geek JANE

Review: Paranormal Activity

Limited Release: Seen September 26 at Midnight on my 24th birthday in a limited Durham, NC release
Rating: R (for a couple of f-bombs and pure terror)
Starring: Katie Featherston & Micah Sloat
Writer/Director/Producer/Editor: Oren Peli
OFFICIAL SITE: Paranormal Activity

Okay, so it’s no secret that I have seen a lot of horror films. As a matter of fact I make it quite a habit to see them as often as I can. Over the years it has started to take more and more creeps and shrieks to scare me in a movie but I can say in all honesty that Paranormal Activity is by miles the scariest film I have ever seen. I wouldn’t admit it if it weren’t completely true that I not only screamed but literally was so afraid that I had tears in my eyes at the very end. The pure terror stayed with me for hours afterwards and I left the theater in chills.

I know, that might sound hard to believe but the basic ideas this film confronts are ones that a lot of people can easily relate to and that is only magnified greatly by the home-video feel of the film-making itself. The film was supposedly made inside the writer/director Oren Peli’s own home and cost only $11,000 to complete. The release of the film has been very limited nationwide seen only in few cities so far starting on September 25 and the hype online is steadily growing. The marketing of this film is similar to that of The Blair Witch Project except most of the audience goes in knowing that it isn’t a real documentary they are about to watch. And it is still much more terrifying.

I hardly want to give any spoilers away because I really think the less you know about the movie the more likely you are to really fall into the story of the character’s experience head on. The night vision sequences are something I will not only never forget but never try in my own bedroom. If something even close to the things they experience just in the beginning of the film are going on it’s best I just don’t know about it. I will however say that the last 10 minutes are the most frightening scenes I have ever seen on film. I was so shaken afterwards that I had cold chills walking out. The theater was so full of screams that I hardly heard my own. I still can’t get the last 10 seconds of the movie out of my head.

I don’t know why Paramount would not release this in all theaters, and honestly wouldn’t be surprised if they were planning an October 30th release for the Halloween crowd. If you can, get to a showing of this movie but only if you can handle it. If a typical Hollywood slasher movie is about as scared as you like to be then this movie is not for you. This movie is not anything like the manufactured scares or horror remakes that you usually see in theaters. It’s much more psychological than that and really gets in your head.

Bottom Line: MOST HORRIFYING HORROR FILM I’VE EVER SEEN. PERIOD.