Horror films, in particular, found footage films have never been popular or mainstream in the contemporary world of cinema. In fact, they barely get any hype surrounding their release unless they’re made by James Wan. However, back when Paranormal Activity was released, there was an insane amount of hype surrounding this film.
It was one of those films where there are rumors that people are getting heart attacks in the cinema, which weren’t true, of course. Yet still, this film had a hype unlike anything else in horror for a long time. However, living up to that hype seemed to be too tall of a task for Paranormal Activity.
How to Download Paranormal Activity
You can download the film from a digital store. You can also stream it. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice. If you like found footage films,c check out also The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield.
Paranormal Activity – the Movie Review
Paranormal Activity begins just like any other horror film in the 2000s, a young couple moves into a brand-new house to start a new life together. Katie and Micah start to feel a demonic presence not long after moving into their new house, so of course, logically, they put up cameras all over the house so that they can record the demonic occurrences around the house at all times.
At first, there’s no evidence of any paranormal presence, but after a while, the demonic presence starts to become more evident, more violent, and even deadly.
This was the directorial debut of Oren Peli, he used to be a computer programmer before working on popular video game franchises such as Mortal Kombat. However, his head first dive into the world of found footage horror was honestly a quite successful one. Paranormal Activity is by far the best film in the franchise and is genuinely one of the most harrowing horror films of the 2000s.
Of course, if you’re watching the film knowing full well that it is a piece of fiction, it won’t scare you much. It’s quite easy to tell when the horror is artificial, and that is exactly the case with Paranormal Activity.
The film relies on a lot of jump scares despite the fact that it’s found footage, which does take away from the allure a bit. It should have been more focused on building a slow and intense thriller that scares you emotionally rather than shrieking you.
The Characters
Katie Featherston as Katie and Micah Sloat as Micah are the only two characters in the film, the film centers around them and throughout the entirety of the film you are going to see how these characters developed and got to the ending of it
I would talk about their performances but it’s hard to say when you can barely see the faces of the actors, but their voices were convincing enough that there is something malicious going on.
The Visuals
Visually, it’s a found footage film with cameras attached to walls around the house. There’s not much flexibility in that regard, though when it comes to the lighting come on the film fails heavily. A lot of the time you can’t tell what’s happening on screen simply because the lighting is regular to a fault. In the world of films, you need lighting that will highlight your subjects and the environment, which is not present here at all.
The editing is also mediocre, meanwhile the music is basically nonexistent. The only true scary feeling that arises from this film is in its jump scares, and the feeling of being watched by demonic presences. If you cut that part out, and look at this film with an objective lens, there is essentially nothing much to be scared of here even nearing the climax of the film.
The Verdict
In conclusion, Paranormal Activity is a one of a kind film to say the least. Entirely of this film, all 86 minutes of it were shot on a $15,000 budget. Oren Peli did most of the work himself, the cinematography, direction and even editing. However, quickly after its release on some film festivals, Paramount decided to purchase it because it was just that big of a deal.
Paranormal Activity Is a horror classic, despite not having any scary monsters or terrifying locations, the film is pure dread for the casual moviegoer.
