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Paranormal Activity: Unfulfilling relationships in an unfulfilling movie
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The movie was over-hyped and unfulfilling.
I was carded three times trying to enter Paranormal Activity's theater-- I wasn't aware I look like I'm 17 (or younger?) but it made me excited. The movie must be terrifying for them to check IDs for birth dates while purchasing tickets, entering the lobby, and entering the movie theater itself. Right?
Unfortunately the fake documentary movie was all hype and no payoff. Spielberg says "[the movie] doesn't rush the scares". What he might have said, instead, that there are next to no scares at all. Nobody seems to be mentioning, either, that the main characters' "typical, middle-class" relationship is, well, a pretty horrible relationship.
- The relationship between Katie and Micah is depicted as mundane and typical, which is depressing for society-- Katie seems perpetually frustrated and annoyed by Micah, and Micah? Not the nicest guy. He disregards her feelings and fears the entire movie, even taunting her when she genuinely needs comfort. Their sexual relationship is a stereotypically gendered "bully system" where the man initiates and the desexualized woman denies and denies until coyly accepting. They barely communicate. If this is the average young couple for our generation, there's a problem. Worse yet, the problem isn't really discussed in the film-- they are instead the "perfect" couple until the demon comes to haunt them. Unfortunately, with or without a ghost, they weren't in a healthy relationship to begin with.
- In my mind, the relationship was a little unsympathetic to watch due to their economic situation, as well. Despite Katie being in school, and their incomes being supposedly "average", they are a young, twenty-something couple who owns a large, two story house (with two guest bedrooms!), can afford sporadic purchases of new technology and expensive psychics, and have absolutely no discussions (despite having other mundane talks) about loans, bills, or money troubles. Especially with today's economy, I found it unrelatable.
- What some refer to as the "monkey cam" (shaky shots from a hand-held camera) works better on a small screen (TV) instead of a huge movie theater screen. Although there were steadier shots later in the movie, the beginning's camera work was annoying and difficult to focus on at times.
- There was barely any story, which only made it less fulfilling, rather than random and scarier. Why was she chosen to be haunted? She was chosen as a child, so the audience is already less frightened-- most viewers probably weren't haunted since childhood, so it couldn't "just happen" to us. In that case, her random adulthood haunting isn't an everyman, "this could happen to you" scenario. This specific demon was after this specific woman. Why? At least Blair Witch had an intricate storyline to make up for the low budget and lack of on-screen action, so much so that audiences were terrified just by a shot of someone standing in a corner. Paranormal Activity, instead, is random and generic.
- The couple's relationship with the demon was silly for the first hour or so of the movie. Here's why. Imagine it. There's something invisible waking you up at night by slamming doors, creaking, rattling your chandelier. This force getting "worse" only means creaking a little bit louder or blowing hot air over you. At a certain point you roll over, go back to sleep, and assume it's annoying rather than scary and hurtful. Buy some earplugs. The movie was overly serious about how "terrifying" the demon was, rather than dealing with it like the annoying ghostly roommate scenario it seemed to be-- like the TV show Angel comically portrayed.
- Not many people I know wear bras to bed. Just sayin'. Seeing Katie wake up in the middle of the night wearing a push-up bra and tank top (and perfect makeup!) wrecked the "real home movie" feel for me.
+ The one positive: If you like jumpy-scary movies, rather than psychologically-scary movies, you might like it. There were well-placed "startling" moments. For the most part, I think these moments are cheap when all the filmmaker does is manipulate anticipation, but moments like these are also effective in making audiences jump. I will say that something near the very end made me flinch back in my seat and put my hands out to shield myself-- not sure if the same moment would work on a small TV, but it was certainly the most effectively startling moment of the whole movie.
The final word: Not worth your time. If you want a similar genre, go buy an old VHS of The Blair Witch Project for pennies at your local thrift store, and watch it late at night. Paranormal Activity is a too-serious look at unsympathetic characters in an unhealthy relationship, with an annoying demon pal who does no harm for most of the movie.
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