Paranormal Activity is a stylistic horror film, not one where the horror looms over you, but one where you loom over the horror, albeit unconsciously at times it seems. The film is without a script, conventional cast, location or even a director, although amateur want-to-be Oren Peli will no doubt take much credit for this. The film follows Katie who is a graduate student of English, and her boyfriend Micah who is a day trader. They've been together three years, and have now moved into a house in San Diego that doesn't seem much lived in at all. The house itself is empty and notoriously tidy, which always leaves this sense of this ‘other’ that is only existent to fill in this space, a space that the couple have left open for someone else to fill. Even if we can’t see them, we can surely feel them.
The film plays on the idea of the camera always ‘catching’ the evidence, even more accurately then the human eye itself. This can be compared to the Blair Witch Project to an extent, but Paranormal Activity plays on the idea that waiting and silence are much more prominent in the horror genre then straight-up shock. It seems we have become immune to pure shock in recent years, so now we create our own shock though the fragments of ‘nothingness’ that the film allows us to reflect upon. In-between the moments of shock in the film, we fill the gap in-between with predictions, anxiety and suspense. There is simply no room to be bored in Paranormal activity.
After the couple suspect that it is in fact ghosts acting upon them, they call in a "psychic expert" (Mark Fredrichs) but he's no help. What he does know, however, by walking in the door that what's haunting them isn't a ghost but some sort of demonic presence. Fredrich’s ability to ‘sense’ a more demonic presence in the house clearly plays on the psychology of the audience, as we begin to create our own visions of the unknown, and what its true intentions are for Katie and Micah. Micha’s manly obsession with the camera further the idea of the unknown, as every shot, every moment, adds some meaning into the ‘nothingness’ that fills the screen throughout most of the film. The ‘nothingness’ is what creates the fright in the film, the idea that something else must be filling in the moments of solidarity and unity, something that we cannot put our finger on.
Yes, the house is clearly haunted, but we don’t need to see this. The expressionistic acting from both parties does this for us. The horror in the film isn’t created though what we see with our own eye, but what the characters see though theirs, and this is what gives this film its credibility. The film also plays on the idea that the horrors documented are shown after the event itself, which adds yet another dimension to the fate of the characters, and whether true evil can really be defeated or not. The script is not existent, but the characters emotion and energy fill in the dialogue for us. Who needs speech anyway when your asleep at night, and a demonic monster is standing there watching you lifeless?
The film plays on the idea of the camera always ‘catching’ the evidence, even more accurately then the human eye itself. This can be compared to the Blair Witch Project to an extent, but Paranormal Activity plays on the idea that waiting and silence are much more prominent in the horror genre then straight-up shock. It seems we have become immune to pure shock in recent years, so now we create our own shock though the fragments of ‘nothingness’ that the film allows us to reflect upon. In-between the moments of shock in the film, we fill the gap in-between with predictions, anxiety and suspense. There is simply no room to be bored in Paranormal activity.
After the couple suspect that it is in fact ghosts acting upon them, they call in a "psychic expert" (Mark Fredrichs) but he's no help. What he does know, however, by walking in the door that what's haunting them isn't a ghost but some sort of demonic presence. Fredrich’s ability to ‘sense’ a more demonic presence in the house clearly plays on the psychology of the audience, as we begin to create our own visions of the unknown, and what its true intentions are for Katie and Micah. Micha’s manly obsession with the camera further the idea of the unknown, as every shot, every moment, adds some meaning into the ‘nothingness’ that fills the screen throughout most of the film. The ‘nothingness’ is what creates the fright in the film, the idea that something else must be filling in the moments of solidarity and unity, something that we cannot put our finger on.
Yes, the house is clearly haunted, but we don’t need to see this. The expressionistic acting from both parties does this for us. The horror in the film isn’t created though what we see with our own eye, but what the characters see though theirs, and this is what gives this film its credibility. The film also plays on the idea that the horrors documented are shown after the event itself, which adds yet another dimension to the fate of the characters, and whether true evil can really be defeated or not. The script is not existent, but the characters emotion and energy fill in the dialogue for us. Who needs speech anyway when your asleep at night, and a demonic monster is standing there watching you lifeless?
Posts
