Paranormal Activity

In this case, the hype completely overrated the film itself. “Paranormal Activity” was supposed to be an incredibly scary movie that left its audience absolutely terrified. Instead, it was just an average, stereotypical suspense movie. Numerous unexplainable occurrences, weird happenings (and yes, paranormal activity), heightened the anticipation of what was going to happen at the end, which was… pathetically anticlimactic, to put it bluntly. I won’t give it away, but if some form of misfortune twists events in your life to the point where you end up seeing this movie… You’ll know what I’m talking about. This film is about as fresh as another Chucky sequel.

        Katie, a woman living in a beautiful house with her boyfriend, is being harassed by a ghost of some kind.  She seeks the help of a psychic, who informs her that she is being haunted by a demon, which is much worse than your average, run-of-the-mill ghost. Throughout the film, all we ever see are some slamming doors, rattling furniture, and occasionally some dinosaur-like footprints. Admittedly, the fact that they chose to never show the demon does actually heighten the fear factor, and it shows that a sense of subtlety (or low film budget) was thoughtfully applied.

        There were only three actors in this film, and all of them seemed determined to be the blandest, most non-expressive characters that they could muster. This is, probably, the biggest downside to the movie. It was quite pathetic to see one of them trying to act like she was possessed; it came across more like she was high on something. And somehow, everyone’s lines were delivered in the exact same monotone pitch throughout the whole film, even when the characters were supposed to be scared completely out of their minds.

        If you want to see a good scary movie, either be very patient or stick with the classics, like “The Exorcist,” and “Jaws.” This movie earns about 4 out of 10 stars, for obnoxious suspense, a ridiculously corny ending, bad acting, and for being proof that you can’t always trust the hype.