You have to be of a suggestive mind and be able to suspend your disbelief completely in order to bask in this film’s cannily orchestrated horrors!
Film: Paranormal Activity
Cast: Micah Sloat, Katie Featherston, Mark Fredrichs
Director: Oren Peli
Rating: * * ½
A great deal of hype surrounds this movie; its worldwide box office collections have been touching the roof, but that does not necessarily mean it lives up to all those gargantuan expectations. The film, purportedly a fright-fest, was made at a meagre budget of $15000, and had a restricted opening to start with. But word of mouth and a smart virtual campaign have done it wonders at the box office. The film does not have the manufactured superficiality of a ‘nightmare on Elm street’ or of any other Hollywood chillers seen before.
Oren Peli takes his inspiration from A Blair Witch Project, but he coolly culls out all the hysterics leaving behind a matter-of-fact tone that is highly suggestive and completely devoid of the CGI and atmospheric glitz of the former. The film has a simple documentary format, and basically records several days and nights in the lives of a young couple (Micah and Kate), who move into a typical suburban house, and find themselves at the mercy of paranormal tripping. Katie has had such experiences before, but Micah is skeptical. So, he arms himself with a night-vision camera and records every moment of their time spent in the house.
Director Oren Peli keeps it simple. The bare bones plot line has little to talk about, but it’s the construction of the narrative (like a slow-burning fire that keeps absorbing fuel in a steady rhythm) which keeps you on the edge of your seat. But after 99 minutes of creaking doors, stomping noises, freaking out and just a whole lot of bedazzlement by the unknown, the finale appears anticlimactic and completely unsatisfactory. As a result, you feel cheated by all that atmosphere and build-up which eventually amounts to nothing but a storm in a tea-cup! You have to be of a suggestive mind and be able to suspend your disbelief completely in order to bask in this film’s cannily orchestrated horrors!
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