After a relatively quick 86 minutes, I will have to admit that Paranormal Activity was different as expected and had its fair share of chills. The amateur camera work and home video sorta presentation gave a very real and everyday look and feel to the movie. This coupled with the seemingly plain cast members and their extremely believable performances contributed fittingly to the script. Without giving away too much, Paranormal Activity is more about perceived and smartly indicated horror, than implicitly obvious visuals or effects. Be warned though that to enjoy the director’s brilliant creation it is important to watch the movie on suitably well-endowed audio and video equipment. Also key is to remain focused and pay attention to the narrative process as it slowly unfolds and picks up pace. If you’re distracted or multitasking while watching Paranormal Activity, you’ll find it to be slow, draggy, and unimpressive. If you plan to watch it on a small screen, with the lights on and the volume turned down, you’re probably better of skipping this flick all together. Watch it seriously, the way it was meant to be watched, and rest assured you will remember its scares for some time to come.
Katie Featherston plays Katie, the lead character in Paranormal Activity. Micah Sloat plays Micah, her boyfriend whom she is living with. Both of them perform very convincingly in what is perhaps their everyday normal life. So realistic are their portrayals that’s its questionable as to whether they were acting at all, or letting their normal routines just unfold and be caught on camera. Though there were some stereotypes, such as Micah’s limited faith in the paranormal psychic, his feeling that being the man in the relationship he was capable of handling the situation on his own, and Katie’s fear mixed with expected female emotion, it was never to a point of being questionable. Needless to say the success of Paranormal Activity rests largely on their 2 performances as it does on the shrewd narrative process of the director.
The DVD that I sampled was a Region 1 US release. Video was good, especially considering it was mostly shot on home video format. Paramount probably worked with the content during post processing to ensure the best possible quality while guaranteeing realism. I expected for more blacks and dark scenes with poor visibility, but was happy to notice that it was kept to a minimum if at all present. The video aspect ratio was a perfect fit on a widescreen home television with no letterboxing. Sound was presented by means of a Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround soundtrack that was very fitting in this case. The 3D positional audio was key in the competence of the movie, adding an additional level of depth to the realism.
My Recommendation: Watch It (Watch it the right way and you will be scared!)
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