Paranormal Activity and other things that go bump in the night

Paranormal Activity is the film Blair Witch should have been. After traveling the festival circuit for two years, Paramount has picked up the film for wide release. The film has been garnering much attention since it's initial limited release after its festival run. The ads asked for people demand the film come to their town. Demand they did and shortly after it's wide release, it shot to number one at the box office. That's not bad for a film made for $15,000.

Paranormal Activity has the gimmick that Blair Witch had in that the film presents itself as fact and that what we are seeing is "found footage". Paranormal is a much better film than the overrated Blair Witch. For one thing, Paranormal does things on smaller scale. The film is basically Katie Featherton and Micah Sloat who decide they are going to record the paranormal activity going on in their house. They decide that they want proof on record that what they are experiencing in their home is really happening.

The events start out small. Small things happen like bumps in the night and incidences like Katie's car keys found in the middle of the kitchen floor. For as long as it does these small things it seems plausible. As the story goes along more and more happens. One night the bedroom door opens and shuts on its own. They seek help from a psychic. It's revealed that Katie has had experiences of this sort in the past leading to a fire in their childhood house that the fire department couldn't explain. The psychic says that he thinks that Katie has a demon that is after her and recommends a demonoligist. Micah decides he thinks he can deal with the spirit or demon in his own way.

Micah is warned by the psychic that he should not try to get a Ouija board to communicate because that would be letting whatever it is inside. He promises Katie that he will not buy a Ouija board. The events start to get bigger and soon things start to happen like shadows on the wall and covers moving. Micah brings in a Ouija board and wants to have Katie help in contact the spirit. This infuriates Katie because he promised her. Micah explains he promised he wouldn't buy one. Micah doesn't use it but the couple decides to leave for the evening and we see the Ouija board moving on its own and all of a sudden becoming ablaze with fire.

The couple returns from their evening to find the burnt Ouija board and Micah thinks its a message. Katie freaks out and tells Micah no more. She tells him no more camera and no more your way. He gets her to agree to the camera by agreeing to abide by her rules. The events get progressively worse building to a shocking finale.

Paranormal Activity is not "found footage" but the characters still make it feel real. The film succeeds in building its suspense layer upon layer. Paranormal Activity shows that a film does not need a big name cast or a gargantuan budget to deliver and be successful. Paranormal Activity is highly recommended for people who like shocks and scares over blood and guts.