Fan Reaction: Paranormal Activity

“The scariest movie ever made.” This phrase has been applied again and again this summer in the promotional material for Paranormal Activity, a first feature for director Oren Peli. This past weekend I managed to make it to one of the 30-something midnight screenings in the nation, and can pretty much confirm that statement.

I’m going to try to avoid saying anything about how much this movie will scare you; I’ll just note that it scared the hell out of me. I can’t remember ever being so affected by a horror movie, and I’ve seen them all. Horror movies are where I get my adrenaline rush. I hate roller coasters and in order to mountain climb you also have to be high. (No pun intended)

If you’re unfamiliar with the movie the basic plot involves a couple who’ve been experiencing paranormal activity (natch) in their house. The boyfriend decides the best way to solve the problem is to document their experience with a digital camera, and that turns out to be the mother of all horrible ideas. I don’t want to go much into detail about the rest of the movie because doing so would be a great disservice. It’s basically Blair Witch Project meets The Exorcist meets The Haunting (1963), and it combines the best elements of all three.

By now everyone has heard about how the first test screening saw people walking out because they were too frightened to stay, or how Steven Spielberg became convinced his DVD copy was haunted and carried it back to Dreamworks in a garbage bag. Less circulated are the reasons why. Again, without going into specifics, I don’t think any movie in memory has better captured the sensation of absolute terror that runs through you after an unexplained noise in the middle of the night. This movie is all about what is not seen. If you’re not willing to take the ride it will not work for you. If you are, you might find that “sleeping” suddenly sounds as fun as “setting yourself on fire.”

If there is a midnight screening of this movie within at least 50 miles of you, go. I can’t guarantee that it will scare you. All I can tell you is that after I saw it, I could not sleep. I had to wait until the sun came up the next day to make sure it would be safe. That could have more to do with me being a puss, but nonetheless. Hopefully this movie’s release continues to expand. One way or another, meet the cult horror film of the next decade.

Thank you to Jacob Rice for this fan reaction. Look for Paranormal Activity to expand in more theaters as the buzz for this movie continues to grow.