Looking Back at PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: Still Effective as Hell

Paranormal Activity is a record of three weeks in the life of a certain couple living in San Diego, California. Micah is a stockbroker working from home, and Katie is a student who is haunted by an unidentified paranormal force. This spirit manifests itself in her life periodically – most recently during her teenage years. However, ever since Katie moved into Micah’s house strange things have started to happen: nighttime noises and other unexplainable phenomena have appeared. Micah therefore buys a camera that is supposed to record what happens at night in their bedroom, when they sleep peacefully, unaware of anything.

The plot is told in the convention of The Blair Witch Project, a film which in a way created a completely new cinematic genre and stylistic approach. The director of the film, Oren Peli, took the idea for the plot from his own experiences. When he moved into a new house (the very same one that appears in the film) strange things began to happen at night. A book fell from a shelf, detergent slid down and spilled. All of this was explained by the fact that when a new house settles on its foundations, the walls and furniture remain in motion for some time.

However, Oren decided to turn these simple events into a short script, organized a quick casting, bought a camera, and after making several modifications to the construction of the house began shooting. It should be noted, however, that he did not rush into it blindly. He prepared a very good production plan, especially regarding the visual realization. The bedroom shot, which will certainly become a pop-cultural calling card similar to the mucus from the nose in The Blair Witch Project, was lit and constructed by the director for a very long time and with great precision.

The creator had a specific idea and vision in his head of how the strongest shot in the film should look – so that it would be natural and terrifying at the same time. I must admit that he carried out this task excellently, since the night scenes are really very well thought out and staged. What strikes the viewer is their extraordinary naturalism, which reminds us that this is the same kind of bedroom as mine and yours, which makes us unknowingly lower our guard. In addition, the sound design – in the night scenes the sound of silence is amplified, which produces the effect of a low, bass-like echo and hum.

There is no need to watch the film loudly, because it is precisely the sound design that creates the additional element of anticipation of what will happen. It is just like lying in bed at night – every noise from the street or from behind a wall seems twice as loud at night, and certainly more frightening than during the day. This natural effect is the film’s main advantage. The actors are also very authentic. Already during the casting, when the two actors met each other, an incredible realism appeared. During the first improvisations and tests the pair performed as if they had known each other and the stories of their lives for years. This translates into that specific realism on the screen.

The frightening element belongs to the category of the invisible. This does not mean, however, that it is by definition weak. One does not need Jason, Freddy, or aliens from space to scare the viewer. I am a strong opponent of slashers or other Saw-type films, since these movies have as much in common with horror as a chamber pot has with an airplane. The horror films that engage the imagination are the most frightening. They interact with the viewer and, by presenting the outline of a situation on a platter, force the audience to complete the rest. This is the type of horror that is interesting and worth attention. Paranormal Activity fits precisely into such a convention.

This is not the ordinary what you cannot see is what scares you. The perfectly composed scenes and the director’s innate sense of suspense command respect. Peli knows exactly how long a given scene should last so that it retains its frightening power and does not fall into banality. Everything is balanced in perfect proportions. The static night scenes with the invisible demon are a true masterpiece. This is something we have not seen in contemporary horror cinema for a long time. An excellent antidote to the pseudo-horrors that have recently flooded cinema screens.

The marketing campaign was prepared for a long time and with great care. Paramount Pictures received a DVD copy in 2007. For two years the marketing eggheads wondered what to do with this title and how to push it onto the market. Steven Spielberg, to whose desk the film was delivered, reportedly could not finish watching it in a single evening. He had to interrupt the screening and finish it in the morning, in daylight. He even proposed an alternative ending, which eventually reached cinemas (together with several corrections in the remaining parts of the film, although not all of them for the better).

The film was promoted as a real tape found by the San Diego police, although in the theatrical version the ending clearly explains that it is fiction, after which classic end credits appear. In the DVD Screener version, which was shown to DreamWorks and later Paramount – there are no credits, and the story is presented as real (see the videotape found by the police). There was also a rather interesting promotional action titled Demand It!, which took place through the official website of the film, where one had to submit a kind of request for the film to be shown in a local cinema.

In our case the screening took place only on one day, after which the film appeared permanently in the repertoire only two weeks after the first date. All this hype around Paranormal Activity had its inevitable effects. The main one is that a film made for 11 thousand dollars earned over 250 million dollars worldwide. Another, unfortunately negative for the film, is that many opponents appeared by definition, people who sit down to watch with the attitude what are some kids from torrents going to tell me about what a good horror film is.

Of course, everyone has their own points of fear and their own favorite style. You cannot please the entire world with a single title; such a director has not yet been born (and probably never will be). Nevertheless, the phenomenon and spectacular nature of this film is a fact, and the discussion of whether this phenomenon is strong or weak is another matter, which I will address in this review.

Must the recipe for a frightening horror film always be a sea of blood and flying limbs of the characters? Or perhaps psychopathic killers from an institution who show no mercy to their victims? Or zombies chasing the remnants of civilization in a crippled and caricatural way? I agree that The Shining is a powerful film, but it belongs to another league. It is a brilliant thriller, but not a classic horror. Yes, Freddy or Pet Sematary are also great horrors, but classic ones.

Not all parts of Freddy have stood the test of time. Today we must look for new directions and conventions of frightening. Applause for the director for using the difficult home video style to create such a powerful film. Trends like Asian Terror do not appear every day, therefore every new proposal should be received a little more indulgently and encouragingly.

Would the idea of the ghost grabbing the camera from the tripod really have been such a good one? Perhaps the next morning it should prepare soft-boiled eggs, hot coffee, and juice from fresh Californian oranges. Perhaps such a ghost would go down in cinema history as the first ghost preparing breakfast and slippers for the bed of the victims it torments.

If someone is frightened by Jason running through the forest with a plastic knife, or Lady Fate slaughtering innocent characters in a million infinitely idiotic ways – if this is frightening to someone then that is fine. Let them turn on Gremlins, wrap themselves tightly in a blanket and watch until they lose their breath (or close their eyes at another terrifying scene of Freddy scratching a knife across a board). Free will. De gustibus… my dear friends. One prefers bigos, another prefers tomato soup.

However, if you prefer minimalist, understated frightening, where one has to use a bit of imagination and allow oneself to be carried away by the convention – I recommend this film with all my heart. It is truly an excellent screening, as long as you do not take a stubborn stance like go on then, try to scare me with footsteps in the attic.