A fictional video experiment presented as a real one, à la The Blair Witch Project, is only scary if you subscribe to its ideology. If you believe there really is a such thing as ghosts and demons, I imagine the realism of this movie; enhanced by improvised character dialogue and the fact that the perspective never leaves that of the camera that is supposed to be capturing it all; will create quite a creepy experience for you. If you don’t believe, the whole thing might seem sort of silly.

I don’t believe, but I don’t think that’s ever stopped me from enjoying a supernatural horror flick before. The difference here is that, stripped of traditional scare tactics or even non-diegetic background music, the flick relies on not much more than the notion that the underlyng concept is real in order to be effective. That leaves a lot of mere observation; watching the people interact while waiting for something truly uncanny to happen; where there should be dreadful tension.

The sound of footsteps coming up the stairs or a knock on the bedroom door when no one else should be in the house doesn’t do it for me. For all I know, that could be a human intruder trying to scare people. So I think the two main characters, and the “psychic” they call to help get rid of their problem, are too quick to jump to supernatural conclusions. Even when it becomes evident that something weird really is going on, you still can’t rule-out the two main characters as the culprit.

Their names are Micah S and Katie F. They are a girlfriend and boyfriend that are “engaged to be engaged”. They live together in a house in San Diego; a house that’s, for lack of a better term, haunted… because this “demon”, who Katie claims has been in her life since she was eight years old, supposedly follows her wherever she moves to. That skepticism goes a long way, becoming less and less so until the end, where things start to get really creepy. By then it’s a little too late.

my rating : 3 of 5

2007

video review : Paranormal Activity 2
video review : Paranormal Activity 3
video review : Paranormal Activity 4
video review : Paranormal Activity : The Marked Ones
video review : Paranormal Activity : The Ghost Dimension
video review : Paranormal Activity : Next Of Kin