PARANORMAL
ACTIVITY
With
Katie
Featherston,
Micah
Sloat,
Mark
Fredrichs,
Amber
Armstrong
Written
&
Directed
by
Oren
Peli
Following
the
"found
footage"
storytelling
technique
of
movies
like
The
Blair
Witch
Project,
this
innovative,
low
budget
production
was
made
in
2007,
but
only
saw
theatrical
release
several
years
later
after
Paramount,
Dreamworks
and
people
like
Spielberg
got
to
see
its
potential
to
literally
scare
up
some
audience
interest
(and
box
office).
The
movie
is
assembled
as
though
it
was
edited
from
video
footage
shot
by
Micha,
boyfriend
of
Katie.
It
documents
their
personal
investigation
into
weird
happenings
around
their
home.
At
first
they
go
into
it
lightheartedly,
Micha
even
more
so
(to
the
extent
of
antagonizing
these
forces).
But
this
activity
starts
to
get
more
intense
and
violent,
even
a
psychic
expert
whom
they
called
in
not
hiding
his
fear
of
this
strong,
angry
energy.
Written,
produced,
directed,
shot
and
edited
by
Oren
Peli,
it
is
innovative
guerilla
movie
making
like
this
that
often
breathes
new
life
into
the
medium
(as
with
renegade
saviours
like
Robert
Rodriguez)
With
very
simple
but
effective
techniques
of
suspense
building
and
good
old
fashioned
scares,
Peli
certainly
succeeded
in
creating
one
scary
little
movie.
Seeing
this
for
the
first
time,
I
was
accompanied
by
someone
who
is
attuned
to
paranormal
activity
and
have
experienced
uncomfortable
and
inexplicable
occurrences
-
needless
to
say,
they
found
the
movie
a
daunting
and
frightening
affair
and
chose
not
to
discuss
it
afterwards
(as
not
to
attract
these
potential
energies
to
them).
On
the
flip-side
another
friend
saw
it
and
found
it
boring
(having
never
experienced
something
like
this
for
real).
While
I
respect
the
man
and
his
Hollywood
position,
I'm
not
a
fan
of
the
new
ending
which
Spielberg
suggested...
The
realism
of
the
non-fictional
ruse
is
further
enhanced
with
no
music
or
credits
(the
latter
an
impressive
ego-free
move).
Unfortunately
(as
with
Blair
Witch)
the
sequel
will
be
hard
pressed
to
capture
the
impulsive
energy
and
originality
of
its
predecessor.
4
/
B
-
Paul
Blom
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
-
A
-
B
-
C
For
similar
"found
footage"
scary
movies,
click
the
images
below
|