It seems that there has to be at least one horror movie each year that says c'est la vie to conventional cliches and takes on a life of its own. Last years extraordinary Let the Right One In managed to do it, and the year prior to that [rec] managed to do it. This year, it's Paranormal Activity. It essentially takes the formula that Blair Witch Project created and plugs in various different variables.
The plot is nothing exciting. A couple, specifically the girlfriend, are being haunted by a rather unfriendly demon in their California home. Realizing they can't run from it, they instead try to understand it. So, much to the girlfriends (Katie) chagrin, the boyfriend (Micah) purchases a rather expensive video camera to try and catch their house guest on film.
That's how the whole thing is filmed - similar to [rec] or Blair Witch, it's one of the two (usually the boyfriend) holding on to the camera and recording their ordeal. In some films this really, really works against itself (I'm in the minority here, but I really wish they would have just stuck to conventional cinematography in Cloverfield), but here it works. There are a couple things that irked me that also bugged me in [rec] - when the cameraman prioritized the filming over the whole staying alive or protecting your girlfriend aspect. That pops up a couple times in the movie and, for me, really messes with the immersion and atmosphere that the film is trying to create, because absolutely no one is going to go for the camera first when your significant other is letting out a bloody death scream. However, that only happens a couple times, and the rest of the film makes up for it tenfold.
Atmospherically it's the best horror film in a long, long time. The movie doesn't pull any punches - quite frankly, because it doesn't have to. Chances are it's not going to make you jump. But it's going to leave you wondering just what's going to happen next, even when you KNOW something's going to happen. It's absurdly suspenseful, and as creepy as they come. It's the antithesis of this years Drag Me To Hell, which I still think is the best horror film of the year. Where DMTH relied on an old woman jumping out at you, this relies purely on atmosphere and subtly. If there's one word I could use to describe this movie, it would be subtle. It would be pretty easy to dislike this movie for that one simple fact, especially if it wasn't scary. Luckily, it's creepy as hell.
Dear God are the actors horrible though! The girlfriend is passable. She seemed pretty real most of the time. But the boyfriend, oh my goodness. He's god awful. I imagine the director fed him this exact line: "talk like you talk to your wife/girlfriend/boyfriend/whatever." And he still managed to deliver certain lines like a piece of wood. I don't even see how that's possible. Thankfully it really doesn't matter much, seeing as how it's a low budget ($15 grand it costed to make this, and it's already almost grossed 40 mil!) horror movie that isn't exactly reliant on its acting, but c'mon dude. A little effort wouldn't kill you.
There's also been a lot of complaints about the ending. They filmed three endings - one which was originally shown at the festival it debuted at in 2007, one which is the now theatrical ending which the majority of people have seen, and another which likely won't be seen until the DVD release. I've seen both the theatrical and original ending, and the gripes about the theatrical ending has merit. I thought it almost felt like a copout. After managing to crush horror film cliches for an entire movie, they revert to horrible SFX and ruin the entire flow of the movie. The original ending, however, is absolutely sinister, and much better suited for the film. However, chances are most people won't be able to see it until the DVD release. But trust me - if you hated the theatrical ending, the original ending is much better. You can probably read up about it on Wikipedia.
Bottom line though: the movie's great. Drag Me To Hell and this both show me that there's still life to be breathed into the horror genre. It's almost an intelligent horror movie, I'd say. It's incredibly subtle, atmospheric, the sound mixing is perfect, and for the most part it all felt pretty real. It slipped up in some regards (the acting. ugh), but it's still absolutely awesome. It's not something you can watch and expect to jump every five minutes - as I said earlier, that's DMTH's M.O. But this is a movie that will stick with you and legitimately creep you out, almost in a similar vein that The Exorcist did. But if subtly and superb filmmaking are lost on you then hey, Saw 6 opens tomorrow.
8/10
