No Room In Hell

After hitting its target of 1,000,000 online “demands”, Paranormal Activity opened to the masses this week.  Much like The Blair Witch Project, which casts a huge shadow over this one, Paranormal Activity is destined to polarize audiences.  For every reviewer hailing it as the next inductee to the Horror Hall of Fame, there will also be snarky critics and average moviegoers repeating the “it isn’t scary” mantra.  Luckily, here at No Room In Hell, we have one reviewer on each side of the debate so we’re going to have a bit of an argument.  I’m going to tell you whey Paranormal Activity was great and Chris is going to tell you why it sucks.  What did you think?

Why it’s great (Matt) – When was the last time you watched something that scared you by forcing you to use your imagination – by giving you a canvas and allowing your mind to fill in the negative space?  That’s exactly what Paranormal Activity does so well.  It takes you on a ride of rising and falling suspense by not really showing you anything at all.

For those of you who don’t already know, Paranormal Activity is 99-minutes of purportedly real footage taken as a couple attempt to document strange occurrences that have been happening in their home.  It’s all home video “shaky-cam” quality and is very much in the vain of The Blair With Project with the couple, Katie and Micah, talking directly to the camera as things happen.

We learn that these occurrences (loud sounds in the middle of the night, unexplained gusts of air, misplaced objects) have been following Katie her entire life but have begun to worsen after she and Micah move into a new home in San Diego.  Determined to be rid of them, the couple investigate, finding out that a demon may be at the root of these disturbances.

Throughout most of film, the scary things tend to happen at night while Katie and Micah are sleeping.  As the viewers, we get to see what is going on the entire time.  And things do happen – doors open and shut, lights turn on and off, the bedsheets move as if being pulled on by an invisible presence.  But save for the film’s climax, which I certainly won’t reveal, we don’t really “see” anything.  Therein lies the argument of the detractors and it’s coming from the same people who asked of The Blair Witch Project, “what’s so scary about a bunch of sticks?”

Well, let me give you the answer because if you’re asking that, you’re missing the point.  It’s not the sticks themselves that are scary, it’s what is implied by them and that’s totally up to your imagination.  Paranormal Activity is not a film that lays everything out for you.  It provides you with an extremely suspenseful atmosphere if you allow it to.  When the footage cuts to a nighttime scene where Katie and Micha are sleeping, it fills you with an anticipation that is both awful and great at once.  We may not see the demon, but we know he’s there, breathing his hot breath on Katie’s shoulder.

Just as important as its suspense, Paranormal Activity is intently focused on character development.  Because this is all home video that was clearly not intended to be seen by the world, we see Katie and Micah on a very personal level.  It’s an accurate portrayal of any relationship as we see them bicker, joke, cry, and go through moments of intense fear.

In the end, Paranormal Activity is a slow build of mounting suspense that explodes in the film’s final moments.  It’s not gory and it requires you to view it with the right attitude.  If you’re looking for a nice neat package where everything is spelled out for you and you don’t want to give a new style of horror a shot, don’t worry – Saw IV will be released on October 23.  That should be right up your alley.

Why it sucks (Chris): Fans of Jurassic Park may remember a frustrated Jeff Goldbloom tapping the camera and asking “Are there going to be any Dinosaurs on this Dinosaur tour,”  after seeing nothing on a tram ride through the beasts’ habitats. After an hour of Paranormal Activity, I could empathize. The demon had gotten so far as to move their car keys, move their bedroom door, make a mess on their coffee table, left lights on, and screwed up the sheets on their bed. I’ve have worse experiences with bad roommates.

The problem is that this film is going to get three Superbowls worth of hype over a handful of good tension and very little substance. While tension is the one thing that this movie does do well by forcing the audience into a dark medium shot of the bedroom, the fluff between the creepy parts is a great deal more horrifying.

Micah is unbelievably ignorant in the face of what of is occurring. His frat-boy-on-steroids attitude towards the demon is a hard sell, and the dialogue intended to break up the tension falls flat. During these segments, I just wanted to get back to that medium shot of the bedroom and the long dark hallway, hoping that something, anything, would walk down it.

However, the sad truth remains that there were no demons on this demon tour. While the movie had a better punch line than the last hype horror fest, The Blair Witch Project, I felt it wasn’t worth the wait. I advise anyone looking for a creepy and tense experience to enjoy it for that and be sure to see it in the theaters, because without the big sound and big picture the scares will not translate to DVD.