Over the weekend I had a man date with my friend Jason. Like all manly men do when they get together, we decided to watch a scary movie. We picked Paranormal Activity a movie we both wanted to see but hadn’t got around to yet because, in both our cases, we didn’t have anyone to watch it with—and this isn’t the kind of movie you want to watch alone!
Paranormal Activity holds the unique distinction of being the largest grossing movie of all time based on return on investment. In layman’s terms that means that based on the amount of money it cost to make it, it made back more than any other movie in history. That’s probably because it was shot on a unimaginably meager $15,000 budget. Can you say, “WOW”?
Once you see the film it’s easy to figure out how it could be shot on such a tight purse though. Paranormal Activity riffs on the concept that The Blair Witch Project made popular in the late nineties. It follows a young couple named Katie and Mika who buy a video camera to document some “paranormal activity” taking place in their house. Like Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity is shot exclusively through said video camera giving the film a perspective that trades between first-person, with Mika holding the camera and narrating and a third-person view when the camera is on a tripod. The film alternates between day and night with majority of the activity taking place at night and captured by the camera as it sits on a tripod filming the couple as they sleep.
One thing needs to be said of this film: it’s incredibly innovative. By that I mean it was filmed for only $15,000 and it’s good, relatively speaking. The effects are all incredible low tech. The suspense, the terror, and the frightening atmosphere of the movie have all been created on the cheap, but done with incredible effectiveness. A movie like Paranormal Activity goes to show that you can get your point across—in this case, you can scare the crap out of people—and not have to spend millions. I think it’s interesting that a movie with such a small budget had to use effects appropriately and conservatively but yet managed to do it so well. On the other hand, look at all the scores of movies that use effects because they have the budget to do so. I would much prefer to see a film constrained by a tiny budget use innovative effects to creep us out than see a Hollywood blockbuster that throws everything and the kitchen sink at us because it can. What do you think?
Now Paranormal Activity was a pretty scary movie, but it certainly could’ve been scarier. After all the talk and chatter across the internet about this viral sensation I honestly expected a bit more. The one element that I think could’ve made things more frightening is a touch bit more realism. As all the paranormal activity swirls around our big screen couple they seem to live their lives inside of a bubble. Their isolated inside their posh house with very little outside contact on camera. I kept thinking, while watching the film, that if this were me I would’ve made much different choices. Now of course with a film like this, and I think any horror film, you’re meant to put yourself in the shoes of the main characters. The “what would I do?” mentality is what makes it scary, no? If those characters then are making ridiculous choices that I can’t relate to then it takes away from the connection I have with them. On the other hand, a lot of the time it’s those exact same poor choices that make you feel helpless and stranded in a horror film. So, I don’t know. In some cases I couldn’t buy into the film because I couldn’t believe that I’d do the same thing, in the same situation.
All in all, Paranormal Activity, for what it’s meant to be, is a decent film. I appreciated, most of all, seeing what could be done on such a shoestring budget. At the same time, it wasn’t exactly as frightening as I imagined it being but this wasn’t on account of cheap effects but rather on not being able to relate entirely to the characters. For the effects they employ, it’s pretty much incredible that it can scare as well as it can. Don’t get me wrong, it is scary after all.
Let me add my take to this. As far as identifying with the characters, I tend to think I would be slightly curious like the husband and try to “investigate” the situation further like he did. However, when it came to the way he responded to his wife and her experiences, he was a bit out there. So I’m not entirely sure the connection was there for me either.
I too, was a little disappointed with this, “scariest movie of all time” film when if came to fear factor. For me, I think the heart of what made this movie scary, is what caused it to not be as scary for us. When you get right down to the basics, this movie plays off your fears of the dark, of being alone, of the random creaks and groans you hear in the night that you don’t know what they are and sound 10 times worse, etc. Just having someone else in the room completely changed that for me and I did not find it as scary as I was expecting. I think if I had watched this on my own, I would have had a different experience.
While its definitely fun getting together to watch a movie with friends, if you haven’t seen this yet and are thinking about it and want the full experience, watch it on your own!
Absolutely, Jason. I can’t imagine ever having the nerve to watch it alone — it would’ve been way scarier. Actually, even watching it AGAIN by myself would be too much, I think!
I saw it at the opening night at a midnight screening. I saw it with three friends. It scared the crap out of us. It wasn’t necessarily because of the movie, but rather the two weeks prior as we hyped it for each other with ghost stories. It was quite the experience in a full theater. I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed it.