The Enormity of Paranormal Activity
October 30th 2009 00:31
By now, Paranormal Activity is not just a movie, but a cultural phenomenon. It’s not a film, but an experience. An intense viral marketing campaign propelled a film with a $15,000 budget into a mainstream blockbuster. Is Paranormal Activity a good film? Yes. Is it groundbreaking? Hardly. Was its marketing campaign highly annoying yet highly successful? Most definitely, on both counts.
I saw Paranormal Activity in the comfort of my own home. Mistake number one. This film, in my opinion, needs the atmosphere of a dark theater and large audience. For one, the tension will be felt in the room, from the start of the film, as this is what we have been led to expect by the marketing gurus. Without an audience, this tension sort of fizzles in and out throughout the viewing. The film takes a long time to get going. In fact, the real action occurs in the last 30 minutes of the film. The first hour contains lots of exposition, some nice character development, and some good clean suspense. The reports of crying, vomiting, and walk-outs during screenings seem rather far-fetched. It is not the scariest thing ever put on screen, nor is it a unique addition to the genre; it is, however, refreshing. It is refreshing for a film to rely on suspense rather than gore. It is refreshing for a film to rely on the threat of violence rather than depicting graphic torture scenes, usually involving women as the victims.
In the aforementioned ways, Paranormal Activity remained unscathed from big studio Hollywood. It even dodged an all-out Hollywood remake, as recommended by Steven Spielberg. Sadly, what it could not escape was a new ending, also courtesy of Mr. Spielberg. This review is based on an original cut of the film, as screened at a handful of film festivals back in 2008. The ending is rather satisfying, if only a tad lackluster. The current ending being shown in movie theaters all across the country is essentially Big Hollywood and resorts to unnecessary in-your-face tactics. It also allows for a sequel, which will most certainly be greenlit as this “Little Engine that Could” horror film just beat Big Bad Blockbuster Saw at the Box Office.
Yet one cannot even pretend that Paranormal Activity is a Little Engine That Could film. Yes, it started out that way Once Upon a Time, but as soon as King Spielberg was involved in its distribution, Cinderella had found her glass slipper and was on her way Happily Ever After. The viral marketing campaign was genius. The trailer was not a trailer, but shots of audiences filmed in night vision as they watched in terror at the events on screen. They told viewers to ‘demand’ Paranormal Activity in your area, as if the events you were to witness were too shocking to bear and certainly could not be tolerated by the bible-toting folk of Middle America. The campaign got everyone talking, buzzing, humming, and needing to demand Paranormal Activity on the website so it could obtain a nation-wide release. And then it happened. Victory was achieved! The wants of the movie going public were put right into the hands of, you guessed it, the consumers. Only … they weren’t. Let’s be honest. Paranormal Activity was always going to get a wide release. There was never any doubt about that. But it made the people feel important. And it garnered interest, if only to see just what the hype was all about. Yes, this marketing campaign took a $15,000 film, shot on location in 7 days with a hand-held camera and turned it into an event, an experience, a phenomenon.
In a way, it’s rather sad. Paranormal Activity has already been over-hyped and this doesn’t appear to be fading anytime soon. Yet the hype will soon get old and those who once loved the film will soon begin to resent it. A sequel will be made, which will be polished, rather than gritty, and will never hold a candle to its predecessor.
Yet with all the negatives the future may hold, there is a bright side. A suspenseful old-school horror film destroyed a torture-laden franchise. Perhaps Paranormal Activity marks the return of good old-fashioned scares. One can only hope.
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Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by cinema is truth
Cinema is Truth
Cinema is Truth
Comment by Catherine Stebbins
Cinema Enthusiast
Thoughts from a Cinephile
Thoughts from a TV Watcher
I feel like I have seen a ton of horror films at least when I consider my age and since I also consider it to be a special interest genre of mine. For me though gore films are not trying to terrify you, at least some of them. I think it is a different experience. I think there is a big difference between films that are trying to creep you out using old school scare tactics or atmosphere and films that are showing a lot of gore because people want to see how grossed out they can be. Take Dead Alive. Is it scary? Not really. But I think its one of the greatest horror films ever made. Then there are the films that are using gore to terrify you because of the specific situation within the film. While these are often times not done well or are just disturbing, many times I find that there is a lot of worth in some of these films. While it is easier to shock, I do think it is just as impressive when it can be done in a way that shocks not because of content but because of how it is presented to us. Even though the new Dawn of the Dead is very very violent it is still geniunely scary. And even though I have issues with the Hostel movies as well, I still think Roth is presenting some very interesting ideas about humanity and its capabilities which he explores much further and much more impressively in the second one which present an element of disturbance that has no violence involved but is explored through conversation.
So I think a lot more gore films are expendable and deplorable but I still think there are gems within them and that they can produce something just as effective as something that is using little gore. And unfortunately whether because of their existence or their content shock films are techincally effective by our refusal to watch them. Even there though in a few cases (intense horror/shock horror fans would probably find hundreds of examples of films that are brilliant within this category) something very interesting can be done. Even the remake of The Hills Have Eyes which is easily in the top 5 most Disturbing Films I've seen. I am unable to get around the fact that in addition to its content that the style and tone are very effective in certain parts. I do not like the film but I have to admit that there was skill involved in it. And then there are a lot of those films that are just terrible I would assume and carry no merit whatsoever.
So all in all I think its a mixed bag. I think the horror genre is easily the most controversial one and I do think there are a lot of pretty messed up things going on within it. But I still think that they are messed up because they bring what is scary to a different level that we do not want to have to deal with when we watch a scary movie.
Comment by cinema is truth
Cinema is Truth
Cinema is Truth
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Cinema ... I haven't heard of House of the Devil. I'm a big fan of the new wave of Spanish and French horror. I really enjoyed [rec], and I found it quite scary, especially the urgency and claustrophobia of it. I also really liked the remake Quarantine, but was expecting not to.
Thoughts from a Cinephile and Cinema is Truth, you should both come visit my site, I'm a diehard horrorphile. Although I've been mentioning how impressed I am with terror in movies, I am essentially a visceral kind of horrorphile (I worked on Peter Jackson's Braindead (aka Dead Alive), and rather curiously my father had a small part in 30 Days of Night (how cool is that?!) ...
I have a list of my favourite nightmare movies in my Orble profile, and I'm frequently writing gushy posts on the high calibre of modern horror classics, and alternately spitting vitriol on the inherent disappointments and trappings. I've reviewed hundreds of movies, you can search my blog database for most titles (although there are still plenty I've yet to review).
Comment by Catherine Stebbins
Cinema Enthusiast
Thoughts from a Cinephile
Thoughts from a TV Watcher
I actually already have read a few of their posts and they are really enjoyable and interesting reads! I plan to read more. I'm excited to see the Nightmare movies post.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by cinema is truth
Cinema is Truth
Cinema is Truth
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile