Review: PARANORMAL ACTIVITY Genuinely Scared the Hell out of Me
So I finally got to see the new horror film, Paranormal Activity for myself, and yes, it’s as scary as everyone says it is! It’s been a really long time since a movie gave me the goosebumps of fear, as well as that overwhelming feeling of being genuinely scared. This movie got me, it scared the hell out of me, and that’s not easy to do. I’m so happy it did though! Movies like this don’t come around very often, so it’s a great surprise and treat when a filmmaker comes along that can scare the shit out of people.
After the movie was over, that fearful feeling stayed with me as a drove home on the dark empty street, and into my home. I actually turned the lights on to my house before I walked through the door. I’m not kidding! I find it absolutely hilarious that I was so damn scared! Laying in bed last night I couldn’t sleep! My imagination was running wild, every creak, crack, thud and sound made me pull the covers over my head just that much more. It really didn’t help when I woke up at one point to see my for year old daughter standing next to my bed just staring at me! What the hell!? She never did that before! Turns out she just wanted a glass of water. But still! If you’ve seen the movie then you know why that would freak me out. Needless to say, I’m pretty tired today, but not as scared.
I had such a great time watching this movie! Not only was it scary but it was funny as well. You get a sense of who these characters are and what their personalities are like. They did a great job portraying real life and how people would really act in this kind of situation. The movie stared Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat and their acting was as natural as can be, they weren’t trying to act, they were being themselves, but thrust into the terrifying place they found themselves in.
There were no crazy in your face special effects in the movie. The horror is very subtle at the beginning but it and the suspense builds and builds until the climax of the film hit you in the face. It’s like Willy Wonka said, “The suspense is terrible... I hope it’ll last.” The whole movie took place in a house; most of it was filmed in one room. It was a very simple but effective. The film was made on a $11,000 budget and it just shows what you can do with very little money and a big imagination. Director Oren Peli did a fantastic job scaring me!
The film is about a couple who move into together in San Diego. Katie believes that a spirit or demon has been following her since she was a little girl. Her boyfriend Micah isn’t fully convinced, so he buys a camera to start documenting the weird things and noises that are going on in the house, hoping to catch something on film. After a few nights of recording and waking up to crazy noises in the middle of the night he starts to believe, and he is hell bent on taking care of the problem himself.
I was very skeptical going into this movie, and I had very high hopes that it would be as scary as I heard it was. I wasn’t disappointed; Paranormal Activity is an instant horror movie classic. It’s the Halloween season, and I highly recommend you go see it if you haven’t already! I don’t think you’ll be disappointed in it either.
THIS MOVIE WILL SCARE YOU!
If you have seen it, tell us what you thought!