Slasher movies like Saw, Saw II, Saw III, Saw IV (and an IV drip is what you’ll probably need to sit through the remaining sequels) or The Ring or Scream may succeed in giving you that occasional jolt in your seat but true horror is what happens when you go to bed alone.
Do the images of the movie you just saw (pardon the word) amuse you or does it get under your skin and creep you out. If the latter is your kind of movie then Paranormal Activity is for you.
Made for under $11,000 (which is probably just the cost for all the hair gel used by Edward Cullen in New Moon), it has become this year's marketing phenomenon.
Made for under $11,000 (which is probably just the cost for all the hair gel used by Edward Cullen in New Moon), it has become this year's marketing phenomenon.
Paramount Pictures initially arranged mid-night screenings at high schools across America asking fans to vote on their website if they wanted it to come to a cinema near them. It immediately got 1 million hits which caught the eye of Steven Spielberg who in turn endorsed it as a great scare fest and then the movie was released all across America. (Quite frankly once Spielberg had endorsed it there wasn’t a chance in hell it wasn’t going to go big.)
Anyway, at last count it had already made $108 million and that’s just in the US alone.
The man responsible for this is Israeli-born writer-director Oren Peli, a video-game designer turned filmmaker who has created a psychological thriller of such small scale and yet such heightened effect that no doubt Hitchcock, in his grave (appropriately) must be smiling.
The first-time director understands that it's what you don't see, and the way in which you don't see it, that counts. While most of the slasher movies being made today think that blood & gore is enough, Peli understands that the trick, of course, comes in not being able to explain the who, what and why of it.
The entire film takes place in the two-story home of Katie who claims to be plagued by demons, and Micah her obnoxious boyfriend, who totes around a video camera to record evidence that those spirits are real. (Both actors are using their real names onscreen too and are so normal that it only heightens the ‘did-it-really-happen’ feeling). The two joke and bicker, but at night we see them asleep, the camera at a fixed angle in their dankly lit bedroom. The shot keeps skipping ahead, hour by time-coded hour, until stuff starts to...happen.
The entire film takes place in the two-story home of Katie who claims to be plagued by demons, and Micah her obnoxious boyfriend, who totes around a video camera to record evidence that those spirits are real. (Both actors are using their real names onscreen too and are so normal that it only heightens the ‘did-it-really-happen’ feeling). The two joke and bicker, but at night we see them asleep, the camera at a fixed angle in their dankly lit bedroom. The shot keeps skipping ahead, hour by time-coded hour, until stuff starts to...happen.
With its this-is-really-happening vibe, Paranormal Activity bring to the surface your every childhood fear. The fear is real, all right, because the fear is really in you.
Every bit of dialogue feels natural, and every moment of misery, mental torture, and pain feels genuine and the deliberately slow paced Paranormal Activity takes you along for a grueling experience with every breath.
Most importantly we never get a full glimpse of the force wreaking havoc on the couple. Peli’s canniest realization is that the best horror is that which focuses on what can be imagined but can’t or needn’t be shown.
Less here, is certainly more. Scary that is.
P.S. This movie is best watched with a big group of friends and preferably after dark. Not just because of the scare factor but because Fear like a Yawn is terribly contagious and there’s nothing more creepily enjoyable than being scared; first by what you see on-screen and a split second later by a gasp coming from somewhere around you.
Enjoy
Vish
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