are both asleep, and uses noises, and tricks to freak the characters out and accomplish its ultimate goal. It senses that the more Micah and Katie try to foil it (capturing their plans all on video in the process), the more it fights back and the worse the nocturnal occurrences get. It’s obvious that Katie has issues with the demon, and becomes more and more apparent that the presence of the camera bothers her as well. The camera is unflinching reality. It takes their plight and throws it in their face, not offering help or support. In fact it almost mocks their helplessness as they sleep.

#3 The Camera As the Audience – We are seeing this movie, and every movie through the eyes of the camera. Whether we are watching a horror movie, a drama, comedy, etc. we see what the camera wants us to see. Most of the horror that comes from this movie comes from what the camera allows us to see. We are allowed to imagine that the things happening off camera are far more horrific then what may actually be occurring. This makes every noise bigger, every subtle shift in lighting eerier, and every unexplained happening automatically the worst thing our imaginations can cook up. Also like the audience, the camera is helpless. It just sits there and can only move when it’s being moved. These horrific things happen to this couple and we can only sit there and watch. The feeling of helplessness increases our terror. It’s like we are bound in the same room as the demon, Katie, and Micah. And while they can leave the room, unless they bring us with them, we are stuck with the demon. In the dark. Alone. And the fear of being alone in this movie is a very prevalent force.

This movie will succeed in whatever release it gets in theaters, and it will find a home on DVD. Those watching it for the first time will freak out, and it will be a big party movie to watch with a crowd. I personally expected a little more payoff at the end of the flick, but I certainly felt the same unease as everyone else in the theater, and it stayed with me as I left and began my drive back to my home. Alone. In the dark. It are those solitary feelings that will make this movie a success. At the end of the flick, after we are subjected to all the torture and suspense the movie has put us and the characters through, we still have to go back to our dark, creaky homes, turn out the lights, and fall into unconsciousness not knowing what is happening when the camera is not rolling.