I had a feeling I’d add this to my list the minute I saw it, and yes, I saw it today. Whoa nelly, this is about the most frightening movie I’ve seen in a long time. I think Rolling Stones‘ Peter Travers says it best: “A potent frightfest that will fry your nerves and creep you out.” Yeah, he ain’t kidding. And thanks to an excellent viral marketing campaign to get it out there — plus the help of Steven Spielberg — looks like everyone is going to get a chance to see it. It sort of ranks up there with The Exorcist, is WAY better than The Blair Witch Project – and scares the living crap out of you by using little to no special effects.
How? By showing us a very real, normal couple (played by unknowns Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat) who happen to be tormented by some malevolent spirit, mostly in the middle of the night when they are sleeping. Katie believes she’s been haunted by this entity since she was a little girl, so the dubious Micah decides to set up a video camera in their bedroom to see if he can catch any weird “activity.” He gets a whole hell of lot more than he bargained for, that’s for damn sure. Check the trailer:
Again, I reiterate, Paranormal Activity doesn’t do anything more than mess with your psyche in the most basic way: set a single camera in a typical house and watch all the scary stuff – creaky stairs, dark shadows, loud bangs and eventually, contact – happen while the characters are ASLEEP. The one thing we have to do every night. In the dark. We have no choice … well, we have a choice, but what are you going to do? Be up all night with the TV blaring? The no-sleep thing eventually catches up to you. And remember that 3:00 am witching hour phenomenon I mentioned before, from The Exorcism of Emily Rose? Something about that time brings out those demons en masse, apparently. You know, I woke up the other night and smelled something burning. It wasn’t that strong, but that’s suppose to be a sign there are demons nearby. I stopped myself from looking at clock cause I didn’t want to freak myself out completely, but I’d put money down I knew what time it was.
NOW AFTER THIS, HOW THE HELL AM I GOING TO SLEEP? Thanks, writer/director Oren Peli for creating this fffed up horror movie. Thanks a lot (but secretly, well done).