Paranormal Activity [DVD]List Price: |
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Description from  |
| Like The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity is an impressive and harrowing indie chiller that derives much of its terror--and there is quite a bit of that in its brief running time--by playing on the most basic of human fears: that which cannot be seen. Though one might assume that the point-of-view aesthetic had been worn out thanks to Cloverfield and Quarantine (and, lest one forgets, Blair Witch), Paranormal makes excellent use of the single-camera technique, which helps to not only preserve the film's central conceit--a new-minted couple records the increasingly threatening supernatural phenomena that have invaded their home on a camcorder--but underscore the realism needed to drive home the low-fi (if completely persuasive) special effects. The approach is also crucial to the film's suspense, which unfolds in long, largely broken takes to nerve-rattling effect. Not every horror fan--or moviegoer--will fall for the film's spook-show approach. Those that found Blair Witch's less-is-more approach aggravating will feel the same way about Paranormal, but the sleight of hand exhibited by first-time director Oren Peli, and assisted by his two leads, relative newcomers Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat, should provide adventurous viewers with fresher and stronger scares than anything from Hollywood in recent years. --Paul Gaita |
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| Customer Reviews |
Reviewed by onthefritz on September 7, 2010
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| I was debating buying the blu-ray for this movie, since it's quite possibly my favorite horror film of all time. But with the low budget, home video format, I thought the regular dvd would work just fine. I was right. This movie wasn't made for high-def, and it looked just like it did in the theater... Surround sound is still a must though! |
Reviewed by K. Fontenot of Louisiana on August 30, 2010
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| Banking on the added "realism" of using a home video camera, "Paranormal Activity" plays out on the screen in a fashion very similar to films such as "The Blair Witch Project" and "Cloverfield." Much like these two films, the success of this movie relies heavily on the execution of this gimmicky style of filming.
The film opens with Katie (Katie Featherston) and Micah (Micah Sloat) fairly settled into their new home. Micah has purchased a camera in order to capture "paranormal" events that Katie believes are happening in the house. She also believes that the "activity" has actually been following her around since she was around eight years old. After a few scenes of the couple adjusting to life with the camera, we make it to the first night of Micah's experiment with the camera. With just a few breaks in between, this is how the majority of the rest of the film plays out. At first, nothing major happens. The couple catches a door swaying open and shut and catch noises hear and there. After discussing the events with a psychic (Mark Fredrichs), the couple begin to part ways on Micah's experiments. The psychic warns the couple that whatever being is in the home with them is quite possibly demonic and that they shouldn't taunt, confront, or open dialogue with the entity. This only fuels Micah's desire to "catch" a ghost on camera or make contact with it. Katie demands that he stop doing this, but Micah insists on continuing his tests. As Micah treads on despite Katie's protests, the events becoming more sinister and scary for the couple. They call a recommended demonologist to help them, but he is out of town for a few days. Instead, the psychic returns and immediately flees the home fearing that his presence might actually increase the activities going on in the home. Who or what is the entity? What does it want with Katie? You'll have to check out "Paranormal Activity" to find out. Before I go any further, I want to say that I enjoyed "Paranormal Activity." It is a much smarter film than "Blair Witch" and I actually felt sorry for Katie as the events became creepier and more violent. Micah came off as quite the jerk in the film and had I been Katie I would have shown him the door long before the paranormal activity got bad. While Micah was a bonehead, he wasn't the type you'd typically find in most horror films. He wanted to tackle the entity because his ego wouldn't allow him to fail. Unfortunately, this caused a strain on his relationship with Katie and quite possibly fueled the entity's desire to terrorize them even more. While the characters were decent enough (and not too over-the-top), the film did have a few major lulls in it. Shows like "Ghosthunters" and "Ghosthunters International" leave out the dull hours of footage where nothing happens for a reason: it's boring. In this film, perhaps to capture some of the "reality" of an actual investigation, we often get to see long segments of time where literally nothing happens. As for the investigation techniques, I did appreciate the fact that Peli allowed his characters to utilize cameras, digital voice recorders, and the assistance of a psychic for Micah's tests. The use of powder to capture foot and/or handprints has also been used in paranormal research and allows for added creepiness in this film. Peli also stayed par for the course on what supposedly occurs during a demonic haunting event by utilizing the attic of the house, the number of knocks heard during the night, and the disoriented state of Katie at times. Kudos to Peli for researching the research. ***SPOILER ALERT*** With this praise given, I do have to knock Peli on two things. First, while many paranormal investigators agree on the dangers of using a Ouija board, I felt that the "fire" event involving the board took away from the overall authenticity of the film. Secondly, CGI works good in many films, but killed the ending of this movie for me. I preferred the alternate ending on the disc. ***END SPOILERS*** In summary, I applaud this film for attempting to give a very real and authentic look at paranormal research, albeit with just a couple of misteps that took away from the overall quality of the film. However, much like watching a person tackle a virus on a computer, paranormal research can be very, very boring at times. This makes "Paranormal Activity" suffer overall, and therefore I give it three stars. |
Reviewed by Squirrel Bait '68 on August 24, 2010
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| Paranormal Activity is a decent candidate for a Halloween night marathon, no doubt. I enjoyed the slow, creepy build up of suspense overall but was really put off by the all too real moron male character in the film. I've known a few of those kinds of turds: a 20-something body with a preteen brain and invincible mentality without an ounce of common sense. Sure dummy, openly challenge something you neither see nor understand, and keeps messing with you in your sleep. The flaming ouija board was over the top. The demonolist who was called later in the film but never arrived was a bit of a plot let-down (I think the writer/director forgot this detail, which is why he never showed. No other explanation was offered.) Then there's the implied 24-7 filming of everything that occurred in the house, but the video timestamp was present only half the time. To top it all off he closing scene was...well...dumb. Whatever. Still a decent film in all rights, though certainly NOT a high paced exciting one. Very few flaws, but enough to knock it down by two stars in my book. Plenty of creep factor though. I'd watch it again, but I doubt I'd go out of my way to do so. Probably won't buy the DVD but I'm undecided. It was a great idea that should have been executed a little better. |
Reviewed by L. Hickey of Eau Claire, WI on August 23, 2010
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| I can honestly say I have never, ever been scared by a movie in my entire life. Everything I've seen was either gory, predictable, or both, including Blair Witch.
I hadn't heard or seen anything about this movie before watching it, my boyfriend and I just decided to rent it on a whim one night because there was nothing left in Redbox that we hadn't seen, so I entered into it completely unbiased, except for my previously formed general disdain for the horror genre as a whole. That being said, and I feel a little embarrassed for admitting I'm this gullible, I wasn't convinced it was fake until the final two seconds of the movie. The main reason for this is that the acting was superb, flawless. Katie and Micah seemed like a completely average, albeit slightly dysfunctional, couple. Their interactions were so natural that they had me believing wholeheartedly that these were recordings of the goings-on between a real life couple. This set the stage for my believing the rest of the events in the film were valid and thus SCARED THE EVER-LIVING BEJESUS OUT OF ME. This film impacted me like no other and nearly made me a complete believer in the paranormal. My heart was beating out of my chest, my eyes never blinked, and I'm fairly certain my kung fu grip cut off all circulation to my boyfriend's lower arm. Once I saw the last few seconds in which Hollywood had clearly intervened and sprinkled a little special effects dust on the final scene I realized with some disappointment but much more relief that it was all, indeed, just a movie. After my sheepishness wore off, it was replaced by sheer excitement. FINALLY! A horror movie that wasn't a pile of disembodied limbs and trite garbage! I had finally been scared! I had been longing for a psychological thriller that would actually scare me for so long that I was convinced it would never happen. My fear may have been a direct result of mistaking the movie for an actual documentary *blush*, and I may not experience the same rush were I to watch it again, but for the first time in 23 years I got a scare! I'm not sure if this review will be of any practical use to anyone, but at the very least I would say this movie is worth watching at least once. It may take a little imagination to prime you for the same kind of experience I had, but if you want to be scared it's worth a shot! |
Reviewed by Roose of NEW YORK on August 23, 2010
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| THIS MOVIE WAS ENTERTAINING. THE GIRL THAT WAS PLAGUED WITH FORCES UNKNOWN WAS STUPID FOR LISTENING TO HER KNOW IT ALL BOYFRIEND. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GETTING HELP FROM THE CHURCH FOR AND EXORCISIM OR SOMETHING. SHE NEVER ATTEMPTED ANY OF THAT. SHE WAS TO TOLERANT WITH HER BOYFRIEND. HE KNEW NOTHING, BUT SHE LET HIM CONTINUE TO PROVOKE THIS ENTITY. FOR ME WHEN HE GOT THAT OUJI BOARD,( not sure of the spelling) WOULD HAVE BEEN THE LAST STRAW FOR ME! GET OUT! FINALLY SHE SAID ENOUGH IS ENOUGH AND THEN IT WAS TOOOOO LATE... GOOD MOVIE ALONG WITH BLAIR WITCH TO HAVE IN YOUR COLLECTION. LOVE THE ALTERNATE ENDINGS. RAGDOLL DUDE TOWARD CAMERA WAS THE BEST ONE. |
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no need for the blu-ray.
Where Are The Ghosthunters When You Need Them?
STUPID GIRL