PARANORMAL ACTIVITY
US, 2007/2009, 86 minutes, Colour.
Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Mark Fredrichs.
Directed by Oren Peli.
Blair Witch, Cloverfield, Diary of the Dead, Rec, Quarantine, The Fourth Kind – and now Paranormal Activity. Enough small-budget, hand-held and fixed camera technique stories which purport to be actual takes, edited down from loads of footage, which are meant to persuade a persuadable audience that this all really happened. Names, dates and times are important for a sense of heightened realism.
Paranormal Activity worked well with American audiences who saw it festivals, and executives were finally persuaded to release and market it – and this worked, the film taking more than $100,000,000 within a month.
If you are going to see it, try to see it with a large audience who are going to generate tense feelings, a sense of creepiness about the mysterious happenings as well as jumping and, perhaps, shrieking a couple of times. Unfortunately, this kind of response does not happen at press previews where reviewers (prone to look down their noses) sit as solid as stone. In this context, I wished I was not more het up than I was – actually, I wasn't at all, wishing that I was drawn into it more. Which means that one spends a lot of time watching how the director, Orin Peli, was setting things up, editing and creating a growing tension so that there is some eeriness at the end, with a satisfying if not unexpected ending.
Peli sets up his characters very well, Katie, a student who has had paranormal experiences since she was eight (sense of being watched, mysterious presences, a house burning down), and her partner, Micah, a financier who has bought a camera and sets it up to film at night over a period of a month or more to help solve the problem. Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat display a great ease in making us believe that this is really happening to them and gives the film more credibility than might be expected. A psychic also visits – and returns, but can't get out of the house fast enough!
The film avoids all gore and frightfest stuff, relying solely on more effective atmosphere and suggestions.
1.The origins of the film? The director, Israeli background, moving to America, life in San Diego, small films? His interest in horror? The experimental nature of his film?
2.The marketing of the film, seen in horror festivals, taken on by studios? Marketing? Successful box office?
3.The presuppositions about paranormal activity? Possible? Poltergeists? Malevolent spirits coming from another world? Stalking people, intruding in their lives? Their manifestations, hostility? Ultimately taking over people, causing violence?
4.The nature of these films – presented as if they were actual events, actual characters instead of actors? Audience susceptibility? Willingness to go along with the pretence?
5.The visual style, the hand-held camera, the fixed tripod? The introduction with Micah setting up the camera, it being shown, the audience aware of camera placement? The importance of the editing, pace?
6.San Diego, 2006, dates and times? The house and the audience seeing the house?
7.The introduction to Katie and Micah? Katie, her background, student? Strong-minded character? Her vitality and verve? The three-year relationship with Micah? Micah, his job, finances? Buying the camera, following Katie around, showing the audience the house? Setting up the camera?
8.The introduction to the paranormal? The gradual revelation, by talk, by the film, suggestions of sound, images? The further manifestations, rumblings, the sheet being moved, the shadow on the wall, the slamming doors? The effectiveness of this build-up for audience fears?
9.The decision to set up the camera in the bedroom? The explanations, the angles? Photographing the discussions?
10.The scenes in the bedroom, the time indications? The monochrome photography? In contrast to the normal colour? The various nights, no manifestations, gradual manifestations? The shock elements? The absence of the visuals of the spirit? The absence of gore – the injury bite to Katie’s leg?
11.The visit of the psychic, the discussions, the explanations, Katie’s background, manifestations since she was eight, the house burning down, the spirit following her? The opinions of the psychic? Later calling him back? His being uncomfortable in the house – and wanting to leave?
12.Micah and his irritating Katie? Her reactions? Their reconciliation?
13.Micah and his attempts to solve the mystery, examining the footage? The set-ups?
14.The build-up to the finale, Katie being dragged out of the room, Micah bringing her back? Katie and her face, possessed by the spirit, her attack on Micah, his death?
15.How entertaining a film in the Blair Witch tradition? The claims that this really happened – and that the San Diego police had the full amount of footage?
