Reviewed by Elliot V. Kotek
(from the 2008 Slamdance Film Festival)
Director/Writer: Oren Peli
Starring: Micah Sloat, Katie Featherston, Mark Fredrichs, Amber Armstrong, Tim Piper, Randy McDowell
Hoping to catch some paranormal activity in their house on tape, and to provide answers to footsteps that might otherwise be figments of their imagination, Micah and Katie set up their camera to record nighttime activities and consult a psychic, and otherwise go ahead with their all-too-normal lives. The premise is established with an accomplished sensitivity to reality, and the first small creaks and groans are deftly suggestive without being scary. But, as we move along the learning curve with Micah and Katie and become cursorily coached in the haunting world of ghosts and demons, the expectation of a paranormal event keeps the tension tightening toward...
Sloat and Featherston are both brilliant in their ability to convey normalcy while immersed in these extraordinary circumstances, and their mettle meanders when instances transform from imaginative to implicative. That these actors can hold the audience's tension and attention in a single location without big effects is testament to Oren Peli's skills as a filmmaker. Watching the scenes transpire in this otherwise ordinary setting, one wonders where this promising director is now.
The static camera set up in the corner of the couple's bedroom each night interestingly insists that the viewers' eyes dart around the screen in search of the same answers sought by our subjects, and it subtly seems to make their reality ours. An absence of the hysteria on which other films rely for their effectiveness is avoided well by the filmmakers. Considering the expense invested in American remakes of Japanese masterpieces to little reward, the exhibition of skill summoned by Peli and his team prevails over their lack of prior credits, rising above the obvious absence of any real filming budget.
When all is said and done, the true measure of this film can be found in the following fact: Paranormal Activity gave me Goosebumps.
Photos courtesy of Solana Films
http://www.paranormalactivity-movie.com/ |
